Black Sunday [Blu-ray]

This excellent serving of gothic horror was a real feast. The familiar vampire/witchcraft scenario was expertly crafted and shot by Mario Bava and we are brought back to a world of superstition and brutality in a story set in Moldavia in the 17th century and later into the 19th century.As Barbara Steele said in a 1995 interview, the first ten minutes are very powerful as the fear is internalized. Princess Asa, a satanist, is condemned to death by her brother, an Inquisitor. She, and her servant, Vivoich are condemned to be burned but before that, they have the Mask of Satan banged on to their faces ; there is a close-up of the mask from the witch's viewpoint as she sees the spikes which will pierce her flesh. The mask fills the whole screen. They were due to be burnt at the stakes but the purifying flames are extinguished by a hard, (Satan's?) rainstorm.This is an important part of the plot's set-up because Asa and Vivoich's remains are extant.Asa curses her brother and her family down through the generations and swears revenge. Asa is interred in the family chapel, eternally facing the Cross through a glass screen; Vivoich is buried unceremoniously in unconsecrated ground and thus the story unwinds on its own supernatural logic.Two centuries later, Asa's descendants still live in the same gloomy castle and we see that their world has become cold, rotten and ruinous. There is Katya, Asa's direct Christian relative, Constantine, her brother and her father the fearful holder of the principality with a small household consisting of servants like Ivan and young Boris. Near at hand is the village with its Church and the long-bearded Orthodox clergyman.Two centuries of peace are disrupted on Black Sunday, St.George's Day, when the two vampires are revived accidentally by a travelling Professor who is accompanied by his assistant,Andre. Fascinated by the remains of the old chapel,the professor is bitten by a bat after he finds Asa;'s tomb . He removes the mask of Satan and the blood from his wound revives Asa and from then on Hell breaks loose. Her seduction of professor Grubayan is an excellent piece of theatre - 'Look into my eyes' she says as she promises paradise with Satan. The vengeful Asa calls out 'Rise Vivoich!' which he does in a wonderfully filmed scene- the earth moved literally.There is much chasing round the castle, fire, secret passages and flaming portraits of Asa and Vivoich and a whole gamut of deaths as the grisly p;air pursue their revenge. Asa wants to take over the spirit of Katia now in love with the handsome Andre. At one time there seem to be two Katias but which one is the vampire? Thus there is tension right up to the end after a gripping ninety minutes packed with atmosphere ; there is use of slow pans and tracking shots as the doomed family try to fight their Fate. The dialogue was sparse as Bava wanted the camera to do the talking and letting Barbara Steele seduce the audience,especially when,during her revival by Grubayan, her breathing bosoms bring an erotic charge to the scene.This was thoroughly enjoyable horror-film art which was generally understated and therefore worked to power the imagination of the audience.

There are quite some versions of Bava's masterpiece in circulation. So one should point out clearly to what edition he or she refers. In addition to the 3-disc Arrow version I own the German DVD "Die Stunde wenn Dracula kommt" and the Italian 2-disc edition from Ripley's. This review contains some objections I like to raise against the Arrow version. I refer to the original "Maschera del Demonio" or "Mask of Satan"-cut. For me the Italian soundtrack is the one to go for. First objection: the Arrow disc does not contain the original Italian credit sequence (unlike the Italian or the German disc). Second objection: occasionally the Italian soundtrack is slightly out of synch (watch the scene when Katia's father strikes a key on the piano or when Kruvajan lights a match). This doesn't occur on the Italian or the German disc. Third objection: the deleted scene with Katia and her father in the park is inserted in both the Italian and the German versions. There is a bonus feature on the Arrow disc that explains the omission, but in my opinion not entirely satisfying. The German disc has German subtitles. The Italian disc states that there are English subtitles but though there is a free subtitle track I haven't been able to activate it. I don't regret having bought the Arrow disc. Concerning the picture quality its version of "I Vampiri" is better than the one on the Image DVD. But I have to keep the Italian (for the docu "Mario Bava Maestro of the Macabre") and the German discs.

In my opinion The mask of Satan (European version) ever so slightly surpasses the AIP Black Sunday version if only because I feel that the Les Baxter score on Black Sunday is a bit too over the top in a typical AIP way. It is I re-iterate only my opinion and sometimes less is more as is the case with the original score. Having watched both versions, and I have yet to see the original Italian language version there really isn't that much in it really, different editing, dubbing and the AIP version is cut and shortens some of the more gruesome scenes (even though it is tame by todays standards). Whichever version you prefer however offers great b/w gothic tale. It never really decides if it wants to be about vampires or witches and blurs the two ideas but the imagery portrayed is fantastic if you like eery forests and castles, crypts and coffins. Its part Hammer, part Universal monsters with a European flavour so if you enjoyed either then I highly recommend Mask of Satan/Black Sunday. It also offers the Italian "I Vampiri" (The vampires) which Bava worked on and completed as cameraman. Overall very good film, does lose its way sometimes but generally deserves its reputation as an old skool classic.

Although dubbed (or with English subtitles) and in black and white this film is traditional gothic-horror at its best.Visually its very impressive (lots of shadows, large creepy sets, e.t.c) yet surprisingly very little blood or gore with the emphasis on building the suspense and the story.The theme of this film is a family curse, a witch returning from the grave to take possession of the descendent of her enemy and love lasting beyond the grave. It begins quite dramatically with a mob of angry peasants nailing a demonic mask onto a rather voluptuous witch before burning her and her boyfriend at the stake and it builds up from there so much that you don't want to take your eyes off the screen !Anyone who like old Hammer films and the Poe Vincent Price films would love this and I can't recommend it enough !!AND this is now available in a box set (cheaper !) which includes another classic (Black Sabbath) which are all films of the same Italian director.