One of my favorite horror movies is "Black Sunday" ("La Maschera del demonio")(1960). I try to only watch it once every few years, because each time I'm stunned anew by what a visual feast it is. Not only is debut director, Mario Bava's cinematography exquisite, but there are some many haunting, and inventive, images in this movie making it the classic film it is.
Barbara Steele plays dual roles as an executed witch, and as her descendant 200 years later, whom the witch needs in order to resurrect herself. This movie has it all, hooded, robed executioners, witches, vampires, hidden panels, disfigured corpses, decayed ruins, a dreary castle, a family curse, giant bats, frightened superstitious villagers, and men of science who find themselves out of their league in dealing with the supernatural.
The print on the DVD included in "The Mario Bava Collection - volume 1" box set is the nicest I've seen. I highly recommend this movie.
Yes, visually stunning. I have screencaps on my Flickr. Not nearly all of them (I'm dying for a pro account) but I get good comments on them.
ReplyDelete