La Maschera del Demonio [Black Sunday] [The Mask of Satan] ***** (1960, Barbara Steele, John Richardson, Andrea Checchi, Ivo Garrani) – Classic Movie Review 3,875

Mario Bava’s powerful 1960 movie exercise in Gothic horror La Maschera del Demonio [Black Sunday] is now hailed as one of the greatest horror masterpieces of Italian film. ‘Britain’s first lady of horror’ stars in the dual role of Asa and Katia Vajda. Tim Burton says it is his favourite horror film.

‘Once every 100 years the undead of hell terrorise the world in an orgy of stark horror.’

‘STARE INTO THESE EYES… discover deep within them the unspeakable terrifying secret of BLACK SUNDAY… it will paralyze you with fright!’

Director Mario Bava’s swirlingly powerful 1960 movie exercise in Gothic horror La Maschera del Demonio [Black Sunday] [The Mask of Satan] is haunting and stylishly atmospheric, spectacularly shot in black and white by Bava himself.

It stars British-born queen of the shivers Barbara Steele in a dual role as an innocent princess, Asa Vajda, and an evil, beautiful witch, Katia Vajda, who is put to death but rises up from the dead for revenge 200 years later.

The vengeful witch and her fiendish servant begin a bloody plot to possess the body of the witch’s beautiful look-alike descendant Asa – and only the girl’s brother Prince Constantine Vajda (Enrico Olivieri) and handsome doctor Dr Andre Gorobec (John Richardson) can stop her.

In the original Italian language version Princess Asa and Igor Javutich (Arturo Dominici) are brother and sister, implying an incestuous relationship that is not part of the English language versions.

Made in the studios of Scalera Film in Rome and on location at Castle Massimo in Arsoli near Rome, Bava’s film was released by Unidis on 11 August 1960 in Italy, passed uncut by the Italian Board of Censors.

However, after a single screening at the National Film Theatre in 1961, it was banned in Britain in 1961 by the BBFC because of its powerful images of cruelty and sexual suggestiveness, though, lusty and scary as it is, it is really no more horrific or sexy than the average Hammer Horror film.

An English-dubbed version of the film was created for international export titled The Mask of Satan. It was translated from the Italian-language script, directed by George Higgins III and recorded in Rome with the English Language Dubbers Association (ELDA).

In the UK, it was passed seven years later in June 1968 with cuts and released as Revenge of the Vampire, a censored version of the ELDA dub, with the original English language dubbing recorded in Italy and retaining the original Italian score by Roberto Nicolosi, which the Americans dumped for a new score by Les Baxter as Samuel Z Arkoff and James H Nicholson of American International Pictures (AIP) felt that Nicolosi’s score was ‘too Italian’.

AIP premiered their version of the film, now called Black Sunday, at the Allen Theatre in Cleveland, Ohio, on 3 February 1961.

The original Italian film was not released uncut in the UK until 1992.

A major horror classic in its own right, and now hailed as one of the greatest horror masterpieces of Italian film, this fascinating item is also extremely influential. It is credited with starting a new vogue for horror movies in the Sixties in Italy, where production then switched from musclemen epics, an important influence that still continued into the Nineties.

The original La maschera del demonio runs 87 minutes but the US version, released as Black Sunday in a double bill with Roger Corman’s The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) or Carry On Nurse (1959) by American International Pictures, runs 84 minutes. It has cuts, more dramatic dubbing recorded in the US and a new score by Les Baxter.

Arturo Dominici as Igor Javutich in La maschera del demonio (1960).

There is also The Mask of Satan complete European Version of the film featuring the original English language dubbing recorded in Italy and the original Italian score by Roberto Nicolosi. And La Maschera del Demonio (not the original Italian version and at 85 minutes), using the original English language dubbing recorded in Italy and a mix of both scores. A fifth version is 16mm US television syndication version with further edits to the cut Black Sunday version.

The screenplay by Mario Bava (uncredited), Ennio De Concini and Mario Serandrei is based on the short story The Viy by Nicolai Gogol. Steele did not see this screenplay in advance and was only given pages daily. She says that because of her inexperience and her inability to understand Italian, she found working with Bava difficult, sometimes refusing to come onto the set because she did not like her wig or concerned that her cleavage would be shown.

She is named as Barbara Steel on the film’s credits, so they obviously weren’t too concerned about their English star.

Tim Burton has said that it is his favourite horror film.

It is Bava’s first credited feature as a director. Bava enjoyed a lavish six weeks’ shooting, beginning 28 March 1960, whereas a typical Italian production then took three or four weeks. He went on to make Black Sabbath, Blood and Black Lace, Kill, Baby… Kill!,  Dr Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs and Danger: Diabolik. He was was born on 31 July 1914 and died on 27 April 1980, aged 65.

It turned Steele into a movie star in Italy, but the star was unhappy: ‘Lord alone knows I was difficult enough. I didn’t like my fangs – I had them changed three times. I loathed my wig – I changed that four times. I couldn’t understand Italian. I didn’t want to play a Chopin waltz. I certainly didn’t want them to tear open my dress and expose my breasts, so they got a double that I didn’t like at all. So I ended up doing it anyway – drunk, barely over 18, embarrassed and not very easy to be around.’

Barbara Steele was born on 29 December 1937 in Birkenhead, Cheshire.

The cast

The cast are Barbara Steele as Asa Vajda/ Katia Vajda, John Richardson as Dr Andrej Gorobec, Andrea Checchi as Dr Choma Kruvajan, Ivo Garrani as Prince Vajda, Arturo Dominici as Igor Javutich, Enrico Olivieri as Constantine Vajda, Tino Bianchi as Ivan, Antonio Pierfederici as Priest, Clara Bindi as Innkeeper, Mario Passante as Nikita, Renato Terra as Boris, Germana Dominici as Sonya.

La Maschera del Demonio [Black Sunday] [The Mask of Satan] is directed by Mario Bava, runs 87 minutes, is made by Galatea-Jolly Film, is released by Unidis (Italy) and American International Pictures (US), is written by Mario Bava, Ennio De Concini and Mario Serandrei, is shot in black and white by Mario Bava, is produced by Massimo De Rita and Samuel Z Arkoff, and is scored by Roberto Nicolosi.

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© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3,875
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