The Night of the Damned () is a 1971 film directed by Filippo Ratti. Plot The married couple Jean and Danielle Duprey receive a letter from a prince, an old friend of Jean's. The letter is in the form of a riddle, which references Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire, which the prince gave him years ago. The Dupreys decide to leave and go to the prince's castle where Rita Lernod, the prince's wife, tells them that her husband is very ill. The prince appears to be afflicted with a disease unfamiliar to his doctors. The prince says that the disease affects everyone in his family for three generations, over thirty-five years of age. The couple finds a strange painting featuring someone dying at the stake, disturbing Danielle. Danielle begins to have nightmares about dying at the stake. The prince tells Jean that the truth behind everything is in the library and gives him a ring. At night, the prince dies and the next day a girl is found dead, with large scratches on her chest. The police identifies her as a cousin of the prince, who had been seen the night before in Strasbourg, hundreds of miles from there. The following night, Jean finds a book in the library about black magic, which references the amethyst, like the ring the prince had given him. The book states that it is the most effective remedy against witches. Another death occurs in similar fashion to the girl, with the police identifying her as the sister of the first victim. Jean finds a card in the library, which is a copy of a public act of a sorcery process of 1650, against a certain Tarin Drole. Jean discovers that this is an anagram for Rita Lernod. In the deed, it is written that the President of the Tribunal was an ancestor of the prince. Jean begins to explore the castle further while Rita takes Danielle with her, giving her something to drink, but after Danielle sees a flame in her glass and runs off looking for Jean. The ghost of the prince and Danielle appears and is brought over to an altar to be sacrificed. Rita is about to slash her on the chest, when Jean throws a boulder on a part to stop it, making Rita grow old, revealing herself to be a witch and dies. Jean and Rita find