Castle of the Walking Dead is yet another take on Poe’s "Pit and the Pendulum." A heavily flawed film that still manages to be immensely entertaining, Castle of the Walking Dead is not a bad film to grace your video shelves.

We kick off the film with Count Regula (played by Christopher Lee) being drawn and quartered for killing 12 virgins. Suddenly, two close relatives of the crime get strange letters from the now-dead Count. Together they go to Regula’s castle, only to discover that he intends to make them his next victims so he may rise again.

I’ll start off with the negative aspects of this film. Castle of the Walking Dead contains a rather unsavory feature common in German horror cinema.. Some of the actors are talking in German, some are talking in English, but it doesn’t really matter because the whole movie is dubbed in wildly out of synch English. This is funny at first, but it took away from the film. Not to mention, this amateurish dubbing is not aided by the film’s poor camera angles. This film was obviously shot on your average home camcorder as the viewers are treated to shaky cameras and ultra fast zooms. This not only decreased the film’s credibility, but succeeded in annoying me greatly - specifically because I was drinking Bloody Marys and things around me were shaking as it is.

Some of the acting was downright atrocious, however the actors were perfect in their roles. Sound contradictory? Not really. The poor stage presence was not quite the actors’ fault. Some of the dialogue was just so damn stupid. Most of the actors obviously had some talent, as their non-verbal communication was right on the money. "Inside the Actors’ Studio" folks would be best watching this film with the sound off.

Third on my list of grievances is the music. I’m not sure exactly what kind of credentials the musical score people had, but I’m sure it had nothing remotely to do with a horror film. Quite frankly, some of the music were damn odd choices. Every time they revealed Count Regula’s grave, a warped jack-in-the-box serenade would erupt. At one point, I swear I heard circus music playing. Needless to say, fans of film music should also leave this film on mute.

Finally, I will proceed to the good aspects. Despite the poor dialogue, I dug the story. The plot moved along quite well and always kept my attention, even when Chris Lee‘s bumper was not on the screen. The plot reminded me somewhat of a B-movie version of The Haunted Palace, which was the same dead-guy-returns-to-life-to-seek-revenge film. While not quite as polished as The Haunted Palace, Castle of the Walking Dead had the same amount of atmosphere, which could be the single most important aspect of a horror film. This film had the same appealing factors as a Hammer horror movie; it was subtle, romantic, and absolutely eerie. Despite its flaws, The Castle of the Walking Dead was a delightful, maniacal romp.

Ordinarily, right here I would gush on and on about how Lee’s presence saved this film from failure. Nine times out of 10, this is true. However, this film had a strong enough plot that it didn‘t even matter whether Lee was in it or not. Of course, he played the formerly dead Count Regula with a eerie grace and maniac undertones. However, if they substituted him with any other somewhat adequate actor, Castle of the Walking Dead would still hold up. That really says a lot for this little, barely-heard-of film.

Castle of the Walking Dead is far from perfect, but still manages to be deliver the goods. Some of the dialogue has a “cringe factor”, some of the acting is downright pulled from a third grade Christmas pageant, and the music and camera angles are, at best, on the weak side. However, the story and the atmosphere supercede all its flaws and save this film from B-movie Crappdom. An important film for Chris Lee fans, any film fan looking for something a little different, and fans of reanimated dead people with a murderous streak, Castle of the Walking Dead ultimately is worth your 85 minutes.