RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

meddlecore This is Murnau's 1921 silent horror-mystery in it's full glory. At 5 acts (of varying length) with all the intertitles included, this cut was found intact in a South American archive, and restored by a couple German groups, who re-released it in 2002 with a modern soundtrack.It tells the story of a wealthy family who are hosting a gathering at their castle home on the evening before their annual hunt. A man named Count Oestch has crashed the party, despite the host attempting to stop him. It is believed that he had murdered his own brother in cold blood, so that he alone could inherit their family fortune. And he refuses to leave, despite the fact that he is well aware the widow of his brother will soon be coming. Though incredibly disturbed by this revelation, the lady of the house does manage to convince the re-married widower to stay- seeing as a Priest from Rome, whom is a relative of her deceased husband, will be rolling in the following night.The next morning starts out as a beautiful day, and the group heads out on the hunt. But their fun is interrupted by a terrible storm, and they are driven back inside, where they wait for the Father to show up. All except for Oestch, of course, who heads out into the storm to go hunting by himself. The widower takes this oppourtunity to turn to the Father for comfort, as she feels he is the only one who understands her situation.She recounts her experiences to him in flashbacks. How they fell in love. How she discovered him to be a humble man who wasn't attached to the same aristocratic lifestyle as she was. How this led her to take on a secret lover who would later become her husband. How he wanted to philanthropically donate the family fortune...putting him at odds with his brother. And perhaps how she was privy he was to be murdered? The Father retires to ponder over what has just been revealed to him; while the rest of the group sit down for a great feast, during which they will celebrate and revel about the hunt. Her husband insists he must talk to the Father, though. However, when he tries to call on him, he gets no reply...and they can't get into his room. Now everyone is worried. Where has he gone? When they do, eventually, get into the room...it's empty. Now, not only are they all worried...but they are becoming paranoid as well- barricading their doors and sleeping with their weapons. Although, they can't hide from their nightmares....The next day, many of their visitors awaken ready to leave...terrified. Those who remain have noticed that the widower has become very silent since the disappearance of the Father. They confront Count Oestch about the rumours relating to his past- thinking he may have something to do with Father's disappearance- but he just laughs it off. A second attempt illicits a more aggressive response, which culminates with the widower's husband being, himself, accused of murder. Was the Count being framed this whole time? This seems to be the case, and (as was foreshadowed earlier) it seems that his wife and her new husband were actually the ones responsible for plotting his death. They can no longer hide their guilt. But in a final attempt to save face, the wife of the deceased fingers the Count as the certain killer.The rest of group is trying to figure out what to do...when the Father suddenly returns- immediately confronting the widower. She has a plan, though: to confess to the Priest- so that she can get it off her chest in a way that it will remain confidential. She claims that she had become possessed by evil and became obsessed with witnessing a murder. After telling this to her secret lover (her new husband), she continues, he mistakenly took this literally, and acted on it by going out and brazenly murdering him. She persists with the suggestion that he later confessed this to her, and it was only then that she had become aware of this and overcome by guilt. She even goes as far as saying that they only kept quiet about the whole ordeal because the Count escaped conviction; and married only because they were both bound by guilt. But the Father does not seem to be buying it... Inevitably, she admits everything, but demands the Father remain silent. Unfortunately for her...the tricks on them- as there is a clever twist which results in the fulfilment of an earlier prophecy foretold by the Count.As you may have noticed, each of the above paragraphs corresponds to an act. This is definitely not one of Murnau's best films, but it is a clever little mystery, with a slight horror angle. It starts off slowly, and takes a while to get going, but the end has a nice pace to it. It's very Hollywood, as opposed to cinematic (if you know what I mean), which is a shame. But at least there were some flashbacks and dream sequences thrown in there.5.5 out of 10.

MartinHafer Be advised that this film was released by Alpha Video--a company that ever seems to do any restoration on their films. This is especially problematic for old silent films like this one, as the print is so poor it's almost not worth seeing the film. But, in many cases, there are no other companies releasing that particular video, so you either take it or leave it! As I am a nut about silents, I realized the print would totally suck--so it wasn't any surprise that it did. Sadly, both films on this DVD (this one and "Wolf Blood") were pretty ragged prints and despite the great titles, neither are really horror films. In addition, watching "The Haunted Castle" was a bit more difficult because both the German AND English subtitles appeared on the screen together--this took a bit of time to get used to.The biggest reason I got this DVD was it was directed by the amazing F.W. Murnau--the man responsible just one year later for "Nosferatu" (probably the scariest silent horror film) as well as "The Last Laugh", "Faust" and "Sunrise"--four of the greatest silents ever made. I have already seen about eight of his films (perhaps one or two more) and was excited when it came in the mail. UNFORTUNATELY, this was not among the director's better films and I honestly think most silent film buffs would never suspect this was one of his films if they weren't told it was. That's because the film lacks the style and the skill you'd expect from a great director--let alone Murnau. Now this isn't saying it's a terrible film--it just isn't a particularly distinguished one.The story is about a house guest who arrives and refuses to leave the castle--even though he's thought by many to be a murderer--and the widow is also scheduled to arrive! This is a dumb ploy, as this was a private home--why didn't they just have the police toss him out of the home?! This made no sense at all. Through the course of the film, this accused but acquitted murderer unravels a plan to expose the killer. The last 1/4 of the film is pretty cool--but the first 3/4 is sluggish and archaic--made in a plodding and old fashioned style even for 1921. Overall, nothing particularly distinguished about this film...even if it is a Murnau film. It's probably mostly of interest to film historians and die-hard silent fans like myself.

vaughan-34 I'm not going to give away any of the plot in this review, it's worth simply watching the film and going with it.However, I did want to address a couple of things in previous reviews.Firstly there is a review from MARIO GAUCI that isn't exactly complementary. The thing is, the reviewer clearly saw a very inferior print of the movie, likely missing almost 30 minute3s of footage.Like all movies, you really ought to give the benefit of the doubt to movies that you're seeing in 16mm reductions prints with a third of the film (which, true, at the time the other DVD of this came out, was considered "lost") missing. If you're into silent film, then don't go the cheapo route - spend the money on good restorations, it really pays dividends.Secondly there is mention of the acting here being "stagey". This is a comment I see often, but i never truly understand it. This was made in 1921! If you're watching a piece of early cinema you can't expect the realism that we see on the screen today. Not only did the rules of cinema not exist at the time these films were made, but the technology available at the tie didn't allow for it. The call this film "stagey" is, if you don't mind me saying, rather ignorant. What did you expect? Instead, approach this for what it is. It is an early mystery film. There are some good performances, but I mostly enjoyed the shots of the rain drenched roads and fields. The dream sequences do a good job of balancing fear and comedy, and while the plot is rather transparent to modern minds, if you can set aside your critique and just allow the film to wash over you, it really works quite well.

Cineanalyst One character has a dream of a ghoulish hand abducting him, but otherwise, the gobs of eye makeup on the actors, typical then, is as haunting as this film, "The Haunted Castle" (which isn't a literal translation, anyhow), gets. It's more of a mystery picture--a whodunit, fundamentally.This is an early offering in F.W. Murnau's film-making career, and none of the brilliance of his later films ("Nosferatu", "The Last Laugh", "Faust", "Sunrise") is evident here. "The Haunted Castle" is prosaically filmed, despite the assistance of two competent cinematographers, László Schäffer ("Berlin: Symphony of a Great City") and Fritz Arno Wagner ("Nosferatu" and several of Fritz Lang and G.W. Pabst's films). Additionally, Hermann Warm ("Caligari") was the production designer. The castle interiors are rather rich, at least. But, the miniature used for the exterior views of the castle, as a transition effect, is overused and ineffective. I don't care for the iris openings and closings, either; they're usually too obtrusive for transition editing.Anyhow, there were some surprises in the plot for me, but that didn't make it worthwhile. Despite having another giant of Weimer cinema, Carl Mayer ("Caligari", "The Last Laugh"), as one of the screenwriters, the plot is slow-paced and never evolves to anything higher than a whodunit--and not even a good one at that. The acting is too obvious and overdone, as well. The talent involved did much better work elsewhere.