An Angel for Satan (1966)

Overrated

Good start, but then it gets ruined

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Here's a question all us folks must face at some point: If we fell in love with a beautiful woman, should we be concerned that all of a sudden they seem possessed by another person, or should we be grateful that this other seems more kinkier and a bit filthier than the other one? This is the problem facing Anthony Steffen, a sculptor paid to stay at the requisite creepy Italian villa to restore a 200 year old statue found in the lake next to the villa. Strangely, this statue really looks like the just returned Countess Harriet (Steele, in her last Italian horror role), and Steffen was in there before she started calling herself Belinda and hitting on every living thing with a pulse.For example, local fool Victor, for whom Belinda strips off then beats around the face with a riding crop for looking at her. Or, for another example, the timid teacher Dario, whom she steals from her own maid, Kate? Or how about her maid, Kate? Or how about Carlo, who starts off as Head of the Angry Villager Witch-Baiting Team who then ends up on team Strega? She even manages to turn one of them into a serial killer (he's not very good at it, however).At first this starts becoming a little boring until everyone goes mental and starts kill themselves and each other. Only Anthony Steffen, a spaghetti Western leading man who is much better in these Giallo type films, can figure it out! Also, this is the first time I've seen Mario Brega in a non-Leone Western (He's the big fat sidekick of the bad guy in everyone of them). For a moment him and Steffen forget they are in a horror film and have a right old punch up, so that was good.This is a fairly bloodless and at first seemingly boring film that picks up a lot of steam once the corpses start piling up (including a suicide victim being found by children, and indeed children being locked up in a house and burned). It's also different in that although it does have the usual big villa, it's really Barabarabarabaarabarabrabraara Steele who is the haunted one. Nice way to finish off the career. You never get to see her boobs or bum even once.

Fabulous b/w Italian Gothic that is beautifully shot and has a marvellously evocative soundtrack. Perhaps slightly too leisurely paced at the start with too many interiors but this is nit picking and very mean for a film that at times reminded me of Bava's The Whip And The Body. Yes, that sort of intensity and sexual tension. Oh and I haven't even mentioned what would have made the film so watchable even without all that. Barbara Steele! This has to be one of her most notable roles (dual roles, again, actually) and she shines both as the innocent and the depraved equally. Her pretty personal maid and the handsome co-star both work hard but become almost invisible when this woman is on screen. It's a well told tale set on an Italian lake with much ado about a statue salvaged from the waters and an associated curse. Great stuff. Magnificent ending.

The late 19th century. Skeptical and pragmatic sculptor Robert (superbly played by Anthony Steffen) arrives in a small country village to restore an ancient statue to its former glory. Roberto falls for naive and innocent heiress Harriet (a first-rate performance by the ravishing Barbara Steele), whose evil ancestor Belinda was the original model for the statue. As the statue nears completion, Harriet becomes more like the cunning, devious, manipulative and flat-out no-good Belinda. Is Harriet possessed by Belinda's vengeful and malevolent spirit? Or is there something else going on? Director Camillo Mastrocinque, who also co-wrote the clever and compelling script with Giuseppe Mangoine, relates the complex and engrossing story at a steady pace, does a fine job of creating and sustaining a spooky brooding atmosphere throughout, and delivers a potent and vivid evocation of the remote rural region and the fearful superstitious people who populate the area. Steele excels in her tasty dual role; she brings a charming grace to Harriet and portrays the devilishly enticing Belinda with splendidly nasty relish. The supporting cast likewise contribute sound work: Claudio Gora as the wise, kindly Count Montebruno, Ursula Davis as sweet, fetching maid Rita, Marina Berti as poised governess Illa, Aldo Berti as friendly school teacher Dario, and Mario Brega as brutish, ill-tempered local strongman Carlo. The surprise twist ending is genuinely startling. Giuseppe Aquari's striking black and white cinematography and Francesco De Masi's elegant score give this movie extra class. Well worth seeing.

Very glad to see this after so many years just reading about it. Was still operating under the impression that it was only available without subtitles, but seeing that Netflix was offering it, I added it to my queue and was very happy to find that it arrived with English subtitles.It's beautiful, evocative, violent, and puzzling with Steele cutting quite the figure of death and destruction as Harriet fresh out of England to claim her inheritance somewhere on the Continent. For a film that I thought was going to be wearisome and talky considering its first 15 minutes or so of weary talk, it definitely found its stride and delivered on its promise once Steele's machinations--or Belinda's or...?--unfolded. A great end of the week, Friday night flick and now one of my top three favorite Steele films.