Il boia scarlatto (1965)

Director:

Massimo Pupillo

Writers:

Romano Migliorini (story)
Roberto Natale (story)

Release Date:

28 November 1965 (Italy)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

He was a homicidal maniac who LIVED TO KILL!

Plot:

A photographer and his models go to an old, abandoned castle to shoot some sexy covers for horror novels...

Plot Keywords:

Castle | Photographer | Model | Spider | Burned Alive

Cast

Mickey Hargitay	...	Travis Anderson
Walter Brandi	...	Rick (as Walter Brandt)
Luisa Baratto	...	Edith (as Louise Barret)
Rita Klein	...	Nancy
Alfredo Rizzo	...	Daniel Parks (as Alfred Rice)
Barbara Nelli	...	Suzy (as Barbara Nelly)
Moa Tahi	...	Kinojo
Femi Benussi	...	Annie (as Femi Martin)
Ralph Zucker	...	Dermott - The photographer
Nando Angelini	...	Perry (as Nik Angel)
Albert Gordon
Gino Turini		(as John Turner)
Roberto Messina		(as Robert Messenger)

Directed by
Massimo Pupillo		(as Max Hunter)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Romano Migliorini		story, screenplay and adaptation (as Robert McLoren)
Roberto Natale		story, screenplay and adaptation (as Robert Christmas)

Produced by
Francesco Merli	....	producer
Ralph Zucker	....	producer

Original Music by
Gino Peguri

Cinematography by
Luciano Trasatti		(as John Collins)

Film Editing by
Mariano Arditi		(as Robert Ardis)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Massimo Castellani	....	first assistant director

Special Effects by
Carlo Rambaldi	....	special effects makeup

Music Department
Gino Peguri	....	conductor

Production Companies

• International Entertainment
• M.B.S. Cinematografica

Distributors

• M.B.S. Cinematografica (1965) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Cosmopolis Films (1965) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• Pacemaker Pictures (1968) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Astral Films (1967) (Canada) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Hanns Eckelkamp Filmproduktion (1967) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Alpha Video Distributors (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (1993) (USA) (VHS)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (2000) (USA) (DVD) (special edition)
• Vidimax Home Entertainment (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

A Tale of Torture
Bloody Pit of Horror (USA)
Crimson Executioner
Il castello di Artena
Some Virgins for the Hangman
The Castle of Artena
The Red Hangman (USA) (promotional title)
The Scarlet Executioner
The Scarlet Hangman
Virgins for the Hangman

Runtime:

87 min | USA:74 min (cut version)

Country:

Italy | USA

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

West Germany:18 (nf) | UK:(Banned) (1967) | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Balsorano Castle, L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy

Company:

International Entertainment

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: On this fifth day of December in the year of our Lord sixteen hundred and forty-eight, by the power vested in us by our noble sovereign, this tribunal of Artena sentences you, the Crimson Executioner, to death. You will die by one of the very instruments you devised to torture and kill your innocent victims...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Edited into Extra Weird (2003) (V)

It's a fun film with fantastically dreadful dialogue

'High camp hokum from mid 60's Italy, when men were musclemen and women were dimmer than dumb', was what I wrote when first seeing this on video, and it still seems apposite. The girls look pretty odd at the beginning but look much better as they begin to lose their clothes. It's a fun film with fantastically dreadful dialogue. The main man looks a bit haggard by the end but pretty impressive earlier on when decked out as the, 'Crimson Executioner'. Watch out for the glorious spider web scene where so much effort has gone into the wires and so little into the eight legged creature. Balmy but endearing and the maniacal Hargitay is so over the top he is back up the other side.