Mario Bava’s debut abounds with hypnotic visuals and nightmarish themes. A former painter and cameraman, it took a turn in the director’s chair to fully realize the horror maestro’s cold and harrowing vision. Clearly Black Sunday was a source of artistic liberation for the aspiring filmmaker.
The picture commences in brutally disturbing fashion. Asa Vajda (Barbara Steele) and her illicit lover Javutich (Arturo Dominici) are branded disciples of the devil and sentenced to death. Spiked masks are hammered onto their faces by imposing men with swelling muscles and black hoods. Dark liquid pops from their mouths and eye holes and soaks into the cloth of their tattered clothes.
Two centuries later, a pair of doctors en route to a medical conference accidentally resurrect the evil witch who plans to use the body of her beautiful descendant Katia to gain revenge against her family.
The crisp black-and-white photography and marvelous set pieces evoke the creature features of the 1930s. Moonlit woods and baronial crypts conjure images of Universal’s mist-shrouded forests and bold castles. Gnarled trees fight against sodden Earth; cold stone stretches toward the radiant moonlight and disappears into black. Barbara Steele’s dark and mysterious look and regal voice recall the exotic performers that occupied Universal’s famed monster flicks.
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Celebrating 60 Years of Black Sunday
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