Stevecorp
Don't listen to the negative reviews
Intcatinfo
A Masterpiece!
Leofwine_draca
This spooky Italian Gothic chiller is, quite simply, one of the best of its kind. Directed by veteran Antonio Margheriti (under his popular pseudonym of Anthony Dawson), everything works to this film's favour, from the low-key musical score which suggests rather than frightens, to the crisp black and white photography which brings out all the unknown shadows and flickering light sources (my only complaint with the lighting was when a character is carrying a candle but he's lit up by what obviously is a torch. This is ruined by an unfortunate inability to keep the light and the candle next to each other). This film's style brings it very close to the feel of BLACK Sunday.The plot, it has to be said, is nothing new, but it mixes in all the staple ingredients we know and love of the gothics. From the burning of the witch at the film's opening, to the inescapable finale, which reminds one of THE WICKER MAN, everything is present and correct. Fans of these particular films will be delighted by the endless parade of macabre images, from an apparently breathing corpse (it turns out to have rats scurrying around inside it), to an excellent moment where lightning strikes and opens a grave, revealing a corpse inside. The corpse then regenerates into a human being.The acting is above standard, the characters are enticing, even breaking through the obvious dubbing barrier. Barbara Steele is, as usual, the best actress in the film, and enjoys herself as first an apparently frightened victim, to a cold-blooded murderer, to finally a figure of vengeance. The twist in the tale - that she is a spirit, come to seek revenge - is obvious to spot well in advance, but this ruins nothing of the fun. George Ardisson is also very good as the strong, arrogant noble, who has been turned into a quivering wreck by the spirits at the end of this film. THE LONG HAIR OF DEATH is everything a film buff could wish for, and plenty more besides. Track it down immediately and see what you're missing out on.
avidnewbie
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.
ferbs54
In a taped interview that she gave at Toronto's Festival of Fear 2009, cult actress Barbara Steele mentioned that of her 40-odd films, only 11 have been in the field of horror (the clip is currently viewable on YouTube), the inference being that Babs today wonders just WHY her legion of fans insists on calling her "the Queen of Horror." By my count, however, Steele has appeared in at least 14 horror pictures, and is perhaps best remembered for the string of nine Italian Gothics that she appeared in, from her breakthrough appearance in the 1960 Mario Bava masterpiece "Black Sunday" to 1966's "An Angel for Satan." The picture in question here, "The Long Hair of Death" (just one of eight films that Steele appeared in in 1964!), is a perfect demonstration, however, of just why Steele remains the undisputed Queen of Horror to this day, despite her pooh-poohing of the title.In the film, as in several of her others, Babs plays what are essentially two roles. In the late 1400s, in what seems like a Germanic kingdom, young Helen Karnstein (our Barbara) sees her mother burned as a witch (interestingly, NOT at the stake, but rather at the center of a ring of entwined branches). The cruel nobleman Kurt Humboldt (very well played by handsome George Ardisson) had recently killed his own uncle and blamed it on this supposed daughter of Satan, but Helen's dreams of vengeance are cut short when Kurt's father, the Count (Giuliano Raffaelli), kills her shortly thereafter by tossing her down a waterfall! Flash forward 10 years or so, and Helen's sister, Elizabeth (Halina Zalewska, who looks very much to me like Kirstie Alley, of all people!), also harboring thoughts of a long-deferred vengeance, is forced into an unholy marriage by Kurt, the very man who killed her mother! And shortly after, on a stormy night, a woman named Mary, the spitting image of the deceased Helen (Babs again, natch), appears at the castle door, capturing the fickle Kurt's heart and paving the way for poisonings, deceit and assorted mayhem...."The Long Hair of Death" (the title is triply significant!) was the second collaboration between Steele and director Antonio Margheriti; their first, the truly spooky "Castle of Blood," had been released earlier that same year. In both films, Margheriti exhibits a definite flair for these Gothic affairs, and he is hugely abetted here by the art direction and set design of, respectively, Giorgio Giovannini and Henry Fraser. The castle chambers and underground crypts on display in the film are things of morbid and dreary beauty, wonderfully shot in B&W by cinematographer Riccardo Pallottini (who had also served as the DOP on "Castle of Blood"). And while I'm name-dropping, I may as well add that the truly creepy score by famed composer Carlo Rustichelli (who, that same year, worked on Mario Bava's protogiallo "Blood and Black Lace") adds immeasurably to the sinister goings-on, despite the fact that it IS repeated at least a dozen times during the course of the picture. The film features any number of startling sequences--including several burnings and the awesome sight of Babs' decayed corpse being reanimated in her newly opened grave by lightning--and various gross-out shots (Babs' maggot-filled corpse face, reminiscent of the puss she sported in "Black Sunday" as the witch Asa, as well as a skeleton being jittered by some frisky rodents). There is also a surprising flash of toplessness on display here (again, as in "Castle of Blood"), probably thanks to Barbara's body double, and I must add that the vengeance that the two sisters ultimately wreak on Kurt is a doozy, prefiguring a classic scene in 1973's "The Wicker Man" by almost a decade. Essentially an exemplar of the Italian Gothic, "The Long Hair of Death" has both style and atmosphere to spare, and is of course stolen by the magnificent Barbara Steele, who is both captivating and beautiful in every scene that she graces. And how chilling she is, when she appears to Kurt near the film's end and intones "You're going to die"! Wonderful stuff, indeed! The further good news is that this film can now be found in a nice-looking print (although poorly dubbed) on a DVD from a company known as Midnight Choir...AND paired with the Steele rarity "An Angel for Satan," her last Italian Gothic! Watching these two films together will certainly satisfy any viewer that, despite her denial in Toronto, Barbara Steele really IS the Queen of Horror!
azcowboysingr
While the film quality of the DVD I bought is rather poor (faded & a little blurry), this is an outstanding movie. The plot is horror with a witch burned at the stake & cursing her accusers, a daughter violated & murdered, & another daughter raised by her killers & married off to the lecherous son. Of course, the dead daughter (Barbara Steele) returns from the grave to exact vengeance on the family who burner her mother & killed her to hide the fact that the Count raped her while she begged for her mother's life. The best thing about this film is the way a mood was set early on & never let up on the suspense. The plot is solid & well scripted for an Italian movie. For its day, the SFX are not too shabby. At times, I had the feeling that Shakespeare might have written this if he had been alive in the 1950's...lol. Another thing I enjoyed was seeing Barbara Steele in her prime, not to mention some scenes of her naked tits. While very tame by today's standards, the sex scenes were very daring & explicit for the '50's. I know that most of today's young people will not like this movie, finding it slow moving & even perhaps a bit boring, but anyone who enjoys well done suspense, atmospheric horror, & an intelligent script, will thoroughly enjoy this film.
