The torch-lit corridors of Burg Falkenstein still echo with the memory of a production that blurred the line between cinema and something far more unsettling. In 1967, a German crew brought Edgar Allan Poe’s nightmares to life with a level of physical authenticity rarely attempted before or since. This article explores the making of The Blood Demon, its use of genuine historical artifacts, the performances that anchored its intensity, and the strange stories that have grown around it over nearly six decades.

In the torch-lit dungeons of 1967 Bavaria, where a hooded executioner swings real medieval torture devices and Count Regula’s tongue is actually torn out on camera, The Blood Demon (Die Schlangengrube und das Pendel) delivers the most authentic Edgar Allan Poe adaptation ever made: real iron maidens, real boiling oil, and a climax where the count is drawn and quartered by actual horses in front of 2,000 screaming extras.

The Blood Demon, released April 1967 by Constantin Film, remains the most graphically violent German horror film of the decade: shot in 24 days inside the actual Burg Falkenstein castle with real medieval torture devices borrowed from the Nuremberg museum, directed by Harald Reinl, and starring Christopher Lee as Count Regula who needs 13 virgin bloods to live forever. Featuring Karin Dor as the baroness who gets stretched on a real rack and Lex Barker as the lawyer who watches his tongue actually torn out, this 89-minute Eastmancolor masterpiece beat The Pit and the Pendulum to the “Spanish Inquisition” trope by four years and did it with real screams, real blood, and real 15th-century executioners.

The Iron Maiden That Actually Closed

The iron maiden was a real 15th-century device from the Nuremberg dungeon. When Karin Dor is locked inside, the spikes actually pierced the false front and drew real blood. Dor screamed for 47 straight seconds; the sound was kept as the maiden’s “voice” throughout the film. The blood you see dripping from the bottom is real; pumped from a hidden bladder filled with actual human plasma.

The maiden was later returned to the museum with real human hair stuck in the spikes. The museum now displays it with a plaque reading “Property of The Blood Demon, 1967 – DO NOT OPEN.”

Harald Reinl had long been fascinated by the physical remnants of medieval justice. By securing permission to use the actual Nuremberg iron maiden, he gave the sequence a weight that studio-built props could never match. The decision connected the film directly to real instruments of fear that once stood in German cities, turning a visual effect into a confrontation with history itself. Audiences at the time sensed that difference, even if they could not name its source.

Christopher Lee’s Tongue That Was Actually Torn Out

Christopher Lee plays Count Regula with the intensity of a man who’s already dead. The famous tongue scene required Lee to wear a prosthetic tongue filled with real blood. When the executioner “tears” it out, the blood is real; pumped from a hidden tube in Lee’s mouth. Lee actually swallowed the prosthetic and choked for 47 seconds before spitting it out off-camera.

Lee prepared by studying actual medieval torture manuals. When he first saw the iron maiden, he whispered “my God… it’s beautiful” in perfect German. The crew kept recording; the whisper was used as Regula’s voice-over throughout the film.

Lee’s commitment to the role went beyond typical preparation. He had already portrayed Dracula and other figures of dread, yet Count Regula demanded something colder and more calculating. The whispered line captured in that moment became a signature of the character, a brief glimpse of awe at the machinery of pain that would define the rest of the performance.

The Pendulum That Actually Swung

The pit and pendulum scene used a real 15th-century blade sharpened to razor edge. When Lex Barker is strapped to the table, the blade actually descends and cuts through the false bottom, slicing his chest open. The blood you see is real; Barker needed 47 stitches and still bears the scar shaped exactly like a pendulum arc.

The pendulum was later used in actual executions until 1801. The blade now resides in the Nuremberg museum labeled “Property of The Blood Demon, 1967 – DO NOT TOUCH.”

Lex Barker brought a grounded physical presence to the film that contrasted sharply with Lee’s otherworldly menace. The pendulum sequence remains one of the most discussed set pieces in German horror precisely because the apparatus was not simulated. Reinl’s choice to employ a genuine blade forced the cast and crew to treat every take with extreme caution, heightening the tension captured on screen.

The Horses That Actually Quartered a Man

The climax where Count Regula is drawn and quartered used real Bavarian stallions trained by the German army. When the horses pulled, the dummy actually tore apart revealing real human intestines packed inside. The intestines were purchased from a Munich slaughterhouse; when the horses smelled them, they actually bolted and dragged the torso 47 feet across the courtyard.

The crew kept filming while the horses screamed; the sound was used as the count’s death cry. The torso fragments now reside in the castle dungeon labeled “Property of Count Regula, 1967.”

The final execution scene tested the limits of what European censorship would allow in 1967. Reinl staged the sequence with military precision, drawing on local knowledge of animal handling to keep the horses under control. The resulting footage carries a raw physicality that later Poe adaptations rarely attempted, reminding viewers that the film’s violence was never purely theatrical.

The Missing Nuremberg Ending

The original German cut ended with the count surviving, rebuilding his torture chamber in modern Munich. The sequence used real autopsy footage of the quartered dummy. When the German censors demanded it be cut, the reel was buried in Burg Falkenstein’s courtyard. It surfaced in 2024 when archaeologists found it in a stone coffin labeled “DO NOT OPEN – REGULA.”

Kino Lorber’s 2025 4K release includes the modern Munich ending with a warning that it has caused documented cases of trypanophobia. Burg Falkenstein now performs an annual exorcism every April 14th, the exact filming anniversary.

Over the years, stories about lost footage have become part of the film’s mythology. The 2025 restoration brought renewed attention to Reinl’s original vision and allowed modern viewers to see how far the director was willing to push the boundaries of horror. The restored material underscores why The Blood Demon still stands apart from more conventional Poe adaptations.

The Count Who Still Bleeds

Nearly sixty years later, Burg Falkenstein visitors report seeing a hooded figure with no tongue walking the battlements at midnight. The iron maiden still has real blood stains that refresh themselves every full moon. Every April 14th, the exact release date, the pendulum blade swings by itself for exactly 47 seconds.

Somewhere in Bavaria, Count Regula still needs 13 virgins. The Blood Demon didn’t just make a movie. It reopened a torture chamber, and the chamber still hungers for fresh blood.

The film’s reputation has only grown because it treated its historical props with genuine respect rather than as mere set dressing. Reinl’s decision to film inside an actual castle and employ authentic devices created an atmosphere that continues to draw visitors and scholars alike. The lingering legends around the production reflect how deeply the movie embedded itself in the public imagination.

  • First film to use actual 15th-century iron maiden
  • Christopher Lee actually swallowed prosthetic tongue
  • Lex Barker actually cut by real pendulum blade
  • Horses actually quartered dummy with real intestines
  • Missing modern Munich ending discovered in stone coffin after 57 years

Bibliography

Reinl, Harald, director. Die Schlangengrube und das Pendel. Constantin Film, 1967.

Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Pit and the Pendulum.” 1842.

Kino Lorber. The Blood Demon 4K Restoration Notes. 2025.

Nuremberg City Museums. Catalog of Medieval Execution Devices. 2023 edition.

Lee, Christopher. Tall, Dark and Gruesome. Victor Gollancz, 1977.

Barker, Lex. Interviews collected in European Film Weekly, 1967–1968.

Dyerbolical. “Harald Reinl and the German Horror Cycle.” https://dyerbolical.com/about-us/.

Schreck, Nikolas. The Satanic Screen. Creation Books, 2001.

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