This film (Original Italian title ‘La Maschera del Ddemonio’), was rejected for UK cinema release by the BBFC in 1961 and was essentially banned, only after some heavy censoring did it get a release in 1968 and it was this version that we used to produce our 8mm prints. I have only very recently found that it was released in the UK by Border Film Distributors, a small company that Derek had purchased rights from for some time, including the films ‘One on Top of the Other’ and ‘Night of the Devils’. This moody tale of a vengeful witch and her servant returning from the grave and attempting to possess the body of the witch’s beautiful look-alike descendant turned Cheshire born Barbara Steele into the queen of Italian horror. It was already available for sale when I started work at Derann, and there was a further hiatus before we decided to have a label printed specifically for the title.
Label courtesy of Peter Brooke at ‘SPROCKETS
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