"The sound that you hear is dripping blood. This...is the beginning of Black Sunday !!" ...These two very atmospheric and mood-setting sentences are heard when the Black Sunday DVD is put into the player. No need to tell you that a better and more tense opening has yet to be created. This movie is an undeniable masterpiece in its kind. A powerful and terrifying experience that was way ahead of its time back in 1960 and now - almost 45 years later - it still stands for an hour and a half of pure terror, devlish fun and sinister fascination. I respect the opinion and dislikes of everyone but not when it comes to this movie...you either admit that Black Sunday is a masterpiece or you're wrong !!
I could give you a thousand reasons why this movie should be seen as the most important horror movie ever made but I'll just stick to the most important ones. Black Sunday ( or The Mask of Satan, as you prefer ) is the debut of Italian genius Mario Bava...Well, not really his debut but the first full length movie after a series of short films and project he didn't get credit for. In it, Bava presents us on a stylish and visually stunning story with an extremely macabre and dark topic. It contains passages of torturement, curses, witchburning, vampirism, massacres and resurrection but it's all brought to us in a very artistic fashion. Bava's profesionalism and style reminds me about the true masterpieces from Universal...Maybe also because the whole movie is filmed in beautiful black and white but merely because of the creepy atmosphere and the morbid topics. Black Sunday does contain rather many violent and sadistic scenes, but it becomes unwatchable or disgusting. Actually, when you look closer at it...it's a fairy tale !! Think about it...: evil witch, ominous castles, dark forests and - on top of it all - a tale of true love at first sight ! Barbara Steele should get as least as much credit and praise though. This stunning beauty can easily considered "Queen of Horror" if it were only for her performance here. Steele has a double role here ( the evil, vampiric Prinses Asa and the virgin Katia ) and her appearance can only be seen as on of beauty and pureness. Barbara Steele - once spit out by the glory of Hollywood - succeeds in convincing the audience that she stars as both an innocent virgin as well as a demonic ancient witch. The cinematic value attached to her character comes extremely close to Karloff's Frankenstein and Lugosi's Count Dracula. After all, Princess Asa was the first true female monster and she has - literally - become immortal.
You're not a horror fan if you haven't seen the perfection of Black Sunday...I give this movie a very well deserved rating 10 out of 10.
I could give you a thousand reasons why this movie should be seen as the most important horror movie ever made but I'll just stick to the most important ones. Black Sunday ( or The Mask of Satan, as you prefer ) is the debut of Italian genius Mario Bava...Well, not really his debut but the first full length movie after a series of short films and project he didn't get credit for. In it, Bava presents us on a stylish and visually stunning story with an extremely macabre and dark topic. It contains passages of torturement, curses, witchburning, vampirism, massacres and resurrection but it's all brought to us in a very artistic fashion. Bava's profesionalism and style reminds me about the true masterpieces from Universal...Maybe also because the whole movie is filmed in beautiful black and white but merely because of the creepy atmosphere and the morbid topics. Black Sunday does contain rather many violent and sadistic scenes, but it becomes unwatchable or disgusting. Actually, when you look closer at it...it's a fairy tale !! Think about it...: evil witch, ominous castles, dark forests and - on top of it all - a tale of true love at first sight ! Barbara Steele should get as least as much credit and praise though. This stunning beauty can easily considered "Queen of Horror" if it were only for her performance here. Steele has a double role here ( the evil, vampiric Prinses Asa and the virgin Katia ) and her appearance can only be seen as on of beauty and pureness. Barbara Steele - once spit out by the glory of Hollywood - succeeds in convincing the audience that she stars as both an innocent virgin as well as a demonic ancient witch. The cinematic value attached to her character comes extremely close to Karloff's Frankenstein and Lugosi's Count Dracula. After all, Princess Asa was the first true female monster and she has - literally - become immortal.
You're not a horror fan if you haven't seen the perfection of Black Sunday...I give this movie a very well deserved rating 10 out of 10.