Sunday, February 10, 2008

The Curse of the Virgin of Nuremberg


For the longest time, I tried in vain to find the movie Horror Castle. I knew it had to be retitled, as many of those Italian gothics were. When I was about 11 or so, I had a slumber party, and my friends and I watched this thing in...horror.
My friend Sandy was particularly disturbed by a scene in which a rat in a cage is placed on a woman's face--and truthfully, Sandy's dramatic reenactment of the scence was far more terrifying and well acted than the original. She would always add the words "I can't...live this way!"

So--after lots of searching a couple years ago, I found the original title is called La Vergine di Noremberga. Lovely. I stuck it at the top of my blockbuster queue, and after waiting a while for it to be shipped from an exotic non-local blockbusting warehouse (it's a special movie!) like Rexburg Idaho or somesuch, I eagerly opened the envelope and...it was broken in 3 pieces. Damn.

I reported it damaged, and had another copy shipped. It was broken in 4 pieces. I had Steve order it in NY from Netflix. He received it, and it was broken in several pieces. He reordered it. That copy was likewise broken in pieces. I gave up, and over a year later decided to try again when I switched back to Netflix. Broken! I wasn't going to give up--I made it clear there was a problem with the DVD at customer support, and they assured me the dvd would arrive in one piece next time. I ordered it again and again, probably 5 more times in total. Every time, it was broken in at least 3 pieces, and it was not broken in the same places. I considered buying it, but I have no confidence it will arrive in one piece.
What are the chances of this? I have been using Netflix for at least 5 or 6 years, and I've never ever had another DVD arrive broken. Is there some anti-italian-gothic-cinema movement? Looking at the reviews at Netflix, it seems others have receieved and watched the movie--no complaints about brokenness.
So--it seems I am destined to not obtain this film. It might be interesting to have anyone interested in a little experiment with this to order the DVD from netflix and report its condition upon arrival. If you do this, scan or photograph the DVD so we can compare the breakage.
I'm putting it at the top of my queue tonight, and will document it when it arrives.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Seriously? Cannot wrap my brain around this one. How many times? Broken every single time? You aren't making this up? Really?...huh? (wanders off in a daze...mumbling...)

richelle said...

Seriously. We can't figure it out. Put it on your netflix queue and see for yourself. I've received it broken so many times (even at different addresses) that I have no confidence it is *able* to arrive unbroken. It really is strange.