Black Sunday

Black Sunday (La Maschera del Demonio) (1960)

Runtime: 87 minutes

Directed by: Mario Bava

Starring: Barbara Steele, John Richardson, Andrea Checchi, Ivo Garrani, Arturo Dominici

From: Galatea Film/Jolly Film

A very nice way to close out the Halloween season. I'll state right now that my plans for Halloween are to watch the eponymous film in the evening then right after midnight strikes, watch something else in an entirely different genre. In a few hours I'll post the list I did of all the appropriate films I saw since late August-as always, what an intoxicating mix it is. As there needed to be more Gothic horror included, this was a famous effort in that field somehow unseen by me until last night; it was a mistake happily corrected.

The vibes were laid on pretty thick here: the 19th century setting after the 17th century opening where a witch and her lover are burned at the stake, an uttered curse right before a spiked mask is nailed onto their faces, an accident results in those two resurrecting, the witch wishing to possess her descendant who of course looks just like her... then there's the setting of foggy woods, windy nights, a creepy castle, vaults, bats, cobwebs, skeletons... that is perfect for right around Halloween.

Black Sunday is simply a ghoulish delight; besides a story that thrilled there are plenty of memorable characters-everyone from cult favorite Barbara Steele as the witch/her descendant to a pair of doctors that attempt to eradicate this curse, to the men of science being helped out by a badass bearded priest. Even a little girl that witnesses some of the events left an impression. The marriage of a lovely score and intoxicating cinematography to the ghoulish story made the film one hell of an official debut for director Mario Bava... not to mention a pretty sweet movie to talk on the spookiest of days.