mosquitodragon’s review published on Letterboxd:
Mini Collab w/ Jetta
Memories of failed relationships lay like broken statuary at the bottom of a deep lake, trapping the bones of our self-destructive tendencies. The moral of An Angel for Satan is never to try to dredge those relics up. Hey. I’d be delighted if mid-60’s era Barbara Steele showed up at my house with her bags, but if I’d just pulled a statue out of the lake that looked just like her, I don’t think I’d be mollified by some dismissive reassurance that it’s a distant ancestor (so, you know… there’s bound to be a resemblance – yeah but that identical?!?!) There’s clearly some black magic at play here.
Lakes appear in horror movies quite a lot. Probably something Freudian in that – the symbology of water as our unconscious mind, our emotions and our intuition. This feels particularly relevant here, with this big house (another Freudian staple) and its little village in thrall. As Barbara takes over the house, she soon expands her empire of desire into the surrounds – little villagers enthralled.
Should we roll our eyes at this stereotype of the malevolent woman – the painted Jezebel who flaunts her curves and levels her sultry glare to tease and trick these hapless males into doing her bidding? Or should we laugh knowingly at these men’s readiness to discard their commitments, their family and their integrity to chase what they see (no matter how flowery they try to make it sound) as a gorgeous piece of Goth ass? The victimisation of the characters and their childlike affect suggests the film thinks we should sympathise with them, but regardless of authorial intent, I think the film works as a neat allegory for men being the architects of their own destruction, only to impute blame on the female when their obsession runs its course. But what does it mean when the female is being manipulated by the patriarchy? And could there be another twist in the tail?
Truly gorgeous black and white cinematography and Barbara Steele being handed the opportunity to lord it like a queen over this entire movie – and she grasps that opportunity with both hands. Probably one of the best showcases of her unique screen presence your likely to see this side of Black Sunday.
