Powerful

Absolutely the worst movie.

Absolutely Brilliant!

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Before special effects wizard and triple Academy Award winner Carlo Rambaldi worked on Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alien, Dune and E.T., he created not only the legendary size-doesn't-matter giant spider, but also the Lover of Death rag doll and the Tittie-Slice Rotating System for Massimo Pupillo's Bloody Pit of Horror. When Jayne Mansfield's ex-hubby Mickey Hargitay ("Mr. Universe 1958") heard that Fellini cinematographer Luciano Trasatti (I Vitelloni) was on board as well, he happily signed the 1000-Lire-contract to star as The Crimson Executioner, a saucy blend of Batman's Robin, Bertie Bizarro and the Muscle Beach Molester. Though credited to the influence of the Marquis de Sade, the script much more obviously refers to Octave Mirbeau's pre-surreal torture classic Le Jardin des supplices – a highly inventive, stranger-than-fiction dungeon purification wackorama with Hargitay in the role of his life: "The Executioner will torture you ... to death." Probably for a reason: Two years before, Jayne had booted him out of The Pink Palace, their Beverly Hills mansion with the famous heart-shaped pool. He, former plumber Mickey Hargitay, had built it himself, and that's why the Torture of Icy Water has the master touch. Got the subtext? Spell it out, not too loud: This is catharsis.

This camp, shocking and thoroughly entertaining Italian Gothic movie is a far cry from the slow-paced dread which Bava and Freda inserted into their earlier Gothic horrors, but this doesn't make it any less of a movie. Instead of concentrating on atmosphere and suspense, THE CRIMSON EXECUTIONER focuses on frantic action and sleazy/ghastly scenes of torture and depravity. It's a pretty tough film for '65, with brief nudity and mild gore seen in the uncut print, in scenes of torture which of course would reoccur on the Euro-scene almost five years later with the likes of THE BLOODY JUDGE and MARK OF THE DEVIL. Unlike those gruelling gruefests, however, THE CRIMSON EXECUTIONER is a whole lot of fun! The main enjoyment comes from Mickey Hargitay (THE LOVES OF HERCULES), here playing against type as the villain. Hargitay goes way beyond the call of duty with his portrayal of the deranged, musclebound and vain Anderson, obsessed with the corruption of human society he sees around him and with keeping his bronzed body in an immaculate condition. Scenes of Hargitay running around cackling "I am the Crimson Executioner" while applying various tortures are a delight to watch - and in the cult fan's eye, probably the highlight of Hargitay's career as a whole.The film begins with a prologue showing the REAL Crimson Executioner being sentenced and lead to his death in the Iron Maiden (it makes such an impact that it was later copied in the German Gothic THE TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. SADISM). After this, we cut forward to the present day and immediately amid clichés as a group of assorted types (the 'plain Jane', the joker, the boss, the lovers, the beauties and the unexpected hero) break into a spooky old castle and find themselves the guest of a cold Hargitay. After some scene-setting and comic scenes of horror photographs being taken (complete with people dressed as skeletons and various torture devices), tragedy strikes when a man is accidentally impaled and killed. Later investigation shows a mysterious hooded figure on a photograph taken at the time of death - I wonder who it could be? Meanwhile a pair of lovers make their way into the forbidden cellar and are brutally killed for their trespassing, with the girl's body being placed inside the Iron Maiden! A catalogue of bizarre deaths quickly befall the rapidly diminishing group in a variety of imaginative ways, such as the man driving to get the police who is shot through the neck with an arrow and left to drive his car in circles forever, or at least until the petrol runs out.One of the movie's most memorable scenes sees a young beauty being caught in a gigantic spider's web and menaced by one of the cheesiest, most-phony looking papier mache spiders ever created (yes, even cheesier than the spiders in THE BEYOND!). Definitely a must-see moment for fans of campy delights. After her rescuer seems to take about half an hour to crawl under some deadly traps to rescue her, he finds himself too later as she has already been poisoned and killed. Fancy that! Meanwhile, Hargitay (aka "The Crimson Executioner") has assembled the remaining survivors in his torture chamber. In the film's kinkiest moment, a pair of women are tied to a rotating pillar while knives gouge at their breasts as they spin past! Tthe film's hero is tied to a bed and trapped underneath a slowly lowering spiked roof (an idea taken from A Terribly Strange Bed by Wilkie Collins); luckily, he manages to escape just in the nick of time. Just when you thought things couldn't get any cooler, the final twenty minutes is the best bit of the entire movie, packed with insane action and delirious entertainment.The supporting Italian cast are all very good in the movie, whilst the music effectively sets the score (and is openly humorous in places). The photography is extremely colourful, really bringing out the brightness of Hargitay's bizarre costume against the greys and browns of the castle behind him. The pacing, scripting and direction are also spot-on. Basically, this is an impeccable cult horror movie, totally over the top and hilarious to boot, with Mickey Hargitay like you've never seen him before (and never will see him again). Grandiose stuff, very dramatic and exciting and a highlight of the Gothic genre overall, and definitely a film I will want to come back to time and time again.

BLOODY PIT OF HORROR is one of those films that one must discuss when talking about cinecheese with friends; it has so much to recommend it.Italian horror. Sixties. Girls. Bad acting. More girls. What's not to like?The Crimson Executioner ranks as one my top ten favorite bad villains, seemingly channeling Adam West on some bad Bat-hash,and generally giving his all for the cause.There are other things that give this movie its distinctive aroma, but the C.E. steals the show; he deserved a sequel,no matter how illogical it would've been.

A photographer, his models, and several other guys go to an old castle for a photo shoot. The group wind up being terrorized by insane castle owner Travis Anderson (a gloriously crazed portrayal by Mickey Hargitay), a vicious psychotic madman who thinks he's the reincarnation of a legendary depraved 17th century executioner. Director Massimo Pupillo, working from a blithely twisted script by Romano Migliorini and Roberto Natale, makes excellent use of the fantastic crumbling castle location, delivers a handy helping of raw misogynistic violence, and milks the racy and blatant elements of sadism, narcissism, and especially homo-eroticism for maximum deliciously decadent seedy thrills. Moreover, this picture greatly benefits from a bevy of beautiful ladies: Luisa Baratto as the sweet Edith, Barbara Nelli as the bitchy Suzy, Rita Klein as the ditsy Nancy, Moa Tahi as the lovely Kinojo, and the ever-enticing Femi Benussi as the fetching Annie. Walter Brandi makes for a likable, if ineffectual hero as the bumbling Rick. Luciano Trasatti's vibrant color cinematography gives the movie an eye-popping garish look. Gino Peguri's groovy swinging score hits the funky bopping spot. However, it's Hargitay's sublimely ripe, unrestrained, and over-the-top histrionic acting as the raving wacko that provides the majority of the infectiously campy and warped entertainment. A total kitschy blast.