The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Fabulous b/w Italian Gothic that is beautifully shot and has a marvellously evocative soundtrack. Perhaps slightly too leisurely paced at the start with too many interiors but this is nit picking and very mean for a film that at times reminded me of Bava's The Whip And The Body. Yes, that sort of intensity and sexual tension. Oh and I haven't even mentioned what would have made the film so watchable even without all that. Barbara Steele! This has to be one of her most notable roles (dual roles, again, actually) and she shines both as the innocent and the depraved equally. Her pretty personal maid and the handsome co-star both work hard but become almost invisible when this woman is on screen. It's a well told tale set on an Italian lake with much ado about a statue salvaged from the waters and an associated curse. Great stuff. Magnificent ending.

Although cult actress Barbara Steele appeared in 14 frightening films during the course of her career, the nine Italian Gothic-style pictures that she starred in during the early to mid-'60s are the ones primarily responsible for her current title: the Queen of Horror. Starting with the Mario Bava wonder "Black Sunday" in 1960, and then on to "The Horrible Dr. Hichcock," its sequel "The Ghost," "Castle of Blood," "The Long Hair of Death," "Terror Creatures From the Grave," "Nightmare Castle," "She Beast" and finally "An Angel for Satan" in 1966, Steele's streak of grisly horror films is one that no actress had enjoyed before...or has surpassed since. The last of those nine, "An Angel for Satan," is apparently the true rarity of the bunch, never having been released in any form for home viewing except in its original Italian...and without subtitles. Fortunately, for Barbara's legion of fans worldwide, the outfit known as Midnight Choir has recently released the film in a gorgeous print, with very adequate subtitling, AND paired with the 1964 film "The Long Hair of Death" (poorly dubbed) on the same DVD, for one superbly well-matched double feature. A look at "Angel" will quickly reveal what a wonderful actress Steele had become by the end of this streak, and how deserving the picture was itself for its rescue from relative oblivion.In the film, a handsome sculptor named Roberto Merigi (solidly portrayed by Anthony Steffen) arrives in the town of Montebruno (in the northern Italian lakes region, I am guessing), in an indeterminate time period (late 1800s?). He has been commissioned by the local Count (Claudio Gora) to restore a statue that had recently been discovered in the town's lake; strangely enough, the statue is the exact image of the Count's beautiful young ward, Harriet (played by our Babs), whose ancestor, Madelina, had posed for the statue some 200 years before. Back then, Madelina's plain-Jane cousin, Belinda, in a jealous rage, had cursed the statue and then been killed by it when the statue toppled into the lake. And now, as Merigi labors to repair the long-lost piece, sweet Harriet seemingly becomes influenced by the spirit of the lustful, hate-filled Belinda! Demon possessed, she soon drives the village idiot to commit rape and murder, wrecks her maid's romance with the local schoolteacher, destroys the marriage of a father of five, drives a man to suicide and sexually seduces that same maid! No wonder the village is soon referring to Harriet as "la strega"...the witch!As in several other of these Italian Gothic affairs, here, Steele plays what are essentially two discrete roles, and she is just terrific in both of them. The moments of Belinda possession come on quite suddenly, and Barbara manages the transformations with great finesse indeed. How effectively she conveys the lust and hatred of Belinda! The cunning subterfuges that she concocts to destroy the love and happiness of those around her are truly the products of a wicked mind, and Barbara, pro that she had become by this point, conveys that wickedness with seeming ease. As in all her horror films, Steele steals every scene that she appears in, and is surely the film's main selling point. But "An Angel for Satan" boasts several other winning features. It has been directed with panache by Camillo Mastrocinque, displays some top-notch production values (particularly those lavishly appointed chambers in the Count's villa), and features a lovely score by Francesco De Masi that alternates with music of a decidedly eerier character. The picture gives us several startling/horrific moments--including the schoolchildren's discovery of a hanging man, as well as the pitchfork death of an ax-wielding maniac--and one truly bravura, creepy sequence; the one in which the spirit of Belinda speaks to Roberto during a raging thunderstorm, while her face on a painted portrait moves and twitches ever so subtly. "An Angel for Satan" would actually be a perfect horror film, I feel, if it weren't for its final segment, which features a double-twist ending that negates much of the film's supernatural aura for one of completely unconvincing mundanity; truly, an aberration in Babs' Gothic canon. Still, the film remains eminently respectable, watchable and fun, and of course a must for all Barbara Steele completists. Despite her modern-day disavowal of the title, a film like this (and its eight predecessors, of course) serves as proof positive that Barbara Steele truly IS "the Queen of Horror"....

Very glad to see this after so many years just reading about it. Was still operating under the impression that it was only available without subtitles, but seeing that Netflix was offering it, I added it to my queue and was very happy to find that it arrived with English subtitles.It's beautiful, evocative, violent, and puzzling with Steele cutting quite the figure of death and destruction as Harriet fresh out of England to claim her inheritance somewhere on the Continent. For a film that I thought was going to be wearisome and talky considering its first 15 minutes or so of weary talk, it definitely found its stride and delivered on its promise once Steele's machinations--or Belinda's or...?--unfolded. A great end of the week, Friday night flick and now one of my top three favorite Steele films.

"Un Angelo per Satana" aka. "An Angel For Satan of 1966 is the last of nine Italian Gothic Horror films starring the wonderful Barbara Steele, doubtlessly the greatest female Horror icon in cinema. Barbara Steele, who is capable of combining stunning beauty and unspeakable eeriness like none other (which makes her my favorite actress), starred in none less than three of the all-time greatest Horror masterpieces within a few years, namely Mario Bava's "La Maschera Del Demonio" (aka. "Black Sunday") in 1960, Roger Corman's "Pit And The Pendulum" (aside the great Vincent Price) in 1961 and Antonio Margheriti's "Danza Macabra" (aka. "Castle of Blood") in 1964. While "Un Angelo Per Satana" is not a masterpiece en par with the aforementioned films, or even other brilliant Gothic tales like "Nightmare Castle" ("Gli Amanti De Oltretomba", 1965), this is yet another eerie and great gem starring Steele. As in "La Maschera del Demonio" and "Nightmare Castle", Steele once again has a double-role in this one, and she is once again brilliant switching between pure innocence and pure evil.The film is set in a 19th century Italian village set next to a lake, from which an old sculpture has been recovered. Invited by the local Count Montebruno (Claudio Gora), sculptor Roberto Merigi (Anthony Steffen) has come in order to restore the artwork, and immediately finds out that the villagers are afraid of a curse which is supposed to be placed upon the sculpture. The Count's beautiful niece Harriet (Barbara Steele) bears an amazing resemblance to the sculpture... "Un Angelo Per Satana" did not have a very high budget, and actually looks a few years older than being made in 1966. This is in no way a fault, however, as the film, which is filmed in beautifully uncanny settings, nonetheless maintains a tense and creepy atmosphere. This is one of only two Horror films director Camilllo Mastrocinque ever made, the other being "La Cripta e L'Incubo" (aka. "Crypt of the Vampire", 1964) starring Horror icon Christopher Lee. Even so, Mastrocinque was obviously perfectly capable of creating genuine creepiness and a Gothic atmosphere. As stated above, Barbara Steele is once again brilliant in her double role here. I am always getting quite monotonous when this favorite actress of mine is the topic, but she simply cannot be praised enough, in my opinion. Anthony Steffen, who is best known for starring in many Spaghetti Westerns as well as Emilio Miraglia's "The Night When Evelyn Came out of her Grave" ("La Notte Che Evelyn Uscì Dalla Tomba", 1971) fits well in the role of the hero, and the cast furthermore includes Mario Brega. Brega, who was part of some of the greatest Italian Westerns, including Leone's Dollar-Trilogy and Sergio Corbucci's "Il Grande Silenzio" (1968), once again plays a grumpy ruffian here. The settings are beautiful and eerie, especially the lake, and the photography is very nicely done. The most convincing reason to see "Un Angelo Per Satana" is, of course, Barbara Steele (more than reason enough for me!), but the film is also great in other aspects. A definite must-see for my fellow fans of Italian Gothic Horror and Barbara Steele, "Un Angelo Per Satana" is a creepy and great gem that comes with my highest recommendations.