Review by Steve D. Stones
If someone were to ask me what I thought the top ten
scariest horror films of all time are, I would definitely list the 1960 classic
Black Sunday in the top five. The film certainly deserves to rank as the best
horror film of the 1960s. If ever there was a film that fits the title “Gothic
Horror,” Black Sunday is it.
Italian director Mario Bava is masterful at creating an
eerie atmosphere of old world decay. Black Sunday marks his directorial debut
and was also a first for the beautiful raven-haired English born actress
Barbara Steele. After the success of Black Sunday, Steele went on to star in a
number of 1960s European horror classics, such as Nightmare Castle, Terror
Creatures From The Grave, Castle of Blood, The Long Hair of Death, and the
Roger Corman classic The Pit & The Pendulum.
Steele plays a Russian princess named Asa living in 17th
century Moldavia. Asa and her companion Javutich are accused of witchcraft and
making a pact with the devil. Both are executed at the stake with a spiked
demon mask hammered into their faces. Before their deaths, Asa vows to return
from the dead and seek revenge on all her descendants.
The film then takes us into the future to the nineteenth
century. Dr. Choma and his young assistant Dr. Gorobec are traveling through
Moldavia in a coach when one of the wheels breaks. The two stop to rest as the
driver attempts to fix the wheel. They wander into an old crypt filled with
bats and lots of thick, creepy fog. Choma is immediately drawn to a coffin with
a glass window. The coffin is of witch Asa executed two hundred years ago.
Dr. Choma accidentally breaks the glass with his cane while
trying to hit a flying bat. He reaches into the coffin to remove Asa’s demon
mask and cuts his hand. Large scorpions crawl out of the empty eye sockets of
the dead Asa. Her skin also reveals the spike punctures from the mask. This is
one of the creepiest sequences in the entire film. Choma’s blood drips onto the
face of Asa, bringing her back to life.
Another frightening sequence shows a young Russian girl
strolling through the dark woods at night to fetch a pail of milk. While
milking a cow next to an old cemetery, she witnesses Javutich crawl out of his
two hundred year old grave as Asa summons him. He removes his demon mask to
reveal a pasty, shriveled complexion covered in cobwebs. This scene makes my
skin crawl with goose bumps every time I see it.
What follows for the rest of the film are attempts by Asa
and Javutich to murder Asa’s descendants. One of the descendants is the
beautiful Katia, also played by Steele, who resembles Asa perfectly.
Black Sunday was also known in European markets as La
Maschera del Demonio (The Mask of The Demon), House of Fright and Revenge of
The Vampire. Sinister Cinema in Medford, Oregon sells a beautiful widescreen
print with scenes cut from the American release. The film was banned for nine
years in England because of some of the intense, graphic scenes of horror and
violence. Director Bava went on to direct many less effective cult horror
classics, such as Planet of The Vampires, Kill Baby Kill, Blood & Black
Lace and Baron Blood. None of these films achieve the stylish gothic horror
atmosphere that makes Black Sunday such a great classic of the horror genre.
Black Sunday is a film I would highly recommend as part of
your Halloween festivities this season. Happy viewing and Happy (upcoming) Halloween!
No comments:
Post a Comment