Lupe Tekal d’Esperanza (Shelley Morrison) is the housekeeper for a rich recluse named Kovic (William Thourlby). After an accident that left his face disfigured Kovic retired to his remote island estate, Castle Montego. Lupe reports her employer as dead and calls in an undertaker named Muchado (Natividad Vacio) to embalm the body. When Muchado finds that Kovic is actually not dead but under the influence of a curare type drug he embalms the man anyway, prepares him for burial and blackmails Lupe. Lupe kills Muchado.
Previously Kovic had been aware that he was ill and so prepared his will and summoned his beneficiaries. Arriving on the island are Matt Granger (Scott Brady), an Engineer whose reputation Kovic ruined, Kovic’s former lover, Sable (Virginia Mayo), Carol Harris (Lisa Gaye), she blames Kovic for the death of her father, Kovic’s former doctor, Doctor Corozal (Hugh Marlowe), he knew Kovic’s dark secret of insanity in the family. Also in the mix are Tunki (Ernest Sarracino), his people were the rightful owners of the silver mine Kovic stole that made him a fortune and Robert Hawley (David Brian). Hawley was the attorney who helped Kovic steal the mine. When they reach the island they find out that Kovic died that morning.
Lupe reads the preamble to the will to the assembled beneficiaries. There are a couple conditions to it. First, if any of the beneficiaries die before the will is filed the remaining heirs will divide the estate. Second, Kovic states that the accident that caused his disfigurement relegated him to a slow death. He also says that the explosion that caused the slow poisoning of his body was not an accident. He claims that the six people assembled all had opportunity and motive to kill him. He believes that one of the six is the guilty party. If they can find out who murdered him the remaining heirs will, again, divide the estate.
Before Kovic died he created a robot in his own image. Lupe plans on using it to her advantage. In reality Lupe has plans on killing everyone and keeping Kovic’s estate for herself. Kovic, however, had plans of his own. Hating everyone mentioned in the will he secretly programs the robot to kill everyone on the island, including Lupe. With a robot running amok everyone is in danger.
“Castle of Evil” was released in 1966 and was directed by Francis D. Lyon. It is a low budget “B” movie combining the science fiction and horror genres with some old dark house elements.
It’s not a bad little film, considering the fact that it is a “B” picture. There are some decent actors in it. Some had seen better days but they could still put out a nice performance. Others were standard players that appeared in many television shows and low to middling movies. There’s nothing really fancy here. The plot is decent but there are no real scary, creepy or remotely eerie moments.
There were a couple plot devises that were a little strange. Why Kovic happened to have a laser cannon in his tricked out laboratory was one of them. Another was the gas chamber that reduced people to skeletons. It actually looked like a walk-in shower. Those two elements are basically the highlight of the movie. As for the robot, it looks like a human with a burnt up face. Not a glimmer of silver or circuitry anywhere to be seen.