La campana del infierno (1973)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Claudio Guerín
(more)

Writers:

Santiago Moncada (story)
Santiago Moncada (screenplay)

Release Date:

1 October 1973 (Spain)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Plot:

A young man is released from an asylum and returns home for revenge on his aunt and her three daughters...

Plot Keywords:

Revenge | Inheritance | Asylum | Aunt | Cousin Cousin Relationship

Cast

Renaud Verley	...	Juan (John in English version)
Viveca Lindfors	...	Marta
Alfredo Mayo	...	Don Pedro
Maribel Martín	...	Esther
Nuria Gimeno	...	Teresa
Christina von Blanc	...	María (as Christine Betzner)
Saturno Cerra
Nicole Vesperini
Erasmo Pascual	...	Priest
Antonio Puga
Juan Cazalilla
Tito García
Rosetta Vellisca
Ángel Blanco
Susana Latour	...	Juan's mother
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
William Layton

Directed by
Claudio Guerín
Juan Antonio Bardem		(uncredited)

Writing credits
Santiago Moncada		(story)
Santiago Moncada		(screenplay)

Produced by
Robert Ausnit	....	delegate producer
Claudio Guerín	....	producer
Luis Laso	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Adolfo Waitzman

Cinematography by
Manuel Rojas

Film Editing by
Magdalena Pulido

Production Design by
Eduardo Torre de la Fuente

Set Decoration by
Eduardo Torre de la Fuente

Costume Design by
Maiki Marín		(as Maiqui Marín)

Makeup Department
Vicenta Palmero	....	hair stylist
Julián Ruiz	....	key makeup artist
Antonio Segovia	....	assistant makeup artist

Production Management
Ricardo Bonilla	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Sinesio Isla	....	assistant director
Miguel Suarez	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Juan de la Flor	....	property master
Horacio Rodríguez	....	assistant set decorator

Sound Department
Luis Castro	....	sound effects

Camera and Electrical Department
José Luis Aguilar	....	second assistant camera
Julio Leyva	....	assistant camera (as Julio Martín Leyva)
Simón López	....	still photographer
Domingo Solano	....	camera operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
María Teresa Iglesias	....	seamstress

Editorial Department
José María Biurrún	....	second assistant editor
María Teresa Mateos	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Demetrio Bravo	....	second production assistant
Isabel Ruiz Capillas	....	shooting secretary (as Maribel Ruiz Capillas)
Luis Vázquez	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Hesperia Films S.A.
• Les Films de la Boétie

Distributors

• AVCO Embassy Pictures (USA) (dubbed)
• DMEG (2004) (Sweden) (video) (as "Bell from Hell")
• Mercurio Films S.A. (Spain)
• Mill Creek Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Pathfinder Pictures (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Baquero

Other Companies

• Antonio Marqués  shooting unit
• Gecisa  electric equipment
• Macasoli  camera equipment provided by
• Galindo  transportation
• Decoraciones Generales  set construction
• Arcofón  sound post-production
• Lui  costumes made by
• Cornejo  wardrobe (as Cornejo)
• Mateos  props
• Estudios Roma  studio

Also Known As:

A Bell from Hell
La cloche de l'enfer (France)
The Bell of Hell

Runtime:

Spain:106 min | USA:93 min

Country:

Spain | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

A Coruña, Galicia, Spain

Company:

Hesperia Films S.A.

Trivia:

Director Claudio Guerín Hill fell from the tower housing the title bell on the last day of shooting and was killed. The film was completed by Juan Antonio Bardem.

Quotes:

[Juan ties Esther's wrists and ankles]
Esther: [laughing] This is a new game!
Juan: In every tragedy, there is an innocent victim. In this case - you're it.

Ding Dingelong Ding-Dong … You're dead!

"The Bell From Hell" sadly suffers from a couple of incredibly badly dubbed DVD-versions that carelessly got dropped on the market somehow. Personally, I owned a version that I tried to watch FOUR times, but never got past the opening 15 minutes because I couldn't understand one iota of what the characters were mumbling. Luckily enough, the eerie atmosphere and dark cinematography looked so promising already that I never gave up the search for a decent version! And I'm glad I didn't, otherwise I would have missed out on one of the most uniquely bizarre & original horror films ever made in the European continent! This is a seriously strange movie, raw and perhaps slightly perverse, but really stuffed with ingenious story lines and highly impressive shock-sequences. The plot is twisted and introduces the handsome young Juan on the day he's released from the mental asylum. He was institutionalized for quite a long time, since the day his mother died, largely because his crippled aunt wanted sole control over the family fortune. Now that he's released Juan gets back at her and her three gorgeous daughters through wicked mind games and torture. You'd think Juan deserves his vengeance, but his sick pranks do indicate he's really insane... Synchronous with these events, the movie displays images of a brand new church bell being prepared for service, yet the connection with the main characters only becomes clear near the climax. "The Bell from Hell" is a really good film! There are some very freaky scenes (the dungeon!) and some hard gore (the abattoir!) but director Claudio Guerín maintains style throughout his whole film. Perhaps not as brilliantly as Mario Bava or Antonio Margheriti would do it, but certainly sufficient. The music is terrific (another Euro-horror classic that turns a harmless lullaby into a terrifying tune) and the girls all look ravishing. Sure there are quite a few holes in the script and several continuity-errors, but any fan of European exploitation horror is easily able to look past all that. Equally (in)famous as the film itself is the accident (?) that killed the young and promising director Claudio Guerín. Days before completing the film, he fell off the church decor. I'm sure the contemporary dictator Franco didn't attend his funeral, as Guerín's film can also be seen as a mockery of his repressive regime. Don't you love trivia?