Review: 'Black Sunday'

Title: BLACK SUNDAY
Year: 1960
Director: Mario Bava
Writer: Ennio De Concini, Mario Serandrei
Starring: Barbara Steele, John Richardson, Andrea Checchi, Ivo Garrani

Legendary Italian filmmaker Mario Bava had quite the remarkable career, littered with a number of extraordinary films. Perhaps his most well-known film is BLACK SUNDAY, a masterpiece in every sense of the word. The recent bluray release from Kino Classics highlights the splendor of this wonderful piece of work.

Atmosphere is one of the more generic terms used by people when discussing horror films. People say it all the time. Whether it be, “THE SHINING has such great atmosphere,” or, “I love the atmosphere of THE THING,” or any other stupid comment about atmosphere, it’s something you often hear. I even use it. But what does it mean? When you really think about it, it becomes clear how ridiculous that is. You may as well say, “I like that the movie exists.”

But when you watch BLACK SUNDAY, the idea of atmosphere starts to make a little sense.

When the opening scene of BLACK SUNDAY begins to play, you’re immediately hit with an overwhelming amount of dread. An uneasy feeling begins to engulf you as a chill shoots up your spine. This is that atmosphere everyone is always talking about! Obviously it’s less about the actually atmosphere and more about what makes up said atmosphere, but you get the point. BLACK SUNDAY means business.

If you’ve yet to see BLACK SUNDAY this opening scene is what sets the table for the entire film. Princess Asa (Barbara Steele) is being condemned for practicing witchcraft and working with Satan by her own brother. Before having the Mask of Satan, an incredibly creepy little mask with spikes on the inside, placed over her face and thereby executing her, Princess Asa places a curse in the name of Satan on her brother.

As was often the case, Bava served as his own cinematographer and this opening scene is great representation of what he was able to capture as a DP. BLACK SUNDAY is one of Bava’s black and white entries, so instead of using vivid colors the focus is on the contrast of light and dark. The lighting and use of shadows is wonderful. Somehow Bava manages to make a black and white world feel incredibly lush.

On the 200th anniversary of Asa’s execution she plans to get her retribution by attempting to possess the body of her look-alike descendant, Katia (Steele in a dual role). Being a witch, particularly one who practices in the name of Satan, comes with its fair share of perks. One of those perks is the ability to come back from the grave and create a bloody mess of chaos for your ancestors.

BLACK SUNDAY is the absolute perfect movie to watch on Halloween. While it isn’t exceptionally scary, is does raise the eerie bar awfully high. It’s the perfect mood setter for Halloween or a dark and stormy night. Watch it at night with the lights off and it will surely get to you a bit. If you can get past the heebie jeebies, you’ll get to see a master at work.

The bluray release from Kino Classics, which is available now, is stunning. The picture quality is top notch and makes BLACK SUNDAY even more of a pleasure to watch.

Rating: 4/5