Black Sunday (aka The Mask of Satan) | Barbara Steele, John Richardson

Black Sunday (aka The Mask of Satan) | Barbara Steele, John Richardson | An Original Goth Girl: Still Scary After All These Years

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Black Sunday (aka ...

	Black Sunday (aka The Mask of Satan) Barbara Steele, John Richardson Image Entertainment, 1999 average customer review:based on 82 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

From the Mario Bava Collection comes his most frightening masterpiece, a tribute to the classic horror of Universal Pictures. In 17th Century Moldavia, the evil Princess Asa is condemned to death for witchcraft and vampirism, along with her brother, Prince Igor Javutich. Two hundred years later, two doctors en route to a medical convention discover her crypt and accidentally set her resurrection in motion! With the help of Javutich and others whom she enthralls with her cold, dead kiss, Asa sets her sights on her ultimate victim--Princess Katia, her own twin descendant. Filmed in gorgeous black & white by the director himself, "Black Sunday" is a stylish and relentlessly visual film of undiluted violence starring cult film star Barbara Steele (Shivers, 8 1/2). The uncut European version--first time on video in the United States!

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Gorgeously sinister....

I've only seen a handful of Mario Bava's films, but the ones I've seen I've liked very much (Kill Baby Kill, Twitch of the Death Nerve, Baron Blood, Lisa and the Devil, Blood and Black Lace), but this one is definitely my favorite. It's a sinisterly gorgeous film, shot in shimmering black and white. Bava's use of light and shadow is really astonishing at times, reminiscent of Dreyer's Vampyr and Harvey's Carnival of Souls (two great horror films in their own right). Even though the dialogue is a little stilted, the look and ambience of the film is so beautiful and so strong that you can overlook the soundtrack and just enjoy the amazing (and I mean amazing) visuals. Bava was also a cinemtographer (and a production designer at times), and he directed and also shot this film (and does an amazing job at both). This is a really old fashioned horror film, not one with blood and gore, but with incredible style and panache, something sorely missing from most horror films today. Honestly, I don't remember much about the story here, because the film is so beguiling terrifying. Steele is magnificent in her lead role, the cinematography is outstanding, and the film is one of the finest films from the still underestimated filmography of Mario Bava.

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An Original Goth Girl: Still Scary After All These Years

The great Italian horror maestro, Mario Bava, certainly had his share of hits and misses (with much of his best work completed during the early part of his career) but his 1960 debut, "Black Sunday" may well be his crowning achievement. An atmospheric masterpiece of stunning imagery and genuine creepiness, "Black Sunday" is an intelligent, well-crafted thriller centered around an aristocratic family and the unintended resurrection of a long-dead (and very evil) ancestor executed for practicing witchcraft. The witch, along with her newly revived henchman, proceed to wreak havoc on the inhabitants of the castle, as they attempt to gain a foothold in this world.

Of course, the film proved to be a huge hit upon its release, and has since developed both a cult following and a genuine amount of respect from the film industry. Unquestionably, the true beneficiary of the film's popularity is British actress, Barbara Steele, who proved that she was more than a scream-queen, parlaying her newfound fame into a successful career playing weirdly erotic, strangely complicated women in distress. In "Black Sunday", she plays both the nobleman's aristocratic daughter, Katia, and the vengeful witch, Asa, and she excels in both roles. As Katia, she exudes a fragile vulnerability that suggests a touch of madness, or maybe a physical frailty, like the consumption that destroyed many characters (both real and imagined) in previous centuries. And as Asa, she's every inch the vampire queen, a bloodsucking witch and eternal goth girl who's feeling a little cranky after having a spiked mask hammered into her face and being tossed into a dusty, insect-ridden crypt for 200 years. Except for the holes left by Asa's spikes, there's very little else to physically distinguish Katia from Asa. The actress conveys the differences through her eyes and the intensity with which she delivers her lines. It's a good performance, maybe even a great performance, and one that I don't think Steele, in spite of becoming a star, was ever given the opportunity to match.

The male castmembers also acquit themselves nicely, although none stands out quite like Steele. John Richardson is the other Brit included in the film, portraying the doctor who unwittingly unleashes the horror; and Italian actors Ivo Garrani, Andrea Checchi, and Arturo Dominici fill out the other roles of nobleman, doctor's assistant/romantic interest, and demon-lover.

For its time, "Black Sunday" was considered quite daring, with its (now) subtle eroticism and the (once-shocking) violence that opens the film. With hundreds of considerably more graphic and gruesome films released since then, it may not have the visceral jolt that it once did, but "Black Sunday" still thrills and entertains with a genuine eeriness and chilling authenticity that is rarely seen onscreen anymore. It is a class act and a milestone for a fondly remembered director whose subsequent work (some of it, admittedly, good) never quite lived up to the bravura and promise of his stellar debut.

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Scared the bejasus outta me!

I saw this movie in the theater when I was 12 years old. I've never forgotten it as being one of the scariest movies I'd ever seen. Gave me nightmares but the thing I remember the most was Barbara Steele having the mask removed from her face. I was on the edge of my seat hanging on for dear life. What a thrill! I thought she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. I love this movie. It is a cult movie and worthy of it's status. This would be a great halloween movie for the older kids.

A frightening cult movie that links shadows and hallucinations with bizarre intensity!

We are in Moldavia, 1630. The beautiful princess asia and her lover Javuto are sent to death by Asia's brother. But Asa, who is a vampire put a curse on her brother's descendants and vows to get for revenge.

Two centuries later, 1830, Dr. Choma and his assitant, Andre Gorobec travel through Moldavia. They are travelling by coach and a coach wheel breaks. So as it may be expected they have to continue on foot in the direction of a howling voice. Eventually they discover the tomb of Asa. A bat attacks Choma, he cuts his hand and the spilled blood drips onto Asa`s face.

When they leave the crypt they find Katia who looks like a twin of Asa, who tells them about her impoverished existence with his brother and his father. While Asa is revived thanks to Choma's blood. She calls for Javuto and so he obeys her and he goes the castle and enter the Prince's room.

But Choma mistakenly thinks Javuto is Boris, the servant of Katia and is fatally
ambushed. He will become vampire due Asa sucks blood from his neck.Choma kills the Prince and then Asa asks for Javuto tio bring her to Katia because her blood will become her immortal.

This is basically the main dramatic structure of a film based on a story of Gogol The Vij. The result was quite successful, not only because the full rounded and anguishing plot but the way the legend, the curse, the horror and the vengeance interweave roles becoming perhaps one of the three most reminded horror films ever made in the history of cinema.

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