Black Sunday (a.k.a. The Mask Of Satan) 1960 Once we started our re-watch Mario Bava's horror classic, we realized we forget to mention Tim Burton's goofy, yet loving tribute to it in our review of "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice".......
We imagined casual moviegoing audiences scratched their heads when Burton's film suddenly veers into black-and-white.....and Italian with English subtitles. (...with Michael Keaton's Beetlejuice flashing back to his centuries old unfortunate wedding to soul sucking demon witch Delores (Monica Belucci)
But those of us who revel in cult horror knew exactly what director and film to which Burton paid homage.......the one that scared the living crap out of the Baby Boomers...(for many of them, this was their first real introduction to the weird world of Euro-Horror).
Master cinematographer Bava established his reputation as Master Visualist director Bava with "Black Sunday", based on a Nicolai Gogol story set in Medieval Modavia.
No one could equal Bava in rendering nightmare dreamscapes on film. The dark, gloomy, fogbound bogs, filled mostly with twisted barren trees, crypts and tombstones was a suitable for framing Hell On Earth. Nobody had seen anything like it since James Whale's settings in this 1930's "Frankenstein" movies.
We're off to a great start in the Dark Ages, with the mob delivering gruesome terminal punishment to Vampire-witch Asa Vajda (Barbara Steele) and her equally bloodsucking consort Javutich (Ivo Garrani).....especially Asa, who gets a spike-filled mask hammered into her face.....ouch.
Centuries later, that deadly, dynamic duo is out and about, ready to rumble, suck neck, and bring serious pain to the ancestors of their tormentors. And the primary unlucky ancestor is Princess Katia, the exact double of the evil Asa (played by.....surprise, surprise, Barbara Steele.
The film literally drips, oozes and suffocates a viewer with darkness, gloom and impending death. Bava makes you think you're living inside a Halloween shop cardboard display....for real.
There's even some nifty effects that still hold up, but the film's finest and creepiest effect by far is the legendary Barbara Steele. A one time British fashion model and struggling Hollywood starlet, she's strikingly gorgeous, with jet-black hair and dark eyes that could bulge wider than globes......in short, tailor made for horror.
With "Black Sunday" an iconic Scream Queen was born and Steele ruled as the Elizabeth Taylor of Italian horror movies throughout the 1960's.......(which in truth, a position she didn't much enjoy)
So here's the perfect entry to kick off your Halloween season viewing. No fan of cult scary cinema should go without seeing it at least once.....5 stars (*****).
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