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Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Black Sunday (Maschera del demonio, La) (Blu-ray) (1960)

Black Sunday (Maschera del demonio, La) (Blu-ray) (1960)

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Released 10-Sep-2015

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Horror Theatrical Trailer
Trailer-x 6 for other Shock Cult releases
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 1960
Running Time 86:30
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Mario Bava
Studio
Distributor

Shock Entertainment
Starring Barbara Steele
John Richardson
Andrea Checchi
Ivo Garrani
Arturo Dominici
Enrico Olivieri
Antonio Pierfederici
Tino Bianchi
Clara Bindi
Mario Passante
Renato Terra
Germana Dominici
Case Standard Blu-ray
RPI ? Music Les Baxter
Roberto Nicolosi


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 mono (1536Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.66:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080p
Original Aspect Ratio 1.66:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     In 17th century Moldavia the evil Princess Asa Vajda (Barbara Steel) and Javutich (Arturo Dominici) are about to be executed as witches by the Inquisition, led by Asa’s brother. They will have bronze masks with interior spikes, called the mask of Satan, hammered into their faces before being burnt at the stake. Before her death Asa calls on Satan and places a curse upon her family, vowing revenge. The fires are set, but a freak thunderstorm extinguishes the flames so Asa is interned in the family crypt while Javutich is buried in unconsecrated ground. They are dead, but the legend of the witch lives on.

     Two centuries later Professor Thomas Kruvajan (Andrea Checchi) and his young protégé Dr. Andre Gorobec (John Richardson) are on their way to a medical conference. Running late, they take a shortcut through the woods where their coach throws a wheel near the Vajda castle. While the wheel is being fixed by their coachman the two men enter the Vajda crypt and discover the tomb of Princess Asa. Kruvajan is attacked by a bat and accidentally cuts his hand. Outside the crypt they meet Princess Katia Vajda (Barbara Steel again); Andre is entranced by her beauty; the men resume their journey to a nearby village where they intend to spend the night. But Kruvajan’s blood has dripped onto the corpse of Asa, and she awakens. Besides Katia, two other descendants of the Vajda family still live in the castle; Katia’s father Prince Vajda (Ivo Garrani) and her brother Prince Constantine (Enrico Oliveri) and Asa calls upon Javutich to arise from his grave to help with her revenge. If she can inhabit the body of Katia her resurrection will be complete. Can anyone now stop the evil Kruvajan has unwittingly unleashed?

     Black Sunday (original Italian title La Maschera del Demonio or, as per the title card of this Blu-ray The Mask of Satan - see the censorship section below) is the first credited feature film by master Italian horror director Mario Bava. Bava had trained as a painter and had been a cinematographer, with a career stretching back to the late 1930s, when he was called upon to finish a couple of films after the original director left the project, leading to a directorial career which lasted another two decades. Bava continued to shoot his own films and is known for his spectacular use of colour in such films as Blood and Black Lace (1964) or The Whip and the Body (1963). Black Sunday was filmed in black and white but the visuals are still stunning, giving full reign to the term Gothic horror!

     Indeed Black Sunday is all about style and imagery and we get a shadowy crypt, long ill-lit corridors, graveyards and woods at night, curtains billowing in the wind, mist, creaking doors, hidden passages, footsteps in the night, thunder and wind. Compared to later gory slasher films, Black Sunday is generally mild although a couple of sequences, such as the reveal of Asa’s face under the mask after two centuries or the face dissolving in the fire, are very effective. Black Sunday also made a horror star of Barbara Steele (misspelled as Barbara Steel in the credits); she looks strikingly beautiful as both Asa and Katia but in truth she is not required to do a lot and the dubbed dialogue does no-one any favours. (This is not Steele’s voice either; all dialogue was redubbed and most of it is pretty terrible, as is the lip synchronisation).

     Right from the first images of a mob with torches, a dark wood, fire, shadow and Steele’s white face and body on the stake, Bloody Sunday is heavy with atmosphere and spectacular black and white visuals. Some of the effects used by Bava over the years have become horror clichés, but we are talking about a film that is now 55 years old. Yes, Bloody Sunday can feel a bit dated, but it is still a fabulous film to watch and has an 84% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

     There have been at least five different versions of La Maschera del Demonio. Which version of the film is this Blu-ray release? See the Censorship section below.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     Black Sunday is presented in the original 1.66:1 theatrical aspect ratio, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     This film is now 55 years old but probably looks as good as it ever has. There are a number of small marks scattered throughout the print, but most are too small to be a problem and there are no scratches. As required in a Gothic horror film of darkness and shadows, blacks and greys are solid, shadow detail is fabulous and we see what we are intended to see. Grain is evident, but nicely controlled, brightness and contrast does vary slightly in some scenes but not excessively.

     There was minor motion blur against mottled surfaces such as leaves.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio is an English LPCM 2.0 mono at 1536 Kbps.

     Dialogue is clear and easy to understand. This is a mono audio but the effects, such as creaking doors, horse’s hooves, footsteps, thunder and wind have some depth. The score by Roberto Nicolosi is quite strident and there are some very florid sections when Katia and Andre are together. The score demands to be noticed and I can understand why in the US the score was redone by Les Baxter.

     There is no surround or subwoofer use.

     There was occasional slight distortion in the music and thunder and minor crackle when music and effects were absent near the climax.

     Lip synchronisation was very indifferent.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Cinema Cult Trailers

     Trailers for Black Sunday (2:06), Masters of the Universe (1:39), Dr. Phibes Rises Again! (2:08), The Abominable Dr. Phibes (2:34), Electra Glide in Blue (3:17), Vanishing Point (2:14) and Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1:52).

Censorship

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     The best Blu-ray version of La Maschera del Demonio / Black Sunday / The Mask of Satan is the UK Region B Arrow release which includes both the US and European versions of the film, the Italian dub and a wealth of extras. For details see here. In the US the two versions of the film have been released separately.

Summary

     Mario Bava went on to make over 20 horror films after Black Sunday, but this film remains one of his best and although not in colour shows all the Bava touches of atmosphere, imaginative images and camera techniques. Bava set the bar very high with Black Sunday and it remains a fascinating and entertaining film, 55 years after being made. It may feel a bit dated occasionally but I doubt many horror films being made these days will last half as well as Black Sunday.

     The film looks great in HD, the audio is the original mono. Unfortunately we miss out on the extras available elsewhere but if you are only interested in the film this uncut Blu-ray from Shock Entertainment is good value.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Tuesday, September 08, 2015
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S580, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE