Der Todesfluch der brennenden Hexe

The great Antonio Margheriti, Italy's second-greatest Gothic Horror director (right after the unmatched Mario Bava), and the wonderful Barbara Steele, Horror's single greatest leading lady ever made two magnificent films in 1964. One was the insanely brilliant "Danza Macabra" (aka. "Castle of Blood"), which doubtlessly ranks among the greatest Gothic Horror films ever to be made. The other is this atmospheres and wonderfully macabre gem called "I Lunghi Capelli Della Morte" aka. "The Long Hair of Death". Maybe not quite as essential a masterpiece as "Danza Macabra", "The Long Hair of Death" is yet another glorious film by Margheriti, which once again proves that Barbara Steele is the ultimate goddess of Horror.

The film is magnificently set in the 15th century, when accused witch Adele Karnstein is burned in a rather bizarre stake ritual. While she is being lead to the stake, her oldest daughter Helen Karnstein (Barbara Steele)is forced into sex with the Count whom she has begged to set her mother free. Just before being consumed by the flames, however, the condemned witch puts a curse on the responsible Count and his ruthless son, vowing to take revenge from beyond her burning grave...

This is only a very vague description of the first ten minutes of the film, but since I would hate to spoil any of this gem's wonderful spooks, I will leave it there. The storyline is fascinating and truly macabre, and includes trademark Gothic elements such as curses, resurrection and revenge as well as the black plague. As in all Gothic Horror films by Margheriti, the atmosphere is incredibly eerie and haunting, yet beautiful at the same time. Gloomy castle corridors and dark tombs make an excellent setting for this film's wonderfully creepy storyline. Barbara Steele is, as always, brilliant and absolutely wonderful. As always when reviewing a film with my favorite actress, I get the feeling of not finding the right words, since I simply cannot praise this wonderful actress enough. The other performances are good too, especially Halina Zalewska, who plays the second female lead, is worth mentioning. It's also fun to see a small supporting performance by Italian Cult-cinema regular Nello Pazzafini. Pazzafini's name isn't very well-known, but he was omnipresent in Italian films of many genres in the 60s and 70s, mostly in Spaghetti Westerns, Gialli and Poliziotteschi. This is one of the earlier films I've seen him in. It is, of course, Barbara Steele who is the main attraction, however. As said above, the atmosphere is wonderfully eerie and the settings are great. The film is beautifully shot, even though my copy isn't in the best quality. The score is also very cool and contributes a lot to the film's haunting mood. For all the horny Horror fans out there, an additional quality of this film should be revealed: In one love-making scene Barbara Steele's left breast is revealed! (I am not sure, however, whether it belongs to Barbara Steele or a body double). All things considered, this is yet another great Gothic Horror gem with the genre's undisputed goddess, Barbara Steele, and no Horror/Cult-cinema lover should consider missing it. 8.5/10

Well, it's obvious that The Long Hair of Death takes a lot of its influence from the Mario Bava masterpiece 'Black Sunday', but even so; Antonio Margheriti's film manages to deliver a good horror story in its own right. The plot is pretty much your classic Gothic horror yarn, and focuses on a small village. A woman is accused of being a witch and promptly put to death. However, her eldest daughter knows the real reason for her death revolves around the lord, and she's promptly killed also. The youngest daughter survives and is taken in by the murderous lord's family, eventually marrying his son. Soon after, a deadly plague threatens the village; and the older daughter reappears to avenge her mother's death. The main standout of this movie is definitely the atmosphere - director Antonio Margheriti does an excellent job of giving the movie a foreboding feel through the eerie black and white cinematography and the imposing sets. The plot can drag a bit at times, which is a shame; and so it's lucky that Margheriti was able to give the film an atmosphere as it keeps it going when the plot takes a downturn.

Another standout about this film is, of course, the fact that it has a leading role for Barbara Steele. Of course, she was almost certainly cast because of her success in Black Sunday, and as such; this isn't her greatest performance, but she's always nice to see and she does play the resurrected woman well. It does quite often seem like Margheriti is dragging the plot out and this is a shame as the film is overlong as a result and it has to be said that The Long Hair of Death would have benefited from a shorter running time. Antonio Margheriti made some good films in his career, though the fact that he doesn't get good recognition along with the likes of Sergio Martino and Lucio Fulci doesn't surprise me. This film was released in between Margheriti's successes with The Virgin of Nuremberg and Dance Macabre, and although I prefer both of the mentioned films; this one is still worth seeing for the Italian Gothic horror fan. The film boils down to a somewhat predictable ending, but it's a nice ride getting there and overall, despite the fact that The Long Hair of Death may not be the most successful film of it's type - it's still worth a watch.

After hearing so much about the often ballyhooed Black Sunday film which predates this one I finally got the chance to check out both films for myself. Black Sunday a.k.a the Mask Of Satan is also a Gothic b/w Italian horror film that features Barbara Steele as it's main character. Every review that I came across recommended the Mario Bava movie without any reservations whatsoever and made constant references to it's beautiful cinematography, period detail and atmosphere. I was super anxious to see this unanimously lauded classic. However, once viewed, I did not find the Mask of Satan to be that great of a movie. Yes, it was beautifully filmed and yes it was quite atmospheric but it was also flat, boring and predictable. It's dated violence and special effects did very little to help liven things up. The eerie soundtrack that seemed to constantly be playing was too loud and it actually served to slaughter, in it's infancy, any tension that possibly might have been building. The film felt like a major let down after hearing so much about it. It was o.k. but nearer to a novelty than a classic. The Long Hair Of Death was a film which I had heard absolutely nothing about. I only just learned of it's existence when it was recently scheduled to be released on blu ray in the near future. The cover art was intriguing and there was Barbara Steele again. So I found the movie on YouTube and set out to see if it was worth adding to my collection. Little did I know what a treat I was in for. This movie is similar in look and feel to Bava's film yet it is superior to that film due to it's character development and it's bizarre and intermittent flashes of kinky eroticism. The pacing is glacial in this one also and yet it doesn't feel quite as moribund as "Sunday". The camera work is lovely and lush and is perfectly enhanced by vividly detailed decorative sets and costumes. The acting is better in this one too although the dialog is pretty standard for this type of fare. All in all, I prefer The Long Hair of Death to Black Sunday on any given day and will be purchasing a copy on blu ray ASAP.

I've just recently discovered the Italian horror film. This one is pretty decent. I could have been much improved with a little effort at editing. Everything is set up nicely for revenge. You have the evil of witch burning as an innocent victim is set afire. She curses the people who put her there and we all know she'll be back. Nasty stuff begins to happen in the dukedom as the plague begins to decimate the population. The bad guys prosper pretty well, isolated from the rest of the rabble, but then a young woman (Barbaba Steele) returns. To keep her quiet, the patriarch of the castle pushed her off a cliff. She comes back to help her sister who has been forced into an ugly marriage with the young master. There are a series of efforts to kill this woman and things come to a satisfactory ending for the audience. The problem is the pacing. It drags on and on. There are these meandering trips through the castle, seemingly going nowhere. The whole effort to cover up a murder seems so convoluted. Let's just say there are simpler ways to go about these things, especially when you wield a lot of power. Still, I mostly liked it. Visually it is interesting and the acting is quite good.

The Long Hair of Death was one of the cycle of Gothic horror films released by Italian studios in the 1960's. Like the majority of them, it was filmed in black and white for budget reasons although from today's perspective this does give the film a certain atmosphere and classy look. Set in the 15th century, a young woman is accused of being a witch and is burned to death. She casts a curse on the house of the men responsible and returns from the grave many years later to enact deadly revenge.

The director here was Antonio Margheriti working under his anglicised moniker Anthony Dawson. Margheriti was a director who made films in most of the Italian genres, from peplums and spaghetti westerns to gialli and poliziotteschi amongst others. He displays some care with the Gothic horror genre taking care to build a moody atmosphere and slowly constructing the story. But the main draw here is probably Barbara Steele. This British actress was the queen of the 60's Gothic horror film, appearing in movies from both sides of the Atlantic although she is primarily associated with the Italian strain of the sub-genre. Her strong, seductive features were perfectly suited to these films and, once again, she is more aggressor than victim here.

This is a fairly typical entry in the Italian Gothic sub-set. It's a solid entry, if not in the upper bracket. It does have some well-staged scenes and nice location photography though and it ends on a satisfyingly macabre note. While it obviously benefits considerably by the presence of Steele. The title doesn't really mean an awful lot but it sounds good.