Well, it's obvious that The Long Hair of Death takes a lot of its influence from the Mario Bava masterpiece 'Black Sunday', but even so; Antonio Margheriti's film manages to deliver a good horror story in its own right. The plot is pretty much your classic Gothic horror yarn, and focuses on a small village. A woman is accused of being a witch and promptly put to death. However, her eldest daughter knows the real reason for her death revolves around the lord, and she's promptly killed also. The youngest daughter survives and is taken in by the murderous lord's family, eventually marrying his son. Soon after, a deadly plague threatens the village; and the older daughter reappears to avenge her mother's death. The main standout of this movie is definitely the atmosphere - director Antonio Margheriti does an excellent job of giving the movie a foreboding feel through the eerie black and white cinematography and the imposing sets. The plot can drag a bit at times, which is a shame; and so it's lucky that Margheriti was able to give the film an atmosphere as it keeps it going when the plot takes a downturn.

Another standout about this film is, of course, the fact that it has a leading role for Barbara Steele. Of course, she was almost certainly cast because of her success in Black Sunday, and as such; this isn't her greatest performance, but she's always nice to see and she does play the resurrected woman well. It does quite often seem like Margheriti is dragging the plot out and this is a shame as the film is overlong as a result and it has to be said that The Long Hair of Death would have benefited from a shorter running time. Antonio Margheriti made some good films in his career, though the fact that he doesn't get good recognition along with the likes of Sergio Martino and Lucio Fulci doesn't surprise me. This film was released in between Margheriti's successes with The Virgin of Nuremberg and Dance Macabre, and although I prefer both of the mentioned films; this one is still worth seeing for the Italian Gothic horror fan. The film boils down to a somewhat predictable ending, but it's a nice ride getting there and overall, despite the fact that The Long Hair of Death may not be the most successful film of it's type - it's still worth a watch.

"I lunghi capelli della morte" by Antonio Margheriti is a classic b/w Gothic movie. Take a flickering candle, go down into the crypt, past the spider webs - and you wouldn't be surprised if Bela Lugosi was lurking in the shadow. Actually it's Barbara Steele which you can't complain about, either. Giorgio Ardisson plays Kurt, the son of a Count, who commits a murder, blames it on a witch, the witch is burnt and leaves a terrible curse behind - maybe the story is not something new, but it matters most in this movie to show how a man is slowly trapped in a revenge plan - so slowly that for most of the running time, he doesn't even realize the torment already began. That not much is happening, as sometimes reviewers do say, is done on purpose: Kurt would like to move, but he is becoming aware more and more of his helplessness, his inability to hide. "I lunghi capelli della morte" is a movie with intensity, atmosphere and beauty in its black and white imagery, and while I just wanted to check out the first chapter for the disc quality when the DVD arrived in the mail, I ended up watching it till the end - it was mesmerizing and really that good. Fans of the genre, don't miss it!

The 15th century. A woman who's been falsely accused of being a witch gets burned at the stake. Her daughter Helen Karnstein (a fine performance by ravishing brunette scream queen cult favorite Barbara Steele) vows revenge, but is shoved off a cliff to her death by the wicked, yet weak Count Humboldt (a solid turn by Guiliano Raffaelli). Several years later Helen comes back from the dead as alluring lookalike Mary in order to bring both Count Humboldt and his even worse, more evil and corrupt son Kurt (a deliciously villainous and revolting portrayal by George Ardisson) to justice. Director Antonio Marghereti, who also co-wrote the compelling script with Bruno Valeri, does an expert job of creating and sustaining a potently brooding gloom-doom midnight-in-the-graveyard sepulchral atmosphere; the extremely strong and unsettling sense of bleak nightmarish dread really gets under the viewer's skin and culminates in an exciting confrontation between Helen and Kurt with an ultimate chilling resolution which neatly prefigures "The Wicker Man." Moreover, Margheriti stages Helen's resurrection from her grave by a bolt of lightning with real bravura aplomb and makes excellent use of the gorgeous rural sylvan countryside. Steele excels in her dual role; she receives fine support from the lovely Halina Zalewski as her faithful sister Elizabeth, Umberto Raho as honest priest Von Klage, and Laura Nucci as loyal housekeeper Grumaldi. Riccardo Pallottini's crisp black and white cinematography boasts several nifty prowling camera pans. Carlo Rustichell's supremely spooky'n'shuddery score likewise hits the shivery spot. Well worth seeing for both Barbara Steele fans and Italian Gothic horror buffs alike.