This is one of Bava’s less personal works but it still manages to convey his understanding of the cinematic spectacle, which informs a number of effective if visceral sequences. The atmosphere of horror and mistrust that Bava weaves around the throwaway, forgettable surface narrative, drives home his favourite theme of misconception through deceit – it’s something well worth taking note of. Cinema is built on the act of seeing, but how can we trust what we see when we know it to be a manufactured, tailored image?

Bava’s exploration of this theme, along with his subtle and dry humour, is very much on display here: from the antagonist’s destruction of a painting to protect his identity, to the disguise he wears throughout the film, even the drinks machines that litter an old castle in an effort to conceal its true antiquity, everything is reined to Bava’s purpose. Likewise, he has enough knowledge of the audience’s position and involvement with cinema to allow key sequences to play out at their abstract level – a chase through the fog, a threatening view from a balcony, the final horrors of the torture chamber itself – and thereby magnifying their impact. Compare Gli orrori del castello di Norimberga to any similarly themed torture and mini-skirt Eurohorrors, and Bava’s masterly skill behind the camera pushes to the forefront. This film should serve as a key reminder that the principles of cinema are not narrative, genre or style but more intrinsically linked to the unique phenomena of cinema and its relationship or interplay with the viewer.

Gli orrori del castello di Norimberga at the IMDb