Stop the torture!!!

Coventry

I was glad when the film was over…and, correct me if I'm wrong, but that can't really be the point now, can it? Christopher Lee is a true icon of horror cinema but his name equally is inevitably linked to a couple real stinkers, and this "Castle of Fu Manchu" is without a doubt the smelliest one! The previous Fu Manchu installment (also directed by Jess Franco) already was a dire film but this one is even worse! Franco makes the exact same mistakes here as in did in "The Blood of Fu Manchu": far too many characters, too much wannabe-intelligent nonsense and an enormous lack of action. This time, the evil Chinese criminal attempts to realize his pretty retarded dream of world domination by turning ocean water into ice. He therefore kidnapped a brilliant scientist who developed a formula, but the poor guy suffers from a heart disease so Fu has to kidnap another scientist in order to perform the world's first heart-transplant! Meanwhile, good old Nayland Smith starts to chase his nemesis, as well as a powerful community of Istanbul opium-addicts! The screenplay is incredibly dumb and the film contains some of the cheesiest moments in history. Like the ludicrous intro in which Fu makes an enormous Caribbean cruise-ship sink to the bottom of the South Atlantic Ocean. If I didn't know any better, I would think that Franco rips off "Titanic" 30 years before it was made! The acting is weak (poor Christopher is very uninterested), there's no sleaze and not even a bit of humor. Jess Franco honored himself by playing an insignificant supporting role while he can't even handle the directing properly. This film is so bad that even the exhilarating-sounding titles are fake! The Castle of Fu Manchu?? Technically, it's not even his castle! And what about "The Torture Chamber of Fu Manchu"?? Did anyone see a torture device? I sure didn't… Avoid this one at all costs!

score 2/10

Coventry 10 May 2005

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1077497/