BLACK SUNDAY

(A.k.a. THE MASK OF SATAN; REVENGE OF THE VAMPIRE; LA MASCHERA DEL DEMONIO)

As an earnest male voiceover tells us of past superstitions concerning witches and vampires, we watch Asa (Barbara Steele) being sentenced to heresy as she writhes tied at the stake. Her faithful servant, Igor (Arturo Dominici), is already dead beside her.

"Cover her face with the mask of Satan … nail it down!" yells the bearded witch-hunter before her. And so, one of the most famous – and shocking – opening sequences in the history of Gothic horror cinema concludes with Asa’s pretty visage being impaled by the aforementioned spiked mask.

It would be remiss of me to omit the bit moments before the mask is hammered onto Asa’s face, where she promises a curse that will live on to haunt "your sons, their sons … and their sons" …

The night ends in stormy fashion, with rain so hard that the fire built beneath her is extinguished. The zealous villagers resolve to simply place her corpse in a coffin and bury her in her ancestors’ tomb.

But then, two centuries later …

Acclaimed doctor Kruvajan (Andrea Checchi) and his young protégé Andre (John Richardson) arrive in a small Italian village for a convention, only to pay a visit to a seemingly unkempt catacomb out of curiosity. There, they discover Asa’s unattended coffin and unwittingly break the window on it that was designed to warn people of the fate awaiting them if they dabbled in witchery.

Fleeing their mishap, they bump into Katia (also Steele) outside; a demure young innocent who lives with her Prince father in the neighbouring castle. She and Andre share an instant attraction.

Andre and Kruvajan retire to the local hostelry, oblivious to the curse they’ve unleashed. Meanwhile, Katia’s family begin to suspect that superstitious rumours sometimes do carry weight as they see signs of evil coming their way. And we, the viewer, know exactly what’s going on, as we witness the corpses of Asa and Igor slowly but surely finding a new lease of life.

When the visiting doctors are summoned to the castle in a bid to help Katia’s ailing father, you just know that bad things are going to happen …

BLACK SUNDAY doesn’t really need any further description or introduction. It’s a justifiably famous film, out-Hammering Hammer and being unfathomably influential over the decades while remaining remarkably potent to this day.

Some of the musical cues, mannered performances and weird dialogue choices are amusing in 2012, admittedly, but times do move on – be forgiving of them, and you’ll find a film that really shouldn’t be as fresh and affecting today as it clearly is.

I imagine the violence (probably certificate 12 fare in this age) was righteously shocking at the time of the film’s original 1960 release – indeed, BLACK SUNDAY was refused a UK certificate at the time, and only saw the light of day uncut here some 30 years later, on video – and it still impresses here. But it’s the Gothic settings, the stunning monochrome photography (by first-time director Mario Bava himself) and the unwavering atmosphere that truly transcend time.

BLACK SUNDAY is as controlled and beautiful aesthetically as any early Argento film, but arguably more satisfying due to its beautiful understanding of atmospheric black-and-white photography and what can only be described as a consummate grasp of the ethereal. It’s brilliant, ahead of its peers and stands the test of time as the perfect balance between being a succession of expertly realised compositions and an engaging (nonsensical, if you think about it too hard) revenge plot.

Kino Lorber have utilised an archival 35mm print of the film’s longer Italian cut for its worldwide HD premiere on this fine blu-ray. This means it comes complete with Roberto Nicolasi’s original score and a couple of extra minutes originally excised from overseas versions.

The print displays the odd onscreen speck, especially during the softer earlier moments, but is generally speaking very clean for a film that’s over 50 years old. All told, the blacks are stable and contrast seems fine to these eyes. There is a noticeable upgrade in terms of depth, definition and detail when compared to how the film looked in Anchor Bay’s Bava DVD box-set of a few years back.

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1 and 16x9 enhanced, BLACK SUNDAY does in fact look the best it ever has done in this atmospheric, arresting 1080p transfer. As the presentation played on, I was more and more impressed with what I saw: Igor rising from the grave, for example, looks amazing.

Note that this print bears the title THE MASK OF SATAN (Kino have seen fit to add BLACK SUNDAY at the foot of the screen, in brackets) and the opening titles mis-spell Steele’s surname as Steel!).

English 2.0 mono audio comes across well, with a pleasing lack of background noise or distortion. This offers a solid and consistent playback throughout. This particular English audio track was originally prepared in Italy to accompany their uncut print for International screenings, and consequently displays some noticeable moments of post-dubbing.

As is the norm for Kino’s recent genre blu-rays, the disc opens with a static main menu page. Rather bland text-only pop-up menus include a scene-selection menu allowing access to the main feature via 10 chapters.

Extras are limited but welcome. The best by far is an incredibly detailed, informative commentary track from Tim Lucas. Author of the definitive book on Bava, "All the Colors of the Dark", he’s the best person for the job … and doesn’t fall short of expectations here.

We also get the film’s original American (2 minutes, bearing the title BLACK SUNDAY) and International (3 minutes, in better shape, uses the THE MASK OF SATAN title) theatrical trailers, and a US TV spot.

Finally, there are HD trailers for some other Bava films: BARON BLOOD, HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON, LISA AND THE DEVIL and the latter’s alternative, controversial re-edit HOUSE OF EXORCISM (a guilty pleasure of mine).

The disc is, regrettably, locked to region A. I tried the usual bypasses (pressing Top Menu etc), but to no avail. I can confirm that the HATCHET disc is also locked to region A.

BLACK SUNDAY is an undisputed classic, not only of Italian horror but of the genre as a whole. As daring, contemporary and stylishly atmospheric today as it ever was, it remains a stunning example of the power of monochrome film – and that’s coming from a director renowned for his masterful use of colours.

In keeping with their impressive run so far – have you seen what they’ve achieved with those Jean Rollin films and even KILLER’S MOON (all region free)?! – the film looks great on Kino’s blu-ray.

Highly recommended.

Review by Stuart Willis