I was 10 when this film was made. I would have be impressed then, and scared too. Now, however, I gave up after 18 minutes and just let it play on as I did other things.Heavily atmospheric: Overdone sets, a lot of film noir lighting to cover costs. The director copies a couple of "Citizen Kane" moves and generally throws everything he's got at it. At least one gory scene (in the first 18 minutes) that would have been sensational in its time. Everything else is so-so. Still, an interesting film of its kind.

A tad too graphic for its time, Mario Bava's Black Sunday is an incessantly Gothic, chilling & eerie example of horror filmmaking that is now counted amongst the greatest examples of its genre, and although it was deemed too extreme for the filmgoing audience during its time of release, its lasting influence on horror cinema cannot be downplayed.The story of Black Sunday concerns a witch who was condemned to death for sorcery by her very own brother but, in her final words, vows revenge and puts a curse on him & his descendants. Her resurrection is triggered when two doctors inadvertently awaken her two centuries later, following which she attempts to possess the body of a lookalike descendant.Directed by Mario Bava in what's his directional debut, Black Sunday remains his most revered film to date and despite being over half a century older, it is still capable of startling a few viewers. The prologue alone contains imagery that's gonna evoke visceral reaction from its audience, and Bava's direction is commendable, for this Gothic chiller is crafted with passion.Shot in black-n-white, the images are sharp, crisp & finely detailed. Camera-work is expertly carried out with Bava making use of different styles & techniques to amplify the effect of a given segment. The Gothic vibe is consistently maintained and its 87 minutes runtime is splendidly paced but there were a few moments that felt unnecessary plus its background score isn't seamless either.Coming to the performances, the cast comprises of Barbara Steele, John Richardson, Ivo Garrani & Arturo Dominici, with Steele impressing the most. Playing both the witch & the descendant, Steele pretty much nails it in the role of the former while as latter, there are few instances when she goes overboard, possibly because her character is written that way. Nevertheless, she is well supported by the rest of the cast.On an overall scale, Black Sunday is a masterwork of expressionist horror that's not just notable for launching the careers of Bava & Steele but is also notorious for pushing the boundaries of what's acceptable on the film screen. Technically accomplished & narratively engaging, Mario Bava's labour of love retains much of its potency after all these years, and the aura of its meticulously constructed sets are so rich & dense that it will keep the viewers hexed throughout its runtime. Highly recommended.

A loose adaptation of the Nikolai Gogol short story "Viy", director Mario Bavas' film version "Black Sunday" a.k.a. "The Mask of Satan" is quite simply old school horror filmmaking at its finest. Shot in beautiful black & white by Bava himself, it spins a yarn of an aristocratic Russian family haunted by the two hundred year old curses of a witch named Asa (Barbara Steele). Two doctors impulsively enter the tomb that houses Asas' body, and one of them just happens to put into motion the means of resurrecting her from the dead. Asa then does the same for her associate, Javutich (Arturo Dominici) and they begin to terrorize the locals.Extremely well crafted, Bavas' film is noteworthy for some incredibly potent atmosphere. It truly lives up to the word "horror", with some genuinely skin crawling moments. The sets and the visuals are breathtaking, and the screenplay is very literate. Genre fans know that they will be in for a good time with the opening three minutes, as the unrepentant Asa is punished for her crimes and made to wear a mask that will penetrate the skin of her face. Bava might have done better not to zoom in on visual surprises in the fame, but that would be a very minor complaint.The performances are all sincere and right on the money. Steele kick started a great career with her dual role as the evil Asa and her look alike descendant, a princess named Katia. John Richardson is engaging in the leading male role of Dr. Andre Gorobec, who unsurprisingly falls in love with Katia. Andrea Checchi is superb in the tragic role of Andres' colleague Dr. Thomas Kruvajan. Ivo Garrani is excellent as the frightened Prince Vajda, Katias' father who's all too aware of the history of their family. And Dominici has a truly great and memorable face, perfect for the part of the intimidating Javutich.This is ideal viewing for those people looking for classic shockers. Even seeing it in a dubbed version does not rob it of its power.Eight out of 10.

When "La maschera del demonio" was released in 1960, cinemas displayed a warning to those who could be affected by its strong images, right from the first sequence when Asa, a Moldavian witch or noble ascent, is sentenced to death by the Inquisition, and the title mask is nailed to her smooth, peculiarly beautiful face, with big eyes, high cheekbones, and fleshy lips. Director Mario Bava, who for the first time was in complete control of a motion picture, was subtle and graphic at the same time, in this adaptation of Nikolai Gogol-s long tale "Viy". A reading of the source against a screening of the motion picture would reveal the resorts of film adaptations: for a more faithful version, one should see the Soviet film "Viy" (1967). But the writers of "La maschera del demonio" opted for distancing from the original, and the result was an autonomous product, that still had potent echoes of Gogol's story, illustrated by two examples: one, the ominous vacation trip of the seminarists in the original, becomes the fateful journey of Dr. Kruvajan and his young assistant, Dr. Gorobec, key figures in Asa's resurrection; and two, Gogol's passage of a young novice who kills a witch in a cemetery, is reworked in three lines of action: a girl reluctantly milks a cow in a stable adjacent to the town's graveyard, where simultaneously Javutich (Asa's cousin, lover, and assistant) is raising from his grave, and not too far Dr. Kruvajan is picked up by a ghostly carriage to take him back to Asa's crypt. Moreover, the dead witch —who in "Viy" is first killed in the cemetery and later turns out to be a landowner's dead daughter— has accordingly a dual visual resonance: the face of witch Asa is the same as Katja's, daughter of one of Asa's relatives, both played by British actress Barbara Steele. Other resources and images are strictly Bava's: Asa's dead, wax-like visage, intact for centuries, except for empty eye-sockets; Katja's first appearance with a black mastiff, her languid expression as Asa vampirizes her with a touch, or the revelation of Asa's putrid body... Bava was also his own cinematographer (assisted by Ubaldo Terzano), excelling himself with striking, Gothic, black and white images; and the film was cut by classic film editor Mario Serandrei, who also contributed to the script. Roberto Nicolosi's score is effective in general terms, with the possible exception of the piano romantic theme, which sounds too contemporary for the visuals. (When the film was bought by American International Pictures for distribution in the United States, Les Baxter wrote a new score). Besides Steele (who was immediately crowned Queen of Horror) and British leading man John Richardson as Katja's suitor, Dr. Gorobec, three prestigious Italian character actors completed the main cast: Andrea Checchi as Dr. Kruvajan; Ivo Garrani as both the Inquisition leader and Katja's father; and Arturo Dominici as the tall, sinister and frightening Javutich. Although since the release of "La maschera del demonio" motion pictures have augmented explicitness and reduced suggestion, Bava's first film won a place in the history of cinema for giving new breath to the horror genre all over the world, in a time when it was overlooked by most film critics and audiences.