Rating: 
Summary: For Hargitay fanatics only
Review: Bodybuilder-turned-actor Mickey Hargitay made a number of films - mostly low-budget Italian productions - from the late '50s through the early '70s. In Bloody Pit of Horror, he plays Travis Anderson, a reclusive actor who thinks he's the reincarnation of the Crimson Executioner, a crazed sadist from the Middle Ages whose castle Anderson now occupies. Hargitay's ham-fisted performance may be one of the most unintentionally funny in the history of cinema. Recommended for Hargitay completists only.One star out of five.
Rating:
Summary: For Hargitay fanatics only
Review: Bodybuilder-turned-actor Mickey Hargitay made a number of films - mostly low-budget Italian productions - from the late '50s through the early '70s. In Bloody Pit of Horror, he plays Travis Anderson, a reclusive actor who thinks he's the reincarnation of the Crimson Executioner, a crazed sadist from the Middle Ages whose castle Anderson now occupies. Hargitay's ham-fisted performance may be one of the most unintentionally funny in the history of cinema. Recommended for Hargitay completists only. One star out of five.
Rating: 
Summary: Bloody Pit of Horror is pure exploitation gold!
Review: Heed the editorial review above if you're big on high quality picture and sound. Otherwise, I imagine this film to be in much the same condition now as it was for audiences in the 60's. The DVD format doesn't really bring anything to the final product but I would think owning a copy that is almost guaranteed never to ware out would be reason enought to purchase it. If it's not, then the extra features such as the deleted scenes, theatrical trailers to coming attractions, and gallery of exploitation art and radio spots should suffice to cement your resolve. Okay, now that I have gotten past the technical mumbo jumbo I can move on to the good stuff. The story here is a tried and true vehicle. People go to castle to take sleazy pictures, owner of castle believes he's the reincarnation of a 17th century executioner, begins bumping off models in increasingly inventive ways, and hilarity ensues. Mickey Hargitay is outrageously over the top as Travis Anderson (aka the Crimson Executioner). His acting here, if you can call it that, makes William Shatner look subdued by comparison. The dialog is characteristically naive, which is to say that people's reactions to situations are a bit unrealistic to say the least. You'll also get a kick out of the supposed Inquisition era torture devices that the Crimson Executioner uses to torment his unwitting victims. All around this movie is superb. Its sub par acting and other shortcomings are incidental to its sheer entertainment value. Something Weird video has done a great service in digging up these forgotten films and revamping them. For that they should be commended.
Rating:
Summary: Fast forward review
Review: Oh boy, we're really dating the old ffr here, but I actually saw this in a drive-in theatre, it had some other name. OK, there's some plot about a movie being made in a castle and some dude gets possessed or something like that, dresses up in red leotards and goes about getting all the actresses in his torture chamber where he stumbles from girl to girl in these silly stylized demented hunchback-style movements, oh man. So anyway, we're interested in sex sleaze scenes, not historical horror movies, and there are a couple, to be fair. The best is in the final torture chamber scene, where we got (a) a hanging babe with hot tar poured on her back, (b) two spinning babes whose bras are threatened by adjustable blades and (c) a face-down reclining babe riding an oven. Zero nudity, all naughty bits carefully hidden. I don't know, one star for nostalgia?
Rating: 
Summary: See Mariska Hargitay's (of Law & Order fame) Mommy & Daddy!
Review: See Law & Order Olivia Benson's (Mariska Hargitay) real-life mommy (Jayne Mansfield) and bodybuilder turned actor daddy (Mickey Hargitay) in this installment of Something Weird's edition of "Bloody Pit Of Horror". Mickey stars as an owner of a freaky castle that some lovely, young models visit to accomplish a sleazy photo shoot. Oh, did I mention that Mickey's character, Travis Anderson, is also a pyscho/sado-masochist who believes he is the re-incarnation of a 17th century torturemaster named "The Crimson Executioner". This film is touted to be based loosely on the writings of the great Marquis De Sade... There is an iron maiden, dungeons, a human roaster, and lots of other torture devises. Mariska's mommy, Jayne Mansfield is highlighted in the extras that include: 2 archival shorts "Primitive Love" and "Cover Girl Slaughter". Also includes the Horrorama radio spots, deleted scenes, stills and trailers. Great film if you like the "Something Weird" DVDs and genres like euro-trash horror films! Happy Watching!
Rating:
Summary: Fast forward review
Review: See Law & Order Olivia Benson's (Mariska Hargitay) real-life mommy (Jayne Mansfield) and bodybuilder turned actor daddy (Mickey Hargitay) in this installment of Something Weird's edition of "Bloody Pit Of Horror". Mickey stars as an owner of a freaky castle that some lovely, young models visit to accomplish a sleazy photo shoot. Oh, did I mention that Mickey's character, Travis Anderson, is also a pyscho/sado-masochist who believes he is the re-incarnation of a 17th century torturemaster named "The Crimson Executioner". This film is touted to be based loosely on the writings of the great Marquis De Sade... There is an iron maiden, dungeons, a human roaster, and lots of other torture devises. Mariska's mommy, Jayne Mansfield is highlighted in the extras that include: 2 archival shorts "Primitive Love" and "Cover Girl Slaughter". Also includes the Horrorama radio spots, deleted scenes, stills and trailers. Great film if you like the "Something Weird" DVDs and genres like euro-trash horror films! Happy Watching!
Rating:
Summary: Bloody Pit of Fun!
Review: STORY: Seeking a gothic background for a horror photo shoot, five sexy cover girls and a handful of photographers break into what they assume is an uninhabited castle and are soon taking a series of macabre stills in its dungeon. But--surprise!--residing in the castle is demented actor Travis Anderson (Mickey Hargitay) who thinks he's the reincarnation of The Crimson Executioner, a 17th century madman whose body is entombed in the castle's iron maiden. When Travis recognizes one of the models as his former fiancee, his already unhinged mind completely snaps. He gleefully subjects the trespassers to a variety of bizarre and elaborately-conceived tortures: "The Crimson Executioner cries out for blood!" PICTURE: 4/5 Where did Something Weird Video get this print? It looks great! Bloody Pit of Horror is shown here in PsychoVision (1.85:1) and like i said looks great. The picture is sharp with nice stong colors and deep blacks. I only saw two scenes that had print damage and it was not distracting at all. Overall, a great looking picture for such a old film. SOUND: 4/5 The sound is Mono English dubbed and sounds very good. The track is clean and sounds clear. EXTRAS: 3/5 You get some really weird stuff here. First you get the films trailer which does not look no where as good as the film looks. Next you get some deleted scenes, a long art galley with some cool radio spot for a ton of other films and some weird short films. OVERALL: 5/5 If your a fan of movies that are so bad that there good, then this DVD of Blood Pit of Horror is for you. Pick it up today. Plus, Mickey Hargitay's performance as the Crimson Executioner is so crazy and goofy, you have to see it!
Rating:
Summary: EURO-HORROR CLASSIC on DVD !
Review: This is definitely a MUST PURCHASE DVD for any die-hard euro-horror fan! This ridiculous and extremely entertaining 1965 Italian horror-romp stars Mickey Hargitay (Jayne Mansfield's husband) as "The Crimson Executioner". He struts around bare-chested wearing red tights and admiring his muscular body in the mirror as he rubs it all over with oil. When a film crew comes to his castle, he starts torturing and killing them off one by one, overacting all the way! Mickey is a true ham and jumps around the screen like a lunatic throughout. One great highlight is a room with a giant spiderweb and a hungry spider. And then, of course, there's the torture chamber. There's a rotating torture device that Mickey ties bikini-clad women up to and as it turns a sharp blade rips and tears at their skimpy brassieres and lightly scrapes their flesh! And with Mickey running around half-naked throughout in his red tights, were they also going for a gay audience? It's all quite tame by today's standards, but at the time, this must have been quite a sensation! It's a great sleaze-trash classic NOT TO BE MISSED! The DVD presents the film in it's U.S. 73-minute abbreviated version. 9 minutes were trimmed out of the complete version ("A Tale of Torture") by it's American distributor. The deleted scenes are included as a supplement (including the alternate title sequence), but it's too bad they didn't restore the footage back into the film. Something Weird offers the complete 83 minute version "A Tale of Torture" on VHS under the "Bloody Pit" title so you would have thought this would be the same print. BUT it's not... maybe because the print used here looks a lot better than the "Torture" print and it's fully letterboxed whereas the "Torture" print was only marginally letterboxed. Also, the movie has never looked better than this transfer...the colors are vibrant and sharp and the detail is quite good (although there is some minor artifacting). So, having the deleted scenes as a supplement only was probably a good decision. Other extras include a rather worn (and kind of lame) U.S. trailer, a clip from the movie "Primitive Love" with Jayne and Mickey shot around the same time and another clip called "Cover Girl Slaughter" which shows a lurid magazine cover photo shoot featuring women staged in murder or death scenes (mildly amusing). The best extra is the gallery of exploitation art and ad-slicks for lots of ultra-rare horror and trash flicks from the 60's and 70's. It's accompanied by an audio track of rare radio spots including the notorious "Last House on the Left" - It's Only a Movie spot, the "Mark of the Devil" - Vomit Bag spot and many more! All in all a great DVD. Buy It Now!
Rating: 
Summary: GET THE OTHER VERSION
Review: Unless you need to save a few bucks, get the Image Entertainment version. I purchased this version and was acutually suprised by the plot and acting, it's pretty good. The picture and sound quality are terrible. The images seem bleached and washed out. Many of the opening credits are not discernable.
Rating:
Summary: GET THE OTHER VERSION
Review: Unless you need to save a few bucks, get the Image Entertainment version. I purchased this version and was acutually suprised by the plot and acting, it's pretty good. The picture and sound quality are terrible. The images seem bleached and washed out. Many of the opening credits are not discernable.
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