Black Sunday

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Generally considered to be the foremost example of Italian Gothic horror, this darkly atmospheric black-and-white chiller put director Mario Bava on the international map and made the bewitching Barbara Steele a star. Steele plays Princess Asa, a high priestess of Satan who is gruesomely executed in 1600s Moldavia by having a spiked mask hammered into her face. Before she dies, Asa vows revenge on the family who killed her and returns from the grave two centuries later to keep her promise. In a striking resurrection scene replete with bats, scorpions and fog, Asa rises from the tomb to claim her bloody vengeance. With vampires, bubbling flesh, dank crypts, undead servants and torch-bearing mobs, the plot is a little ripe, but the visuals are Bava's primary consideration. The atmosphere is so heavy and the imagery so dense that the film becomes nearly too rich in texture, but the sheer, ghastly beauty of it all is entrancing. Although this was only the second of Bava's twenty-six films as director, it is undoubtedly his best and the one upon which most of his considerable reputation rests. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 (Vistavision)
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Audio: PCM Mono
• Features:
  • Audio commentary with author Tim Lucas
  • International trailer
  • U.S. trailer
  • Poster & still gallery
  • TV spot
  • Mario Bava bio
  • Barbara Steele bio

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Barbara Steele - Asa / Katia
       John Richardson - Dr. Andre Gorobec
       Ivo Garrani - Prince Vaida
       Andrea Checchi - Dr. Tomas Kruvajan
       Arturo Dominici - Javuto
       Enrico Olivieri - Constantin
       Antonio Pierfederici - The Pope
       Clara Bindi - The Innkeeper
       Germana Dominici - His Daughter
       Mario Passante - Nikita
       Tino Bianchi - Ivan
       Amy Steel

• Director:

  Mario Bava

• Producer:

  Massimo de Rita

• Screenwriter:

  Mario Bava, Ennio de Concini, Mario Serandrei

• Cinematographer:

  Mario Bava, Ubaldo Terzano

• Composer (Music Score):

  Les Baxter, Roberto Nicolosi

• Editor:

  Mario Serandrei

• Art Director:

  Giorgio Giovannini

• Set Designer:

  Giorgio Giovannini

• Camera Operator:

  Ubaldo Terzano

REVIEW:

• 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