In my opinion the best atmospheric gothic horror films were by the Italian directors Ricarrdo Freda, Mario Bava and Antonio Margaretti. Specifically the ones starring Barbara Steele. From a visual standpoint none of the American films matched Bava's "The Mask of Satan" or Margaretti's "Castle of Blood".Artist publisher Bill Black did this pen and ink drawing of Barbara Steele from "Castle of Blood" that was used for a fanzine back in the 60s.


Derek

Cool! She was 'Julia Hoffman' the 2nd in the Dark Shadows revival series. I've heard alot about her other less known acting roles.

Unfortunately only 2 of Barbara's classic horror films have been restored, "Castle of Blood" and "The Mask of Satan". The other films are still waiting to get the grand treatment. There are 2 good quality transfers by Retromedia however. One is titled "The Faceless Monster" which is a complete version of Margaretti's "Nightmare Castle".The other is a double bill "Dead Eyes of London" and Ricarrdo Freda's "The Ghost" starring Barbara Steele at her evil best!There maybe a good quality dvd copy of "The Long Hair of Death" since a bootleg vhs transfer I have is very good quality.

Derek

Thanks for posting the pen and ink drawing of Barbara. I've been a Barbara Steele fan for a long time! I have a DVD of "The Long Hair of Death" that I think I got from Amazon. The image is quite good, but a bit "light". My personal favorite is "The Terror of Dr. Hichcock". Still waiting for that one to get a nice restoration. Here's a particularly gothic still from this movie.

(06-21-2009 10:10 AM)Monique Devereaux Wrote:  Thanks for posting the pen and ink drawing of Barbara. I've been a Barbara Steele fan for a long time! I have a DVD of "The Long Hair of Death" that I think I got from Amazon. The image is quite good, but a bit "light". My personal favorite is "The Terror of Dr. Hichcock". Still waiting for that one to get a nice restoration. Here's a particularly gothic still from this movie.

Hi,

If you are a Barbara Steele fan do yourself a favor and visit this site. It's the oldest fan site concerning Barbara and is occasionally frequented by her friends who drop little anecdotes about her every once in a while. This site also will be where up to date info concerning official releases of Barbara's films will come from before there's any public announcement.Tons of vintage photos and more...http://tinyurl.com/n59xe7

Derek

Ah, Mask of Satan and Terror of Dr Hitchcock were such atmospheric films! Film with necrophilia could be, ahem, wall-to-wall filth and sleaze, but Terror is a story of strong, perverse atmosphere. Mask of Satan is a classic, and Dark Shadows was great, too.
Other gothic films I like very much:
Universal films
Hammer movies
Dracula (1979)
Bram Stoker´s Dracula (1992)
Mary Shelley´s Frankenstein