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Film: An Angel for Satan (Un angelo per Satana)
Year: 1966
Director: Camillo Mastrocinque
Writers: Giuseppe Magione and Camillo Mastrocinque
Starring: Barbara Steele, Anthony Steffen and Claudio Gora
Review:
This was a movie that I sought out when prepping for the Summer Challenge series on the Podcast Under the Stairs. I didn’t know much about this one aside from that it was from Italy. I was excited when I saw that this featured Barbara Steele in her last film in this country. Something I did see was that this was gothic style story, so that intrigued me as well.
Synopsis: at the end of the 19th century, in a little Italian village by a lake an old statue is recovered. Soon a series of crimes start and the superstitious people of the village believe that the statue carries an ancient malediction.
We start this movie with Roberto Merigi (Anthony Steffen) on a boat. His presence is requested since he is a sculptor. There is a statue that he is commissioned to restore. It has a history though. It is thought to be cursed. When it was first made, the town experienced bad luck that resulted in people dying. The villagers don’t want it restored and displayed overlooking the lake.
The person who hired him is Conte Montebruno (Claudio Gora). He doesn’t believe it and thinks that it will add beauty to the village. He has a group that help him run the estate. He is seeing Ilda (Marina Berti) who is also the housekeeper. She is worried about his niece coming home. There is also Vittorio (Aldo Berti), who is the gardener, Rita (Ursula Davis) who is a maid and Sergente (Antonio Acqua). He is a guardian of the place and was on the boat with Roberto.
Tragedy strikes right after Roberto arrives. The boat along with the two men who work it sink. They drown in the process. Roberto goes about his job, which upsets Carlo Lionesi (Mario Brega) among others. He beats up Roberto when he comes to the tavern and draws members of the village. Roberto is helped by the local teacher, Dario Morelli (Vassili Karis). He is also seeing Rita.
Things all change when Harriet Montebruno (Steele) comes home. She takes a liking to Roberto, but her demeanor changes. She seems bipolar where one minute she is attracted to one guy, then the next she is using this to her advantage. This gets the men hot and bothered, including Roberto, Carlo, Vittorio and even Dario. Roberto doesn’t believe in the curse and that there is a logical explanation. He needs to find the truth before it is too late.
That is where I’m going to leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this is an odd little gothic film. It takes place in the past, but there is also an almost timeless feel as well. We see through how these people live that it isn’t modern times. What I will say, this is a remote village. It is possible, even today, to have a village that might be old-fashioned in what they do. That makes it where I can work with it.
Where I want to go from there is to this statue and the curse with it. We are told that it was commissioned. Belinda (Steele) is used as the model. This statue was so beautiful that the men in the village loved it more than that the woman that had it made. She decided to push the statue into the lake. We also learn that when it was erected, there was a string of bad luck that led to deaths. This is what the villagers are worried about. Harriet, Roberto and Conte don’t believe in it. We see what happens to Harriet as she acts like her ancestor Belinda. There could be something behind this that isn’t supernatural. I didn’t necessarily see this coming until late. I thought it was an interesting route to go that wasn’t expected.
The last bit for the story to delve into is traditional superstitious beliefs of the past with more modern sensibilities. I’ve already said how the villagers believe in the curse. This causes people like Carlo to attack Roberto amongst others. The Montebruno family and Roberto don’t seem to believe in it. Where things end up are more in line with the latter, but this movie makes you question throughout which was something that I appreciated.
I’ll then go over to the acting as that is what makes this work. We have Steele who gets to almost take on dual roles. What I like is that we see she is meek as Harriet, almost shy. When she is Belinda, she is rude and vicious. I liked seeing the range. Steffen was solid as Roberto. He is our hero so that was good. Gora was good as the count. Brega, Davis, Karis, Aldo Berti and the rest of the cast are good as those that get caught up in what Harriet/Belinda are doing. I also thought that Marina Berti along with the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.
All that is left to go into would be filmmaking. I think that this is shot well. We capture the feel of the town. We also have this large estate for the Montebruno family. That is all solid. We don’t get a lot in the way of effects, but we don’t need them either. Other than that, would be the soundtrack and design of the movie. There is something with a clock and the chiming that I liked with the significance there. The rest of this worked for what was needed.
In conclusion, this is a solid gothic horror film from Italy. The best part of this is the acting. Steele leads the way with the rest of the cast being good around her. There is a simple enough lore that gets introduced and held my interest with how it affects our characters. This is also a well-made movie which is good. I wouldn’t say that this is one that blew me away. What it does is work in the confines of what was needed with exploring a bit of social hierarchy as well. Be warned, this is in black and white as well as being dubbed due to it being foreign. If there are no issues with what I said and this sounds interesting, give it a watch.
My Rating: 7.5 out of 10