The reigning masterpiece of Italian horror cinema, Mario Bava's Black Sunday remains one of the most stylishly photographed of all horror films, ranking with any other black-and-white film of lasting repute. This was the master cameraman's official directorial debut, and his striking compositions are the work of a genuine artist in peak form. Loosely adapted from a story by Nikolai Gogol, this chilling vampire tale begins in 17th-century Moldavia, where the evil Princess Asa (Barbara Steele) is executed for witchcraft and vampirism, along with her brother Javutich (Arturo Dominici). Two centuries later, a pair of traveling doctors discover Asa's crypt and inadvertently revive the evil princess, whose scheme of vampiric revenge is aimed at her own identical descendant Princess Katia, an innocent beauty (also played by Steele) whose lifeblood will ensure Asa's immortality. Influenced by Universal's classic horror films of the '30s and British Hammer films of the late '50s, Black Sunday (released in Italy as The Mask of Satan) is a dark fairy tale, with horror queen Steele as the definitive embodiment of erotic horror. With shocking violence (tame by today's standards) and visual emphasis on tombs, secret passages, ominous castles, and unseen forces, the film offers a wealth of memorable imagery and inventive technique. Redubbed, rescored, and harshly edited for its American release in 1961, Black Sunday is presented on DVD in the original English-language director's cut of The Mask of Satan, never before available in the U.S. The perfect movie to watch on a dark and stormy night, this timeless classic is the Citizen Kane of horror films, entirely worthy of its lofty reputation. --Jeff Shannon
Description
From the Mario Bava Collection comes his most frightening masterpiece, a tribute to the classic horror of Universal Pictures. In 17th Century Moldavia, the evil Princess Asa is condemned to death for witchcraft and vampirism, along with her brother, Prince Igor Javutich. Two hundred years later, two doctors en route to a medical convention discover her crypt and accidentally set her resurrection in motion! With the help of Javutich and others whom she enthralls with her cold, dead kiss, Asa sets her sights on her ultimate victim--Princess Katia, her own twin descendant. Filmed in gorgeous black & white by the director himself, "Black Sunday" is a stylish and relentlessly visual film of undiluted violence starring cult film star Barbara Steele (Shivers, 8 1/2). The uncut European version--first time on video in the United States!
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