Horrorfest 2010: Black Sunday (The Mask of Satan)

BLACK SUNDAY or THE MASK OF SATAN, as it is also known, is the second film by Mario Bava for Horrorfest 2010. The first was BLOOD AND BLACK LACE. I liked this one better.

BLACK SUNDAY opens with the capture and destruction of a witch and her lover. At first you're prepared to think this is unfair persecution but you quickly realize in the world of BLACK SUNDAY, witches are actually witches and Satan worshippers are actually Satan worshippers. The witch has an iron "mask of Satan" gruesomely nailed onto her face for punishment, after an "S" for "Satan" is branded into her back with a hot iron.

This is the harrowing first ten minutes. The film's off to a good start, not just because of the action, but because of the beautiful black and white cinematography. This elevates the events from the world of garish exploitation to classy horror. Bava not only directed the film, but was the cinematographer as well, which I guess makes sense -- if you look at his credits, he had about a decade of experience lensing flicks for other directors before he took the reins.

Next, we get the kind of title card I live for -- "Two Centuries Later." Dr. Kruvajan (Andrea Chechhi) and his apprentice Dr. Gorobech (John Richardson) are traveling through the same country where the executions occurred on their way to a medical convention. When their stage coach loses a wheel, the two doctors explore a nearby cemetery and crypt while the frightened and superstitious driver makes the repairs. Kruvajan is attacked by a giant bat that he beats to death, and the doctors discover the burial site of the executed witch, still wearing her mask of Satan. Unbeknownst to Kruvajan, some of his blood drops onto the witche's corpse. . .

Descendants of the witch's family still live in the castle on the hill. The father Prince Vajda (Ivo Garrani ) is worried that the witch will attempt to seek revenge against his family -- after all, it has been exactly 200 years since the execution and on the anniversary of the first 100 years some terrible stuff happened. His beautiful daughter (Barbara Steele) looks exactly like the witch, whose painting looms menacingly over the main room of the castle.

The witch begins to rise slowly from the grave, reawakened by the doctor's blood. She telepathically commands her lover Javuto (Arturo Dominici) to rise, as well, to hunt down and destroy her descendants. The witch's ultimate plan is to revive herself entirely by inhabiting the body of her beautiful ancestor, but along the way she intends to destroy the rest of her descendants in the castle, starting with the Prince.

The cool thing about this movie is that it's clear that Bava wanted to imitate and pay tribute to the Universal horror films. The way the movie is shot in gorgeous black and white with generous amounts of fog and gothic sets makes it obvious that this was meant to be a throwback. It is almost a perfect imitation, lacking only the star power but making up for that with a more energetic camera, gliding around everywhere, and brief moments of strategic gore -- like when the titular mask is nailed into place and blood spurts, or when maggots crawl in the eye sockets of the decomposed witch.

There are several great sequences -- a sinister horse and carriage seemingly floating down the road in fluid slow motion, a stake driven into the eye of a living dead corpse, Javuto's rebirth from the grave, even an angry mob with torches. This movie has it all.

Watching the early passages, I thought this movie must clearly be inspired by Tod Browning's DRACULA with Bela Lugosi. Reading about the flick after it was over, I found out Francis Coppolla used this movie as inspiration for his own 90s version of DRACULA. I guess that's the ultimate form of flattery, when you seek to pay homage to the greatest and, in turn, end up being paid homage to.