This film could have been titled The Legend of the Lake perhaps and
is a very fine and atmospheric Crime-Horror, and towards the end almost
a Gothic Giallo where an old statue of a beautiful woman supposedly
is causing a spree of death and evil. With crisp cinematography in black
and white by Giuseppe Aquari and with Barbara Steele, in her last italian
film, giving a magnificent performance, maybe even her best.
The film takes place sometime in the 19th century and we have a village
and a big mansion or a castle situated at a big lake. A Sculptor, Roberto
Merigi (Anthony Steffen) arrives by boat and he has been hired by the
Count Montebruno (Claudio Gora) to restore an old statue fished up
from the lake. The 200 year old statue of a Countess Montebruno, and
The Legend of the Lake says that the statue will cause death and misery
to all villagers, and the two boatmen who found the statue is soon found
dead. The locals are very superstitious and don't want any outside
strangers to give them bad luck, so Merigi is met by hostility by the
villagers, with the exception of the teacher David Morelli (Vassili
Karis).
Then the mistress of the castle arrives from England,
Countess Harriet Montebruno (Barbara Steele) the Count's niece, and
he has taken
care of her as if he was her parent. Merigi is immediately attracted
to Harriet and he wants her to pose for him, so he can restore the statue
properly. An ancestor to Harriet 200 years ago, the Countess Belinda
Montebruno wanted her great looks to be preserved for eternity, in
marble and the statue looks just like Harriet.
But Harriet starts to change, possessed by the statue
evil things from 200 year ago will be repeated, and Harriet starts doing
evil things.
She whips the village idiot and seduces a village peasant (Mario Brega)
which makes him burn his family to death. The villagers call her
a witch and crave that the wretched statue is thrown back into the lake.
She also seduces her maid, Rita (Ursula Davis) and makes her dump
her boyfriend Dario. Harriet seems to be schizophrenic, sometimes she's
sweet Harriet and sometimes evil Belinda. Twist ending a-coming.
Widescreen ratio not stated on the cover, with english or italian audio
with english subtitles, REGION A.
Extras: Two separate audio commentaries 1. with Barbara Steele (!),
David Gregory of Severin and David Del Valle, 2. with Kat Ellinger (i
always like her commentaries, Go Kat!), The Devil Statue: Interview
with actor Vassili Karis (or Karamesinis) 18 minutes in italian with
subs,
1967 Short film: Barbara and her Furs (9 minutes in french with english
subtitles) art film directed by Ado Kyrou with commentary by
Barbara Steele, Trailer and extended Trailer
Barbara Steele - The Queen of Gothic Horror had a strange
knack of being both beautiful and disturbing at the same time, depending
on
which angle the camera shoots her from. She had an extraordinary face
and she's magnificent as Evil Harriet in this film. A great film it
is.
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Above picture: The old US Midnight Choir - Ryko DVD
edition, with two films: 1. Un Angelo per Satana (An Angel for Satan)
1966 and
2. The Long Hair of Death (I Lunghi capelli della morte)
1964 Directioni: Antonio Margheriti (under alias Anthony Dawson)
When the first film, An Angel for Satan, had a fine
anamorphic widescreen with a crisp picture, the second one was an old
crappy transfer.
The Long Hair of Death - is an atmospheric gothic horror by Margheriti.
At the end of the 15th century a woman is executed falsely
accused of murder, and her daughter Helen (Barbara Steele) also dies,
but not without passing a curse upon the Count Humboldt and his
family. Helen's little sister grows up in the Humboldt castle and then
she marries with Curt Humboldt (George Ardisson). Then the plague
hits and Harriet decides to return from the dead. Film in widescreen,
black & white, english audio
