The Blancheville Monster (1963)

On occassions I like to dabble in the interesting genre of B-Movies. Films that are usually only entertaining because they are pure low budget and full of bad acting. But every once in a while I come across a film that I find quite entertaining, a true diamond in the rough. That's not the case with Blancheville Monster aka Horror, but this is a horror film that at least isn't as bad as the majority of B-Movies one might be used to, and it includes my favorite German actress Helga Line.

Emily De Blancheville is returning home after being away at college for many years, but things have changed since she's been gone, her father has passed away and the staff of familiar faces at the family's castle has been replace by new mysterious characters. Things start to get bizarre when one of Emily's friends stumbles upon a horribly deformed figure in the abandoned tower who escapes into the woods. Emily's brother Rodrigue attempts to cover it up but then confesses that their father is not dead but survived a fire that left him horribly deformed and mad. He claims he's out to kill Emily in order to fulfill a crazy family legend that requires she must die before her 21st birthday. It's an explanation that seems very odd but satisfactory to them at the time, though it's clear there's much more behind the identity of the monster.

For a B-Movie horror film Blancheville Monster isn't half bad, especially compared to some our sorry present day horror pictures. But it's also nothing to write home about and at times does drag a bit, picking up in the last twenty minutes when more of the mystery in the story is revealed. Helga Line was the main reason I bothered checking this out, she plays a role similar to the one she played in Nightmare Castle, a film that's slightly better than this and worth checking out as well if your an old school horror buff. Overall, if your looking for something a little different and "rustic" to watch, Blancheville Monster might fulfill a Friday night classic horror fix, or just be a nice change.

6/10