Ancient Cult Files #5 -- Black Sunday

   
   In the 1960's, a new era of fascination for the Gothic genre emerged in all forms of media. With the changing social times, the surreal settings and subtle erotic elements gave a fresh perspective to a younger generation than their excessively popular predecessors from the 1930's and 40's. In this new age of Gothic art, the violence and sexuality were going to be brought out

into the lime light and not shaded under implied circumstances. However, this was still a very early and in comparison what was to come, a fairly tame example.
   La maschera del demonio or The Mask of Satan or Revenge of the Vampire or (as I have always called it) Black Sunday was released in the year 1960 in Italy and was directed by the budding horror master Mario Bava who would eventually become the fore-father of the slasher genre. It starred Barbara Steele (and served as her breakout role), John Richardson, and Andrea Checchi.
   The film begins with the conviction of two occultist practitioners, Princess Asa Vajda (Steele) and her accomplice (or brother in the Italian version, censored for most English speaking audiences due to implication that they share an incestuous relationship) Igor Javutich in 17th century Moldavia. Their execution is overseen by Asa's own brother who also

Princess Asa at her execution

turned her in as a witch; he orders both have a bronze mask of nails be placed over the sinners faces so that for all eternity they will wear their true face, the face of Satan. Before she dies, Asa calls out a curse on the Vajda family and swears that she will live on, for her evil services have made her immortal. They attempt to burn Asa's body, but a storm puts out the fires before they touch her, so she is put in her family's crypt in a special tomb with a window facing a cross facing downwards at the masked face so that the power of Christ may keep the witch from rising again. Javutich is placed in an unmarked grave in the local cemetery.
   Two centuries later, a pair of doctors traveling to a convention, Thomas Kruvajan (Checchi) and Andre Gorobec (Richardson), travel through the region where the Vajda family resides and where the "witches ghost" is said to haunt the forest. Despite warnings from their coach driver to keep away if possible, they travel through the area where the execution was performed. After their coach has a problem with one of the wheels, Kruvajan and Andre explore the once lavish grounds of the Vajda dynasty, now crumbling into ruin. 

Katia Vajda

   In their survey of the area, the stumble upon the crypt where Asa was laid to rest. Kruvajan tries taking a closer look at the witch's mask, but accidentally breaks the stone cross keeping her evil contained in a scuffle with a giant bat living in the tomb. He also cuts his hand on the shattered glass of the window, dripping blood onto the oddly well-preserved corpse. Upon returning from the crypt, they meet a young woman who looks shocking like Asa, but is in fact one of the living members of the Vajda family, Katia (also played by Steele). The melancholy beauty explains that the reason the grounds are in such disrepair is that her father believes that the entire family is cursed because of the witch. They part ways; Andre is completely smitten by her, much to Kruvajan's amusement.
   Meanwhile in the tomb, Asa's spirit is revived with the nourishment of Kruvajan's blood, and sets about ordering her servant Javutich to rise as well. After clawing his way out of the earth and ripping the mask of nails from his face, Javutich sets about terrorizing the living Vajda family. He causes the Katia's father to go into a hysteric fit of fear upon bursting into his

chambers. Katia sends a servant out to the nearby inn to fetch Kruvajan and Andre to aid her father, but Javutich murders him and instead poses as a personnel from Vajda castle himself. He appears to the elder doctor telling him the noble has fallen ill and that Katia sent for him, swaying him to come to along.

Igor Javutich, risen from the grave

   Javutich instead leads him to the crypt where Asa slowly becomes more and more alive; she seduces him with her powers and turns him into one of the undead. Kruvajan goes to the ill Vajda prince and kills him instead, now a slave to Asa's evil will. Asa tells Javutich to bring her Katia; only through drinking her blood can she be fully restored, since she is apparently her reincarnation of some sort. The rest of the film involves Andre and a local priest trying to save Katia and destroy the witch for good.
   Black Sunday under all its titles was an international success both at the box office and with the critics, though it was censored and even banned in many places due to its (at the time) unusually gruesome violence. It launched the careers of both Mario Bava and Barbara Steele, even though the two were famously like fire and ice during production. The cinematography in the film is absolutely stunning; the shadows of the forest and the fog all create a foreboding dread that does let up for one second. Some of exterior and interior shots of the Vajda castle were filmed at a castle in the province of Arsoli.
 

Shot at a real Gothic castle.

 This film has been extremely influential; many modern directors have cited this film as being a major attribute to their own filming style. Tim Burton and Francis Ford Coppola both used imagery from this film in some of their biggest hits Bram Stoker's Dracula and Sleepy Hallow. The opening scene of the inquisition would become a staple of the genre after this film as well.
   I view this film as a transition piece; it feels like a Universal classic with its fog and forest, but its plot-line is much edgier and openly violent, as films would steadily become throughout the decade.
   Black Sunday serves as the bridge between two periods of film, and, in all honesty, has some of the creepiest scenery in all of horror.
   This is must see.
   A solid five stars.

The Mask of Satan