The setting is a small lakeside fishing village in Italy in the late 19th century.
Roberto Merigi (Anthony Steffen) has just arrived. He is there to restore a statue that was found in the lake by some fisherman. The statue is a female nude. Roberto will be staying at the Montebruno castle as the guest of the Count (Claudio Gora). Roberto is looking forward to the assignment. The statue is exquisite.
The villagers are none too pleased. There is a legend attached to that statue, a legend involving a curse. The villagers are convinced that the statue should have been left in the lake.
There is another new arrival, the count’s niece Harriet Montebruno (Barbara Steele). Harriet is the actual owner of the castle and she is now old enough to take possession of her inheritance.
Roberto gets a surprise when he meets Harriet. She is the spitting image of the woman who posed for that statue. The explanation is simple. It is a statue of one of Harriet’s ancestresses, who lived two centuries earlier.
The recovery of the statue certainly does unleash evils upon the village. The very next day two fishermen are drowned. Other horrors follow.
All sorts of smouldering jealousies and resentments and sexual tensions blaze up.
Roberto is fascinated by the statue and inevitably he becomes fascinated by Harriet. Harriet is beautiful and charming, most of the time. Her behaviour is however puzzlingly inconsistent. There are times when she behaves like a temptress.
It might be the late 19th century but the villagers still live in a world of mediæval superstitions. They have no doubt that witches exist. They come to suspect that there is a witch among them today. They have no doubt that curses have real power. They have had evidence of the evils this particular curse has already unleashed.
We know what is going on, or we think we do. At the end of the movie we really do know what was going on. Or we think we do.
There are very strong erotic undercurrents to this movie. This was 1966 so it’s handled in a very tame manner. There is no actual nudity, although there is plenty of implied nudity. The movie still manages to be an effective and disturbing exercise in psycho-sexual horror.
It’s a demanding part for Barbara Steele and she handles it with assurance. I might also add that she radiates sexuality.
The other cast members are quite adequate.
This is a somewhat unconventional gothic horror movie. The plot is not especially complicated but it also manages to be not entirely straightforward.
Don’t expect buckets of blood or any gore. This movie doesn’t need such things. It has an unsettling atmosphere and a sense that something bad is going to happen but we have absolutely no idea what that thing is going to be. Personally it’s that kind of atmosphere rather than fountains of blood that I look for in a horror movie. There is evil here, but it’s diffuse and subtle.
Director Camillo Mastrocinque was getting towards the end of a very long career when he made this movie. The man knew how to make movies.
The movie was shot widescreen in black-and-white. The cinematography is moody and impressive, giving the film the stifling feel that it needs.
This movie has had several DVD releases. It’s now available on both DVD and Blu-Ray from Severin and that’s clearly the edition to buy.
An Angel for Satan is a very very fine example of 60s Italian gothic horror plus it offers one of Barbara Steele’s best performances.
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