La sorcière sanglante

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.

"I lunghi capelli della morte" by Antonio Margheriti is a classic b/w Gothic movie. Take a flickering candle, go down into the crypt, past the spider webs - and you wouldn't be surprised if Bela Lugosi was lurking in the shadow. Actually it's Barbara Steele which you can't complain about, either. Giorgio Ardisson plays Kurt, the son of a Count, who commits a murder, blames it on a witch, the witch is burnt and leaves a terrible curse behind - maybe the story is not something new, but it matters most in this movie to show how a man is slowly trapped in a revenge plan - so slowly that for most of the running time, he doesn't even realize the torment already began. That not much is happening, as sometimes reviewers do say, is done on purpose: Kurt would like to move, but he is becoming aware more and more of his helplessness, his inability to hide. "I lunghi capelli della morte" is a movie with intensity, atmosphere and beauty in its black and white imagery, and while I just wanted to check out the first chapter for the disc quality when the DVD arrived in the mail, I ended up watching it till the end - it was mesmerizing and really that good. Fans of the genre, don't miss it!

Long Hair of Death is a great film. I have to disagree with other reviewers regarding this, both those here on the IMDb and some in printed publications. This is 1960s Italian horror at its very best and, to me, that means it is among the very best, period. I can understand why many in today's impatient, multi-task oriented audience would not like slow moving, atmospheric films which are very dull compared to the current era's action and gore oriented offerings. Films such as these require a cultivated taste of sorts and I realize they are not for everybody.

Long Hair of Death is outstanding because it is exactly what those who do not like it say that it is. It is slow moving, contains little action and there are long periods of -- not much. Not much, except for a feeling of dread and unease that begins immediately after the story begins and does not end until literally the film's end. The slowness is the main reason the viewer sits in uncomfortable agony waiting for something bad to happen, which eventually does.

The story concerns a woman burnt at the stake in 16th century Italy, falsely accused of murder. That she happens to be a count's wife and the count's son the real villain of the story are of great importance in the storyline. Giorgio Ardisson as the evil Kurt Humboldt is one of the big screen's most despicable characters, as throughout the film he commits multiple murder and rape, but sadly most persons not interested in obscure cinema will never know this or experience his splendid performance. The great Barbara Steele (How I wish she had done a greater body of work!) plays a dual role, her characters being pretty much the same as they were in 1960's Black Sunday, (La Maschera del Demonio), as Helen Karnstein, wife of Count Humboldt and also as her daughter Mary. Again, the story is pretty much the same as Black Sunday, with the emphasis being on the executed Helen and the curse she places upon the Count and his son Kurt Humboldt. Daughter Mary, who is a lookalike for her mother, assists in the revenge by playing upon the Count's guilt to destroy him emotionally and getting Kurt to fall in love with her. The fact that Kurt is already married to Mary's sister Elizabeth, herself abused by Kurt, adds dramatically to the sense of moral decay in the Humboldt castle.

The ultimate revenge is as creative as it is brutal. Watch the film to see what it is, I won't provide SPOILERS here.

Barbara Steele remains to this day the standard which all horror (scream) queens are judged, and that is interesting because she does very little screaming and performs little if any violence in her films. She is to horror acting what Alfred Hitchcock was to suspense directing. They frighten you with "What if . . . ," instead of actual brutality and exaggerated acting. From the moment she first appears on screen in any of her films one knows trouble will soon follow and it has nothing to do with anything she says or does. Whatever "it" is, she has it in abundance. Long Hair of Death will remind some viewers of 1972's Lisa and the Devil, (Lisa e il Diavolo) another story of a decaying household but set to modern times. One wonders how much better that film would have been with Ms. Steele in the lead instead of Elke Sommer, a fine actress but out of her depth in psychological horror.

Director Antonio Margheriti has never received the credit he deserves as a fine director of subdued horror. Margheriti will take you on a painstaking walk through the dreariest of castles and make you feel the suspense of every hesitant step and so it is with Long hair of Death. I recently viewed Long Hair of Death after having not seen it in awhile and was emotionally drained by the time the end credits rolled.

If you are unfamiliar with this type of film and are unimpressed with the sensationalism of today's cinema, then find Long Hair of Death or any of the other fine films of Margheriti or Mario Bava. I believe you will be pleasantly surprised and join me in my admiration of Italian horror cinema of this period.

I think this is one of Barbara Steele's better horror films. It does have a creepy Gothic atmosphere - and great Gothic music to go with it. I like quite a few of the Italian horror films from the 1960s - 1970s - this is one of them.

This film surrounds a witch and lust. A woman with two daughters is taunted by a man who lusts for her - so much so he would force her into making love to him. She refuses him and is accused of witchcraft and therefor put to death. The older daughter is later put to death and leaving the youngest daughter alive. She grows up and marries... later on the older daughter (apparently a witch) comes back from the dead to seek revenge on those who harmed her family.

Good late night flick!!

7/10

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.