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Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0013131330397
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Label: Starz / Anchor Bay
Manufacturer: Starz / Anchor Bay
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Starz / Anchor Bay
Region Code: 1
Release Date: October 23, 2007
Running Time: 86 minutes
Sales Rank: 6422
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
Theatrical Release Date: 1960
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
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
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Awesome
Superbly atmospheric, very well written, dark, and dramatic movie, this movie will keep you entranced. Its a great movie to see with the lights out, and you wont be disappointed for a second! Excellent extras too both in previews of other movies of the time and promos for this movie. I highly recommend this one, its the first by this director and its easy to see why its such a cult classic!!!
Rating: - Scared the bejasus outta me!
I saw this movie in the theater when I was 12 years old. I've never forgotten it as being one of the scariest movies I'd ever seen. Gave me nightmares but the thing I remember the most was Barbara Steele having the mask removed from her face. I was on the edge of my seat hanging on for dear life. What a thrill! I thought she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. I love this movie. It is a cult movie and worthy of it's status. This would be a great halloween movie for the older kids.
Rating: - A frightening cult movie that links shadows and hallucinations with bizarre intensity!
We are in Moldavia, 1630. The beautiful princess asia and her lover Javuto are sent to death by Asia's brother. But Asa, who is a vampire put a curse on her brother's descendants and vows to get for revenge.
Two centuries later, 1830, Dr. Choma and his assitant, Andre Gorobec travel through Moldavia. They are travelling by coach and a coach wheel breaks. So as it may be expected they have to continue on foot in the direction of a howling voice. Eventually they discover the tomb of Asa. A bat attacks Choma, he cuts his hand and the spilled blood drips onto Asa`s face.
When they leave the crypt they find Katia who looks like a twin of Asa, who tells them about her impoverished existence with his brother and his father. While Asa is revived thanks to Choma's blood. She calls for Javuto and so he obeys her and he goes the castle and enter the Prince's room.
But Choma mistakenly thinks Javuto is Boris, the servant of Katia and is fatally
ambushed. He will become vampire due Asa sucks blood from his neck.Choma kills the Prince and then Asa asks for Javuto tio bring her to Katia because her blood will become her immortal.
This is basically the main dramatic structure of a film based on a story of Gogol The Vij. The result was quite successful, not only because the full rounded and anguishing plot but the way the legend, the curse, the horror and the vengeance interweave roles becoming perhaps one of the three most reminded horror films ever ... Read More
Rating: - Gorgeously sinister....
I've only seen a handful of Mario Bava's films, but the ones I've seen I've liked very much (Kill Baby Kill, Twitch of the Death Nerve, Baron Blood, Lisa and the Devil, Blood and Black Lace), but this one is definitely my favorite. It's a sinisterly gorgeous film, shot in shimmering black and white. Bava's use of light and shadow is really astonishing at times, reminiscent of Dreyer's Vampyr and Harvey's Carnival of Souls (two great horror films in their own right). Even though the dialogue is a little stilted, the look and ambience of the film is so beautiful and so strong that you can overlook the soundtrack and just enjoy the amazing (and I mean amazing) visuals. Bava was also a cinemtographer (and a production designer at times), and he directed and also shot this film (and does an amazing job at both). This is a really old fashioned horror film, not one with blood and gore, but with incredible style and panache, something sorely missing from most horror films today. Honestly, I don't remember much about the story here, because the film is so beguiling terrifying. Steele is magnificent in her lead role, the cinematography is outstanding, and the film is one of the finest films from the still underestimated filmography of Mario Bava.
Rating: - An Original Goth Girl: Still Scary After All These Years
The great Italian horror maestro, Mario Bava, certainly had his share of hits and misses (with much of his best work completed during the early part of his career) but his 1960 debut, "Black Sunday" may well be his crowning achievement. An atmospheric masterpiece of stunning imagery and genuine creepiness, "Black Sunday" is an intelligent, well-crafted thriller centered around an aristocratic family and the unintended resurrection of a long-dead (and very evil) ancestor executed for practicing witchcraft. The witch, along with her newly revived henchman, proceed to wreak havoc on the inhabitants of the castle, as they attempt to gain a foothold in this world.
Of course, the film proved to be a huge hit upon its release, and has since developed both a cult following and a genuine amount of respect from the film industry. Unquestionably, the true beneficiary of the film's popularity is British actress, Barbara Steele, who proved that she was more than a scream-queen, parlaying her newfound fame into a successful career playing weirdly erotic, strangely complicated women in distress. In "Black Sunday", she plays both the nobleman's aristocratic daughter, Katia, and the vengeful witch, Asa, and she excels in both roles. As Katia, she exudes a fragile vulnerability that suggests a touch of madness, or maybe a physical frailty, like the consumption that destroyed many characters (both real and imagined) in previous centuries. And as Asa, she's every inch the vampire queen, a bloodsucking ... Read More
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