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.

Although cult actress Barbara Steele appeared in 14 frightening films during the course of her career, the nine Italian Gothic-style pictures that she starred in during the early to mid-'60s are the ones primarily responsible for her current title: the Queen of Horror. Starting with the Mario Bava wonder "Black Sunday" in 1960, and then on to "The Horrible Dr. Hichcock," its sequel "The Ghost," "Castle of Blood," "The Long Hair of Death," "Terror Creatures From the Grave," "Nightmare Castle," "She Beast" and finally "An Angel for Satan" in 1966, Steele's streak of grisly horror films is one that no actress had enjoyed before...or has surpassed since. The last of those nine, "An Angel for Satan," is apparently the true rarity of the bunch, never having been released in any form for home viewing except in its original Italian...and without subtitles. Fortunately, for Barbara's legion of fans worldwide, the outfit known as Midnight Choir has recently released the film in a gorgeous print, with very adequate subtitling, AND paired with the 1964 film "The Long Hair of Death" (poorly dubbed) on the same DVD, for one superbly well-matched double feature. A look at "Angel" will quickly reveal what a wonderful actress Steele had become by the end of this streak, and how deserving the picture was itself for its rescue from relative oblivion.In the film, a handsome sculptor named Roberto Merigi (solidly portrayed by Anthony Steffen) arrives in the town of Montebruno (in the northern Italian lakes region, I am guessing), in an indeterminate time period (late 1800s?). He has been commissioned by the local Count (Claudio Gora) to restore a statue that had recently been discovered in the town's lake; strangely enough, the statue is the exact image of the Count's beautiful young ward, Harriet (played by our Babs), whose ancestor, Madelina, had posed for the statue some 200 years before. Back then, Madelina's plain-Jane cousin, Belinda, in a jealous rage, had cursed the statue and then been killed by it when the statue toppled into the lake. And now, as Merigi labors to repair the long-lost piece, sweet Harriet seemingly becomes influenced by the spirit of the lustful, hate-filled Belinda! Demon possessed, she soon drives the village idiot to commit rape and murder, wrecks her maid's romance with the local schoolteacher, destroys the marriage of a father of five, drives a man to suicide and sexually seduces that same maid! No wonder the village is soon referring to Harriet as "la strega"...the witch!As in several other of these Italian Gothic affairs, here, Steele plays what are essentially two discrete roles, and she is just terrific in both of them. The moments of Belinda possession come on quite suddenly, and Barbara manages the transformations with great finesse indeed. How effectively she conveys the lust and hatred of Belinda! The cunning subterfuges that she concocts to destroy the love and happiness of those around her are truly the products of a wicked mind, and Barbara, pro that she had become by this point, conveys that wickedness with seeming ease. As in all her horror films, Steele steals every scene that she appears in, and is surely the film's main selling point. But "An Angel for Satan" boasts several other winning features. It has been directed with panache by Camillo Mastrocinque, displays some top-notch production values (particularly those lavishly appointed chambers in the Count's villa), and features a lovely score by Francesco De Masi that alternates with music of a decidedly eerier character. The picture gives us several startling/horrific moments--including the schoolchildren's discovery of a hanging man, as well as the pitchfork death of an ax-wielding maniac--and one truly bravura, creepy sequence; the one in which the spirit of Belinda speaks to Roberto during a raging thunderstorm, while her face on a painted portrait moves and twitches ever so subtly. "An Angel for Satan" would actually be a perfect horror film, I feel, if it weren't for its final segment, which features a double-twist ending that negates much of the film's supernatural aura for one of completely unconvincing mundanity; truly, an aberration in Babs' Gothic canon. Still, the film remains eminently respectable, watchable and fun, and of course a must for all Barbara Steele completists. Despite her modern-day disavowal of the title, a film like this (and its eight predecessors, of course) serves as proof positive that Barbara Steele truly IS "the Queen of Horror"....

Perhaps inspired by Mérimée's short story "La Venus D'Illeand even more by French miniseries "Belphegor" ,"Un Angelo per Satana" is solid horror movie stuff;anyway with Barbara Steele,the most fascinating actress of the genre ,you cannot be wrong.Even when the screenplay is weak,she saves something from the wreckage.Anyway the screenplay is well-constructed,with two final unexpected twists;the first pictures ,on the lugubrious lake, almost show a Dreyeresque influence .Steele is so subtle an actress you never know whether she is an angel or a demon who causes crimes,drownings,suicides and other horrors;this is a Gothic atmosphere with the De Rigueur events which happened a long time ago and became a curse for the inhabitants of the island .Recommanded for horror buffs.

This was "Scream Queen" Barbara Steele's last of nine Italian horror films (for the record, I've still got TERROR CREATURES FROM THE GRAVE [1965] and THE SHE-BEAST [1966] to catch up with) and the one that was hardest to come by until recently. With this in mind, the print on display still left a lot to be desired – panned & scanned, fuzzy picture quality and the audio filled with extraneous noise (particularly during the second half…where it seems that someone's tapping on computer keys somehow got mixed in with the film's soundtrack, recalling a similar incident found on the original DVD of SON OF Dracula [1943]!).AN ANGEL FOR Satan – the title, by the way, is a misnomer – was also probably the last of the vintage Gothic Horror outings from this country to be shot in black-and-white (imbued with a touch of poetry not easily replicated by the more delirious color titles). Incidentally, I'd watched director Mastrocinque's sole other foray (also in monochrome) in the genre – the "Carmilla" adaptation CRYPT OF THE VAMPIRE (1963), starring another horror icon in Christopher Lee – which I remember liking quite a bit, but whose recording (made off late-night Italian TV) I subsequently foolishly erased. To get back to Steele's European output, a common thread running through most of them is that she plays a look-alike descendant of some diabolic ancestor (beginning with the very first, Mario Bava's seminal BLACK Sunday [1960]) – and this one's no exception though, in its case, she emerges to be more of a victim (which, I guess, is what the title is ultimately alluding to). Having mentioned Bava, while his one picture with Steele was the director's official debut, his swansong – the fascinating (made-for-TV) THE VENUS OF ILLE (1978) – actually shares much of its plot line with AN ANGEL FOR Satan! Indeed, here we also have the discovery of an ancient statue bringing a series of calamities upon a small community consumed by superstition – and where the blame is placed at the doorstep of newly-arrived Lady of the Manor Steele (since the figure was made in the image of her forebear).An interesting (if unlikely) twist is that the woman of the past played by Marina Berti – who, jealous of Steele's popularity with the menfolk, had tried to destroy the statue but tumbled down along with it into the river beneath – also has a like-minded i.e. vindictive descendant (her ultimate fate, then, emerges to be predictably ironic). That said, the narrative makes it seem at first as if the old Berti has taken possession of the new Steele…until hero Anthony Steffen (the sculptor entrusted with restoring the icon) uncovers the whole scheme which also sees Steele's current guardian (Claudio Gora), enamored of Berti, involved (hypnotizing his charge into committing nefarious deeds so as to elicit the ire of the townspeople who, in getting rid of the girl, would make him legal proprietor of the estate!). Steele, in fact, is made to turn heads yet again – particularly those of the more gullible members of the community: village idiot, shy schoolteacher, his equally naïve girlfriend(!) and who also happens to be Steele's own personal maid, and the town strong-man. She seduces all (often by casually taking off her clothes in their presence – though we see next to nothing, screen permissiveness having only just been broken with the likes of THE PAWNBROKER [1965] and BLOW-UP [1966]) and 'causes' them to act in extreme ways – the first becomes a serial rapist/killer (on whom the villagers eventually turn en masse), the second commits suicide (in the classroom of all places!) as a result of the maid breaking off her relationship with him and the fourth sets fire to his own home (with the rest of the family still inside!).By now, of course, Steele was well-versed in this type of role – so, it's no surprise that she turns in a typically multi-layered performance (with her striking looks intact). However, she's matched by the brooding Steffen (later a regular of Spaghetti Westerns and Gialli) – and, equally impressive is Francesco De Masi's evocative score (it's pure happenstance that several titles I've been watching in my ongoing "Euro-Cult" marathon bear his signature!).