17th Century Gothicsisms AND Italians, with a dash of Satan and Vampires! All under the haunting gaze of Barbara Steele, cursing her own brother as she gets the head version of the iron maiden! Solid entry into the horrors of Satan’s serveants wreaking havoc once unleashed! You’d be pissed too if you had to wear one of those masks. THAT shit is downright evil! Those Inquisitioners were some sadistic bastards too. And maybe usually right. Usually. Maybe.
Skipping ahead two centuries to ‘modern’ horse-drawn carriage-taking times, we find a couple of doctor professors on their way to some conference or somesuch (of course). Running late, they bribe the maybe-drunk carriage-driver to take the short-cut. Through the cursed woods, of course. Tales of witches and whatnot, still a bit superstitious there. Detour at the haunted-lookin castle crypts after they lose a wheel. Fuckin’ tourists, they really do fuck up everything, don’t they? Pfff! Always ruinin’ the local haunts. Well, they definitely find out why that shit’s supposedly haunted.
First true directorship by Mario Bava, gotta say he started with a real bang here. Yeah there’s some melodramatics (look at the year), but it did step confidently into the horror, with some conservative but sexy Barbara Steele cleavage to impress as well. Seriously, some great shots and compositions raise this one up a notch, beyond the lingering shots of the cross. Fantastic visual story telling here, even if they didn’t quite act the shit out of it.
