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Ladies and Gentlemen despite your belief that YOUR favorite films are classic…not ALL films warrant that designation. Timeless films like Der Golem, Nosferatu, Mad Love, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Metropolis have changed the very face of horror. Where would horror cinema even be today without Georges Méliès, F.W. Murnau, Fritz Lang or Karl Freund? Classic is NOT a word that should be taken lightly in horror.
When I say Mario Bava…what’s the first thing that pops into your head? If it’s “Who?” or “Huh?” you are a jackass of monumental proportions and your shoulders should be crammed up your ass along with your already firmly planted head. The first Giallo, first slasher film (take that Clark & Carpenter!) and first comic book adaptation for the big screen can all be attributed to Mario Bava but his accomplishments come nowhere close to ending there.
Black Sunday or The Mask of Satan is, without a doubt, classic horror cinema. Some have even hailed it to be the best horror film ever made and I’d truly be hard pressed to disagree with that proclamation of greatness. Bava’s cinematography alone on the film was breathtaking. These days we’ve seen the story re-worked ad nauseam so it may not seem original now but trust me it works quite well.
Charged with heresy and bloodthirsty witchcraft, Princess Asa Vajda (Barbara Steele) and her demonic lover Igor Javutich (Arturo Dominici) are both marked with “The Brand of Satan” and sentenced to death. The murderous couple each has metal masks lined with spikes called “The Mask of Satan” pounded onto their faces; piercing their skulls and brains. Before Princess Aja’s mask is pounded into place though she lays a curse upon the Grand Inquisitor; her own brother. She swears to one day return and bring destruction to his bloodline.
Two hundred years later while on their way to a conference, doctor’s Andre Gorobec (John Richardson of The Church) & Thomas Kruvajan (Andrea Checchi) decide to investigate an old ruined crypt while their coachman is forced to fix their carriage’s wheel. During their investigations of the ruins, Dr. Kruvajan is attacked by a large bat and inadvertently knocks a cross off of the witch Asa’s tomb. Brought back to life by a drop of Dr. Kruvajan’s blood and no longer weakened by the cross that had once overlooked her coffin, Asa calls forth Igor from the grave to carry out her nefarious wishes!
Now nothing can stop Asa from fulfilling the curse laid upon her brother’s bloodline all those centuries ago! Igor must bring Asa’s descendant Katia Kajda (also played by Steele) to Asa so she can drain the young woman’s life force; taking her youth and her identity! Can Andre stop Igor and Asa before he loses his precious Katia forever? Will evil reign, once again, on the Earth?
Black Sunday is an absolutely wonderful film and in my opinion an extremely underrated classic amongst new and less knowledgeable horror cinema fans. Hell, I’ve heard hardcore horror lifers rattle off every slasher film under the sun as integral genre fare without ever having mention Black Sunday. That’s sad. Those of you that count this film amongst the greats probably know exactly what I’m saying.
The acting was wonderful though one can really only judge the voice actors as the film was dubbed in English. I’m not entirely certain that Barbara Steele and John Richardson’s voices were their own so I’m just going to give them their props anyhow. I wonder if there are any original Italian language versions floating around out there with optional subs and English dubs. In any case this Anchor Bay release only features English language dubbing and a mono soundtrack so super high-end entertainment system cinemaphiles may find this release totally worthless.
It makes me feel dirty just saying that.
Here’s an interesting little factoid for those (like me) that like geeky information nobody gives a crap about. According to IMDB, which can occasionally lead to some great info, Bava’s Black Sunday was based on Ukrainian novelist Nikolai Gogol’s short story “Viy.” “Viy” has actually seen quite a few films based on or adapted from it including Viy, Sveto Mesto, Vedma, an upcoming remake of 1967’s Viy and Lamberto Bava’s loose remake of his Father’s The Mask of Satan. That’s one influential little short story wouldn’t ya say?
Now there’s not much in the way of extras here and that’s to be expected but Anchor Bay does give us whatever they can which includes U.S. & International trailers, a TV spot, a poster & still gallery and bios for Steele and Bava. Once again, not much but that’s understandable.
As I’ve never seen the original Italian version of this I really wouldn’t know how much of the score on the Anchor Bay release can be attributed to Les Baxter or Roberto Nicolosi but it’s an outstanding score nonetheless. I suppose I’ll have to do some comparisons with this release and the Baxter CD soundtrack sometime.
Three things one should take note of when watching this release; the beautiful, almost flawless, print, Bava’s phenomenal cinematography and his top-notch (and seriously graphic) FX work. I can see the FX in this really raising some stodgy eyebrows back the early 60’s because I almost passed out at the site of Asa’s decomposed face crawling with tiny scorpions! YUCK!
Ya know not every film we enjoy is a classic and that’s okay; not everything needs to be in order to be entertaining. Black Sunday, however, is a classic from beginning to end. Hopefully Anchor Bay breaks up this amazing Bava Box Set in order to release Black Sunday on its own so more fans get the opportunity to own and appreciate it without breaking the bank.
