After the film “The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism” (German title: “Die Schlangengrube und das Pendel“) was released in a 4 disc deluxe edition strictly limited to 1,200 copies on DVD and Blu-ray plus soundtrack CD and was sold out within days, the film is now available as limited Mediabook as well as digitally at all VoD-portals in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In addition to the outstandingly cast film with Lex Barker (Old Shatterhand), Karin Dor (Edgar Wallace) and Christopher Lee (Dracula), this edition offers great extras such as an audio commentary and a chic, 36-page booklet with great Photos and background information including a print of the “Illustrierter Filmkurier” from 1967.
The film begins in 1801. Count Regula (Christopher Lee) is quartered for the murder of twelve virgins. Many years later the lawyer Roger Mont-Elise (Lex Barker) and the attractive baroness Lilian von Brabant (Karin Dor) received an invitation to the infamous Sander Valley. The drive through ghostly forests takes you directly into the ruins of Count Regula’s castle and his torture chamber. Nobody can yet suspect that the count’s resurrection is being prepared here, but for this he still needs the blood of a thirteenth virgin …
The director was the famous Austrian Harald Reinl, who created absolute milestones like “Winnetou 1-3“, “Schatz im Silbersee” or various Edgar Wallace films such as “The Frog with the Mask” or the war film “U 47 – Kapitänleutnant Prien“.
The idea of making a Edgar Allan Poe film came to Harald Reinl through the success of Roger Corman‘s films „The Fall of the House of Usher“, „Pit and the Pendulum“ and „The Masque of the Red Death“. However, the plan was not to make a faithful film version of Edgar Allan Poe‘s story ‘The Pit and the Pendulum‘. Screenwriter Manfred R. Köhler‘s treatment of the original story was therefore very carefree and generous.
Equipment and technical data of the mediabook
Image format DVD WS 1.66: 1 (anamorphic), Blu-Ray WS 1.66: 1 / 1080p 24fps | Total running time of the DVD 81 min, total running time of the Blu-Ray: 84 min | Sound DVD: German DD 2.0 (mono), English DD 2.0 (mono), audio commentary on the film with Gerne Naumann, Christopher Klares & Matthias Künnecke DD 2.0; Sound Blu-Ray: German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (mono), English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Audio commentary on the film with Gerne Naumann, Christopher Klares & Matthias Künnecke DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (mono) | Subtitles: German, English, Spanish | Bonus material: Original cinema trailer & teaser trailer (3, 11 min. / 01 min.), Reconstruction slideshow (before / after) (10 min.), Location search at the city Rothenburg ob der Tauber (7.30 min.), 36-page booklet incl. of a print of the “Illustrierter Filmkurier” from 1967 | FSK 12
More information about the movie: The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism
