**_A woman wanders about a German castle trying to figure out mysterious goings-on_**

An Italian production originally called “The Virgin of Nuremberg,” the title was changed to “Horror Castle” for American release and “Castle of Terror” for Canada and the UK. It was shot after Margheriti's “Castle of Blood” to take advantage of the sets and was rushed to completion. Corman’s “The Terror” had a similar story in America, but that one is all-around more entertaining.

To its credit, it has Christopher Lee as a creepy curator of the castle museum, but there’s just too much time-wasting scenes, including sequences where the music dramatically builds to a non-scare. It’s also predictable in ways and simply needed more imaginative staples to perk up the viewer’s interest.

Still, if you like spooky castle movies, it fills the bill and the last dozen minutes are interesting, not to mention an idea is borrowed from Captain America Comics over two decades earlier.

It runs 1h 24m and was shot in 1963 at Villa Sciarra in the heart of Rome, as well as studio work at nearby Incir De Paolis Studios.

GRADE: C