This one doesn’t make you wait for the good stuff. In the very first minute of this 1960 horror classic, there is a shot of a flaming brazier, followed by the executioner stirring the blaze with a branding iron as two other executioners watch on with their arms folded. The first executioner carries the branding iron over to a clearing in an eerie wood, where a raven-haired woman in a white dress is tied to a stake, facing it with her back exposed. The “Brand of Satan” is pressed into her back – accompanied with a hellish scream and the delightful sizzle of searing flesh. She turns her head to reveal herself to the camera for the first time…it is the unforgettable face of Barbara Steele. I’m thoroughly convinced the reason this film is considered a classic is because of the opening scene.
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