La Maschera del Demonio was released in 1960, the same year as Alfred_Hitchcock's Psycho, and serves as a primary example of the divergent paths taken by European and American horror films of that era. Where Hitchcock was more concerned with the psychology of the characters in his horror story, Mario_Bava seems more concerned with the psychology of the audience, creating a visual feast of the strange and forbidden that unleashes an adolescent-like interest in the unreal world. The film made a star of sorts of the stunningly beautiful Barbara_Steele, who agreed to appear in the film without a salary, instead receiving per diem expenses. A note of caution: numerous version of this film exist under various titles, many of them adversely altered by distributors and censors. In whatever form you watch it, La Maschera del Demonio is easily among the most influential films of the Italian Gothic horror era. Richard Gilliam, Rovi

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