BLOODY PIT OF HORROR

Mickey Hargitay

BLOODY PIT OF HORROR (1965). Director: Max Hunter [Massimo Pupillo].

A group of photographers and models think an old castle will be the perfect place to have a photo shoot for the covers of Italian horror novels. But they are unaware that Travis Anderson (Mickey Hargitay), the current resident and a former actor and muscleman, has gone insane and thinks he is the medieval Crimson Executioner, a former resident, who was executed and entombed in the castle. Edith (Luisa Barrato) was once engaged to Travis, so he lets the group stay -- and become his victims. Some of these wind up in his torture chamber, where there is a descending canopy outfitted with spikes, or in a death trap maze with a big robot spider with poisoned fangs and a web. This is hardly a great movie, but there are some zesty, colorful sequences. Hargitay was married to Jayne Mansfield and is the father of Mariska Hargitay of Law and Order: SVU.

Verdict: There have been worse. **1/2.