"Black Sunday", also known as "The Mask of Satan", is considered to be Italian horror maestro Mario Bava's directorial debut, after he did uncredited work on a few prior movies. It is also the film that launched his career on the international stage.
It is not surprising to discover that Bava had been a cinematographer for almost twenty years before he directed "Black Sunday". Simply put, the movie looks beautiful. The photography is exquisite, and the framing of each shot perfectly uses the film's quintessentially Gothic scenery.
The movie is, basically, like looking at a book of Gothic photography come to life.
This also has the correlative of making the movie's plot and characters distant and uninvolving.
Beautiful photography is by its nature distancing. It makes you aware of the beauty of its subject, certainly, but also in so doing, makes you aware of its distance from you, thumbing through the book in your living room or book shop as you probably are.
Cinema, with its marriage of the moving image with sound, can dissolve that barrier.
"Black Sunday", unfortunately, fails to do this. The story is something to do with an evil witch-vampire played by the brick-jawed Barbara Steel. She does have a very memorable introduction as we see her killed in one of horror's most memorable death sequences: a mask with nails on the inside is nailed onto her face, blood gushing from underneath it.
Two hundred years later (in 1830 or thereabouts) some men stumble onto the tomb of the witch, and cutting his hand, one of the guys accidentally wakes her up. He also meets a descendant of the witch - also played by Barbara Steel in a double-role - and is struck by her beauty. Of course, the vampire-witch wants revenge on the descendants of those who had her executed, and commands her brother-in-arms to rise from his grave and start killing.
I found it impossible to care about this movie beyond its beautiful looks. Part of the problem is Steel; with a double role, she doesn't make enough of an impression as either of the characters she plays. You will not be surprised to read that she did not get along with Bava on the set of this movie. Her performance seems reluctant, like the guy behind the camera wants her to show something she didn't sign on for.
Another problem is that the movie is unnecessarily confusing toward the end. I admit I lost track of exactly what was going on.
It seems as though Bava devoted all his energy to the filming of locations and objects, without bothering to get us close to the story or characters. Perhaps the defiant and brick-jawed Barbara Steel put him off?
It is not surprising to discover that Bava had been a cinematographer for almost twenty years before he directed "Black Sunday". Simply put, the movie looks beautiful. The photography is exquisite, and the framing of each shot perfectly uses the film's quintessentially Gothic scenery.
The movie is, basically, like looking at a book of Gothic photography come to life.
This also has the correlative of making the movie's plot and characters distant and uninvolving.
Beautiful photography is by its nature distancing. It makes you aware of the beauty of its subject, certainly, but also in so doing, makes you aware of its distance from you, thumbing through the book in your living room or book shop as you probably are.
Cinema, with its marriage of the moving image with sound, can dissolve that barrier.
"Black Sunday", unfortunately, fails to do this. The story is something to do with an evil witch-vampire played by the brick-jawed Barbara Steel. She does have a very memorable introduction as we see her killed in one of horror's most memorable death sequences: a mask with nails on the inside is nailed onto her face, blood gushing from underneath it.
Two hundred years later (in 1830 or thereabouts) some men stumble onto the tomb of the witch, and cutting his hand, one of the guys accidentally wakes her up. He also meets a descendant of the witch - also played by Barbara Steel in a double-role - and is struck by her beauty. Of course, the vampire-witch wants revenge on the descendants of those who had her executed, and commands her brother-in-arms to rise from his grave and start killing.
I found it impossible to care about this movie beyond its beautiful looks. Part of the problem is Steel; with a double role, she doesn't make enough of an impression as either of the characters she plays. You will not be surprised to read that she did not get along with Bava on the set of this movie. Her performance seems reluctant, like the guy behind the camera wants her to show something she didn't sign on for.
Another problem is that the movie is unnecessarily confusing toward the end. I admit I lost track of exactly what was going on.
It seems as though Bava devoted all his energy to the filming of locations and objects, without bothering to get us close to the story or characters. Perhaps the defiant and brick-jawed Barbara Steel put him off?