With the first time being such a success I wanted to watch another randomized movie. So I landed on the Gothic horror by the well known horror icon Mario Bava – “The Whip and the Body”.

Kurt Menliff (played by Cristopher Lee) returns home to an isolated castle on an European coast. He is the older son of Count Menliff (played by Gustavo De Nardo). His return to his home however is not a warm one. Kurt had an affair with the daughter of the Count’s servant Giorgia and quickly after that her daughter ended up committing suicide and they blamed him for it. Because of this the Count disowned him and Kurt had to leave.

He decides to come back to celebrate the marriage of his brother and Nevenka (his former fiance) but in reality the true reason for his return is to regain his wealth and power. Upon his return Nevenka realizes that she is still in love with him and one day on a beach they end up having very erotic and violent intercourse. Following this a series of weird events happen and Kurt is found dead with a dagger in his chest. The same dagger that the daughter of the servant used to kill herself. Soon after his death however the remaining people of the castle start experiencing creepy things and suspect that he is haunting them from the grave.

This was a very odd film surprisingly weird and unexpected. The cinematography, costumes and set design was gorgeous and the atmosphere was very creepy. The castle itself was probably my favorite thing from the film. It was very gorgeous and it really did add so much to the scenes themselves and made everything that much more creepy. But something about this film just made me feel uneasy and I found myself bored at times. The plot although good did not make me as interested in the movie that much. I’ve heard that Christopher Lee say that this was one of his best movies as well which disappointed me more, especially since he was amazing as always with this performance as well.

Final verdict: 6.5/10

The Whip and The Body(US) (UK) (Canada)