The Whip and the Body - 1963 - Christopher Lee

Directed by Mario Bava. This unrelentingly-creepy tale of obsession and perversion plays like a more-horrific version of _Wuthering Heights_: cobwebbed crypts, dark castles with secret passages, rotting bodies, muddy footprints, pale faces scowling through windows, love-hate relationships that continue beyond the grave, sea cliffs, turbulent ocean, sunsets, and a very haunting music score. The sets are rich and the direction is moody, with lots of brilliantly-composed photography and a convincingly-cruel performance by Christopher Lee. One of Bava's greatest masterpieces.
Cast:
Daliah Lavi as Nevenka
Christopher Lee as Kurt Menliff
Tony Kendall as Christian Menliff
Ida Galli (as Isil Oberon) as Katia
Harriet Medin (as Harriet White) as Giorgia
Gustavo De Nardo (as Dean Ardow) as Count Menliff
Luciano Pigozzi (as Alan Collins) as Losat
Jacques Herlin as the Priest