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The Long Hair Of Death
AKA I Lunghi Capelli Della Morte
Directed By Antonio Margheriti
Released: 1964
Starring: Barbara Steele, George Ardisson, Halina Zalewska, and Laura Nucci
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Released By Eclectic DVD Dist.
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As noblemen, Count Humboldt and his son Kurt
Humboldt (played by George Ardisson), burn a witch at the stake, she
places a curse upon them. The witch’s daughter, Helen Karnstein (Barbara
Steele), vows to make sure that curse is carried out but she is soon put
to death. Her younger sister, Elizabeth (Halina Zalewska), survives and
years later, is forced to marry Kurt Humboldt. One night, during a
thunderstorm, Helen Karnstein’s grave is struck by lightning and a
mysterious woman named Mary (also Barbara Steele) appears at the castle.
Kurt is immediately smitten with Mary and takes her as a mistress not
suspecting that she might have a little something to do with a certain
curse that was placed upon him.
Director Antonio Margheriti, the man responsible for
Castle Of Blood,
Seven Deaths In The Cat’s Eye,
and Cannibal Apocalypse,
brings us this gothic chiller. The plot isn’t anything spectacular and the
dialogue is pretty standard. However, the ending ties everything together
very nicely and the film’s atmosphere is pregnant with dread. Ah, I’ve
always wanted to say that. I love the music score though it is pretty
generic. Composer Carlo Rustichelli hits all the right cues with either
the scary strings or the eerie organ. There’s also a bounty of excellent
castle locations and detailed gothic sets which add to the creepy mood.
This film features more of that wonderful Italian cinematography that
drives me absolutely bonkers (in a good way). The amazing Riccardo
Pallottini (The
Killer Must Kill Again,
Massacre
Time) lensed this one and I am astounded by his ability
to create such stark compositions in black and white. The scene where Kurt
Humboldt walks through the town square towards Elizabeth’s tomb is
brilliantly framed and almost dizzyingly detailed. It reminds me of some
of Joe D’Amato’s camerawork in
Death Smiled At Murder.
Two lovely ladies, Barbara Steele and Halina Zalewska, lead the charge in
this Italian goth-assault. As usual, Steele’s presence steels the show but
Halina Zalewska is certainly no slouch. It’s a shame that Zalewska did little
more than supporting roles for the rest of her career. When Steele, as
Helen Karnstein, visits the spot where her mother was burned alive and
raises a fistful of her ashes to the sky…Oh, I get chills. Then you got
scenery-chomper, George Ardisson (Django
Defies Sartana). Oh man, this guy is
intense.
The Long Hair Of Death
has one major problem: it draaaaaaags in its middle section. A plague that
strikes the kingdom and the machinations of the noblemen will stretch any
attention span to the breaking point. The fine pacing of the first 40
minutes hits this lull and it takes a little while before the film’s
climax lifts us out of the muck. On the plus side, keep an eye out for the
really nasty looking corpse (shown in odious detail) and the not-so-subtly
implied necrophilia. Aw yeah! Barbara Steele fans, if you enjoyed
The
Faceless Monster,
The Ghost, or
Terror Creatures From The Grave,
you’ll dig on this one.
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DVD Stuff:
Now this is a rough one. I had read some product
reviews from various sites that the Eclectic DVD was “unwatchable” so I
approached this with extreme caution. Well, this widescreen print is
certainly in trouble but it is most definitely a watchable DVD. There is a
great deal of scratches and damage to the print and it certainly looks
muddy but it’s the audio that suffers the most. Dialogue is fairly easy to
understand but there is a noticeable hiss throughout the film as well as
some dropouts. Other than chapter selections, there are no extras on this
disc. Very little has been done to restore much of Barbara Steele’s horror
work so if you want a quality DVD release, get
Black Sunday
or Castle Of Blood.
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Quotes:
Kurt: “She’s the cause of all our trouble. I curse the shrew that brought
her into this castle of hell.”
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