The Devil's Wedding Night

"Dark desires unleash the legions of lucifer!"

1973 1h 23m IT

😐

5.3

MID

★5.3TMDB · 42

Horror

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The 1800s: scholarly Karl Schiller believes he's found the ring of the Nibelungen, which holds great power. It's at Castle Dracula. His twin, Franz, a gambler, asks if vampires frighten Karl; Karl shows him an Egyptian amulet, which may protect him. Franz takes the amulet and sets out ahead of his brother, arriving at the castle first. There he finds a countess who invites him to dine. Later that night, Karl arrives. Coincidently, it's the Night of the Virgin Moon, a night that falls every fifty years and draws five virgins from the surrounding village to the castle not be heard from again. Can Karl protect his brother, find the ring, and rescue any of the women?

“Dark desires unleash the legions of lucifer!”

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Cast

Mark Damon
Karl Schiller/Franz Schiller
Rosalba Neri
La Contessa Dolingen de Vries (as Sara Bay)
Esmeralda Barros
Lara the Zombie
Xiro Papas
The Vampire Monster (as Ciro Papas)
Gengher Gatti
The Mysterious Man (as Alexander Getty)
Enza Sbordone
Tanya the Innkeeper's Daughter (as Francesca Romana Davila)
Carlo Gentili
The Innkeeper (as Mort Baxter)
Giorgio Dolfin
First Villager at Inn (as George Dolfin)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Luigi Batzella
Writers: Ian Danby, Mark Damon, Ralph Zucker
Languages: Italian
Countries: Italy

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

83 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

53 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Luigi Batzella, shot by Joe D'Amato. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Editor Piera Bruni shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Mark Damon and Rosalba Neri and Esmeralda Barros carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Dark desires unleash the legions of lucifer!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0070547 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Luigi Batzella directs. Joe D'Amato behind the camera. Piera Bruni cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Italy. Dialogue in Italian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

183 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
253 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
4Directed by Luigi Batzella, shot by Joe D'Amato. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Editor Piera Bruni shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Mark Damon and Rosalba Neri and Esmeralda Barros carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Dark desires unleash the legions of lucifer!".
8IMDB entry: tt0070547 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 42 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
10Released under 10 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Joe D'Amato
Editing: Piera Bruni
Production design: Carlo Gentili
Runtime: 83 min · 1h 23m
Status: Released
Original language: IT
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Devil's Wedding Night (1973)

Also by

Luigi Batzella

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2022-05-06
★ 5/10
Countess Bathory, I mean Dracula, uses a gaudy magic ring to draw virgins to her castle Count Dracula is long gone in Transylvania, but a woman has supposedly bought his castle (Rosalba Neri, aka Sara Bay) and there are rumors of virgin sacrifice and lingering vampirism. Into this situation arrive twin brothers from Western Europe looking for the priceless ring of the Nibelungen, one noble and the other ignoble (Mark Damon in a dual role). Horror ensues. "The Devil’s Wedding Night" (1973) is colorful Gothic horror in the mold of Hammer’s "The Vampire Lovers" (1970) and “Countess Dracula” (1971) mixed with their Dracula flicks, albeit with incoherent Italian filmmaking. It’s the precursor to Coppola’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” two decades later with the difference that it was shot in a real European castle and looks it (Coppola’s film was shot entirely on studio sets). Luigi Batzella directed the film with Joe D'Amato reshooting some scenes. Rosalba said she couldn’t understand Batzella and it seemed like there were two of him going in different directions, which might explain the drug-addled flourishes that some view as artistic. I call it questionable storytelling. The uncut version naturally has more nudity. For better films of this ilk, see “Lady Frankenstein” (1971) and “The Devil’s Nightmare” (1971). The full version runs 1 hour, 23 minutes, and was shot in Castello Piccolomini in Balsorano, which is about 50 miles east of Rome, Italy. GRADE: C

Production companies