7 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
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.
Starring: Barbara Steele, Marina Berti, Ursula Davis, Anthony Steffen, Claudio GoraHorror | 100% |
Foreign | 67% |
Mystery | 11% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
Italian: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English, English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
It's maybe just a little hilarious to hear David Del Valle mention in a commentary on this disc that the only reason stars like Carroll Baker and Barbara Steele ever consented to being in various Italian horror opuses is that they were promised the films would never be seen in places like the United Kingdom and/or the United States, something that the home video market if nothing else has put the kibosh on. That probably joking reference aside, Steele seems uniquely proud of her overseas accomplishments, and in terms of her Italian gothic horror phase, An Angel for Satan serves as an appropriately moody swan song. Steele is actually on hand in the commentary with Del Valle (and Severin's David Gregory), and the three discuss Steele's "Italian period", mentioning how this film, which ended that period, can be seen as a kind of mirror image of the first film she did in Italy, Mario Bava's well remembered 1960 opus Black Sunday. There are a number of connections that can be gleaned between the two films, not the least of which is Steele as the putative reincarnation of a witch. Harriet Montebruno (Barbara Steele) is the comely niece of local landed gentry Count Montebruno (Claudio Gora), but she has the misfortune to rather closely resemble a supposedly cursed statue which has just been pulled out of a nearby lake. The local townspeople are convinced the statue is bad luck, something that is only reinforced when the two boatmen who found it then drown, but the Count is having none of this superstitious nonsense, and has hired artisan Roberto Merigi (Anthony Steffen) to restore it. Against a background of Gothic settings and characters, Roberto and Harriet begin to feel the sparks of romance, but a series of misfortunes occurs which seem to point to Harriet as the source.
An Angel for Satan is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Severin's back cover touts that this is "the first ever authorized American release" of the film which has been "scanned in 2K from the original negative". The results are really lustrous for the most part, with Giusseppe Aquari's often sumptuous black and white cinematography looking great throughout the bulk of this transfer. Detail levels are excellent on a number of intricate patterns on fabrics (as can be seen in several of the screenshots accompanying this review), and contrast is generally solid throughout, providing ample support for some impressive blacks and well modulated gray scale. There are occasional minor dings on display, and a few passing moments where clarity falters, but on the whole this is a gorgeous presentation with a commendably organic appearance free of any overt digital tinkering.
An Angel for Satan features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono tracks in either English or Italian. Again kind of interestingly, the Steele - Del Valle - Gregory commentary gets into how the film has never really had an English language release before this one (the back cover of this release discloses that the English soundtrack was considered lost until it was recently discovered in a Rome vault). That may account for a somewhat hotter amplitude on the Italian track, though otherwise the tracks have about the same level of fidelity and more or less the same age related wear and tear, which often surfaces as brief pops or clicks, along with some background hiss. Some of the scoring, notably the theme music, comes close to the edge of distortion without ever fully tipping over into it. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English SDH subtitles for the English track and English subtitles for the Italian track are available.
An Angel for Satan has been one of the harder films in Barbara Steele's Italian period for fans to find, and this Severin release should be welcome on that count alone. Sweetening the deal, however, are solid technical merits and some very appealing supplements. Recommended.
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