When their ship is wrecked, the only 2 survivors, Lord Fallon (Russ Harvey) and the ship's captain are
stranded on the island of Count de Sade (William McNulty) where ...
well, some things are just not quite alright:
- first & foremost of
course, the count is completely off the hook, occasionally talking
to some imaginary guy who leaves him covered in cobweb (!) as a calling
card,
- secondly, the Count also
has a torture rack which he intends to keep in use & so soon tries
it out on the captain,
- & thirdly he keeps
his leprous AND insane wife in his dungeon.
Naturally, Fallon would try to
escape, first with de Sade's mute servant's (Michelle Buquor) help - the
poor girl is killed instead -, then with his nurse (Helen Hogan). But of
course not everything goes as planned & Fallon soon finds himself
thrown in the dungeon with the count's leprous wife who seems to want to
endlessly relive her wedding night ... Luckily, nurse Helen Hogan, who
of course by then has fallen for Fallon, saves him in the nick of time,
&, while escaping through the swamps, they can finally get rid of
the count & his loyal Nubian manservant. all is well ... or is it
?
When finally, a year later, a
supply ship arrives on the island, supposedly to rescue them, once the
boatsmen have laid eye on them, they flee in terror ... for by now, they
have turned to lepers, & are now - slowly - going insane ...
If this synopsis sounds far
out, it might be because this movie just is !
Dungeon ... is one of
these rare examples of pure otherworldly filmmaking, that - though
obviously inspired by Roger Corman's E.A.Poe-adaptations, but filmed on
a shoestring based on a way too confusing script - creates a cinematic
niche all of its own. The weird to wooden performances of all the
involved (but particularly McNulty) do in this case add to the overall
trippy feeling. |