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Great Film overall

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The Long Hair of Death opens at the end of the 15th Century, with Helen Karnstein (horror icon Barbara Steele) begging Count Humboldt for mercy regarding her mother Adele Karnstein, who is to be tried as a witch (trial by fire), having wrongly been accused of killing the count's brother. As the Count takes advantage of Helen, promising that nothing will happen to her mother until he is present at her trial, his son Kurt (George Ardisson) goes ahead and burns Adele in front of her youngest daughter Lizabeth. As she goes up in flames, Adele curses the count and his son. Later, the Count disposes of troublesome Helen by pushing her over a waterfall, but allows Lizabeth to live, the girl growing up on his estate.Years later, the now adult Lizabeth (lovely Halina Zalewska) attracts the attention of loathesome Kurt, who pressurises her into marrying him. What he doesn't know is that Helen has returned from the grave and, with Lizabeth's help, is out for revenge. Despite stylish direction from Antonio Margheriti and impressive black and white cinematography by Riccardo Pallottini, Italian gothic horror The Long Hair of Death is a dull affair, with a deathly slow pace and a hum-drum plot that delivers clichés by the creaky cart-load: a creepy castle complete with secret passageways, vengeful descendants of a woman wrongly executed for witchcraft, a plague laying waste to the population, and a murderous aristocrat with designs on a beautiful but unwilling maiden. While such tried and tested horror ingredients can equal a lot of fun, here it proves boring and disappointing, Margheriti failing to bring much life to proceedings. The director did the whole gothic thing much better the very same year with Castle of Blood.

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.

*Spoiler/plot- 1964,(I lunghi capelli della morte) A Medieval costume piece with a wrongfully executed beautiful 'witch' by a arrogant nobleman and his family and the witch returns from the dead to exact bloody revenge on those who condemned her and tried to destroy her family of descendants.*Special Stars- Barbara Steele and George Ardision are the leads.*Theme- The 'wrongs' you do can follow you down the ages.*Based on- Medieval folk tales and witchcraft legends.*Trivia/location/goofs- Italian horror starring a major Gothic horror actress of these decades.*Emotion- Mostly due to this rich costumes and exotic historic sets this film is very watch able. The films bodice-ripper love scenes make this romantic horror film stand out from other Barbara Steel films.

"A woman is put to death after bring accused of witchcraft. Her daughter confronts the man who accused her mother of the crime, and discovers the true reason for the accusation, but loses her life in doing so. The youngest daughter is taken in by the man's family and raised by them, with the intent to marry her off to the man's son. When the girl comes of age, her decreased sister returns to exact her revenge upon the family," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis."This story takes place at the end of the fifteenth century," we are advised. Director Antonio Margheriti and the crew give it a great look. That, an attractive cast, and the moody atmosphere can't make up for the fact that the film plays itself out very slowly, and winds up nowhere special. Barbara Steele (as Mary / Helen Karnstein) looks particularly stunning; probably, she inspired the US title: "The Long Hair of Death" (but, what a way to go). Strange how drastically Halina Zalewska (as Elizabeth Karnstein) changes her mind about George Ardisson (as Kurt Humboldt), after Ms. Steele (re)emerges on the scene.**** I lunghi capelli della morte (1964) Antonio Margheriti ~ Barbara Steele, George Ardisson, Halina Zalewska