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BLACK SUNDAY
This was the first solo-directed film by the great Mario Bava, and remains his best-known work. There’s an excellent reason for that, and for the fact that actress Barbara Steele became a virtual icon based on her performance in BLACK SUNDAY.
The Package
The onscreen title of the current DVD release of this 1961 film is THE MASK
OF SATAN (or LA MASCHERA DEL DEMONIO). It has, however, become better known
over the years as BLACK SUNDAY, the title grafted onto its original US release
by American International Pictures, who also cut approximately three minutes of
footage that’s since been restored.
Mario Bava was making his directorial debut (at age 46!) after years of
photographing and making uncredited directorial contributions to other
filmmakers’ work (such as I, VAMPIRI and CALTICKI THE IMMORTAL MONSTER). BLACK
SUNDAY was a worldwide success, dripping as it was with gothic atmosphere,
ahead-of-its-time gore and the incandescent Barbara Steele, who’d scuttled her
Hollywood career by walking off the set of the 1960 Elvis Presley headliner THE
FLAMING STAR. Steele relocated to Italy and was immediately cast in BLACK
SUNDAY, which solidified her status as a Euro horror movie icon (subsequent
Steele projects included THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM, 1962, THE HORRIBLE DR.
HITCHCOCK, 1962, THE GHOST, 1963, NIGHTMARE CASTLE, 1965, and
SHIVERS, 1975).
As for Bava, he’d go on to become one of the world’s finest and most prolific
horror specialists with THE EVIL EYE (1962), BLACK SABBATH (1963), BLOOD AND
BLACK LACE (1964), THE WHIP AND THE BODY (1963), TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE
(1971), LISA AND THE DEVIL (1973) and many more unforgettable films.
The Story
In the Russian province of Moldavia sometime during the Seventeenth Century
the beautiful but corrupt Princess Asa is put to death for witchcraft--by having
a mask with sharp spikes inside it literally pounded onto her face. Asa’s
brother, the Prince Igor Javutich, is also executed, and the two are then
interred in a crypt underneath the family castle. Two hundred years later their
resting place is breached by two overly inquisitive doctors: Grobec and Krubayon,
who cuts himself on a sharp edge of Asa’s tomb and bleeds on her corpse. This
blood is enough to revive her, and allow Asa to commence a reign of terror
without ever once leaving her tomb! She sends her resurrected bro Javutich into
the castle to induct warm bodies, dragging men into the cellar where Asa deals
them an undead kiss that turns ‘em into zombies.
Asa’s target is Princess Katia, her look-alike descendant with whom Asa
plans to switch bodies. Standing in her way are Grobec and Krubayon, who find
themselves becoming increasingly involved in Katia’s affairs: Krubayon, after
all, has fallen in love with Katia and will do anything to help avert her
horrific destiny. When a secret passageway is discovered leading from the
castle’s living room into Asa’s shadowy domain, Grobec, Krubayon and Katia see a
prime opportunity to end Asa’s reign of terror forever.
The Direction
Mario Bava was first and foremost a great visualist, evident in BLACK
SUNDAY’S superbly shadowy black and white photography, which remains among the
finest of any movie in any genre. What gives it its punch is the fact
that Bava, despite being fully aware he was shooting in black and white,
actually used multi-colored filters in lighting the film, which gives it a
unique look. As he would on most of his subsequent films, Bava acted as his own
cinematographer, and simply could not have shot a better-looking film. His also
made a perfect choice casting Barbara Steele in the main role, who in addition
to her near-unearthly beauty has a genuinely gothic aura.
Another asset is the startling grue, which, while no longer particularly
traumatizing, was quite potent for its time. In retrospect the film can be
viewed as a bridge between the stately Universal horror movies of the thirties
and forties and the more graphic fare of the late sixties and seventies.
What the film lacks is a compelling story. The script cobbled together by
Bava and his collaborators was allegedly based on Nikolai Gogol’s story
“The Vij”,
but it’s impossible to tell from the results, which are jumbled and often
incoherent; I’ve seen the film several times and listened to Tim Lucas’ erudite
DVD commentary, yet am still unclear on quite a few plot points.
There’s another problem, one afflicting quite a few
horror films past and present: quite simply, the living and breathing
protagonists are all terminally uninteresting. This makes it all-but impossible
not to root for the undead baddies, led by the seductive Princess Asa, who
unlike her antagonists at least has a coherent goal...and is much better
looking.
Vital Statistics
BLACK SUNDAY (a.k.a. THE
MASK OF SATAN)
Galatea-Jolly Film Productions
Director: Mario Bava
Producer:
Massimo de Rita
Screenplay: Ennio De Concini, Mario Serandrei
(Based on a story by
Nikolai Gogol)
Cinematography: Mario Bava
Editing: Mario Serandrei
Cast: Barbara Steele, John Richardson, Ivo Garrani, Andrea Checchi, Arturo
Dominici, Enrico Olivieri, Antonio Pierfederici, Tino Bianchi, Clara Bindi,
Mario Passante