HALLOWEEN HORRORFEST 2020: Black Sunday (a.k.a. THE MASK OF SATAN, REVENGE OF THE VAMPIRE, 1960)

Our sponsor today is my friend, one of the Titans of The Ozploitation Era of Filmmaking, lover of nature (check out his photography on Facebook--it’s amazing!), author of Alice’s Adventures Through The Multiverse and Endless Font of Movie Knowledge (his Youtube essays on Movies From Hell are deeply informative), Brian Trenchard-Smith! 

Brian chose for me the classic Mario Bava gothic horror Black Sunday!

I have spoken before of my love for both Bava and his lead for this film, Barbara Steele before.  Even though he is considered the Master of Italian Horror, Bava worked on a wide range of films, including crime thrillers, comedies, and peplum.  He also worked in special effects, frequently designing and devising the matte paintings and props for his--and other--production.  And I think that’s why his films are so intensely watchable.  He tended to bring techniques he learned from other genres into the genre he was working on at the time, creating items that were distinct and defining.  And in visiting his work, I’ve been fascinated at how his application of outside genre symbolism and tropes transformed the genre he is best known for; a strong argument can be made that he took lessons he learned from film noir and created giallo, which led to his critique of giallo, A Bay of Blood, which led directly to the creation of the slasher.

In 1630, Asa (Barbara Steele) is adorned with the spikes-on-the-inside Mask of Satan and burned at the stake.  However, a storm prevents her body from being consumed by the flames, so she is locked away in her family crypt in a special Christian coffin designed to prevent her from rising.  Two hundred years later, that coffin is destroyed accidentally by Dr. Kruvajan (John Richardson), allowing Asa to raise her brother Javuto (Arturo Dominici) and prompting him to enact her revenge by killing off her descendants and taking over the body of young Katja (also Steele).  

This is a pure gothic romance....but what is wonderful about the film is how Bava seems to apply film noir lighting and framing practices to it, making it something unique.  Throughout the film I was struck by how Bava framed a lot of this film--shooting through trees, windows and in one case, Katya’s spread out fingers to isolate and emphasize actions and composition.  There are frequent moments where the characters are confined to one small spot on the screen, which makes us feel the isolation of the Moldavian countryside.  And I was pleasantly shocked to see him do something with shadows in the broad daylight, as the light in one scene is filtered through a water fountain to give us a shot of Steele that is half in shade, reflecting the conflicted nature of Katya at this moment.  Bava takes full advantage of black and white, designing sets that were monochromatic, to amplify the languid, spooky, gothic mood.

It is hard to talk about why this film suceeds without giving a largish portion of the credit to Barbara Steele.  Steele was born for black and white cinematography, and its a shame she didn’t come to prominence until the 60‘s, because she would have been perfect as a film noir femme fatale.  She is undeniably gorgeous, but there’s something about the planes of her face that don’t match up that makes looking at her disquieting; you are actively frightened of looking at her even though you don’t know why.  She is perfectly cast here, even if she spends most of her time as Katya, her raven wing black hair melting into Bava’s stark shadows.  I am not surprised she is considered one of the great scream queens.  Hell, I would argue she is the greatest scream queen of all times.

Another thing that is really compelling is the Moldavian setting.  This isn’t just one of these Italian films pretending to be British; apparently Bava was fascinated with Russian culture and folklore, a subject he’d return to in Black Sabbath, and this film is based on a story by Russian horror writer Nikolai Gogol...which means these strange creatures are vampires but--as we learned in Captain Kronos, Vampire Killer--there are many varieties of vampires outside of the ones we’re used to.

It’s obvious to me that Bava was a man incapable of making an ugly movie--even when he tried, in A Bay of Blood, he failed.  It’s also obvious he loved film noir and may very well be his first step toward creating giallo, as he applied these same stark shadows and techniques to the crime film Blood and Black Lace, generally acknowledged as the first of that genre.  It is beautiful to look at, it is entertainingly atmospheric, and I cannot recommend this enough...and like every film so far in the Horrorfest, you can view it for free, this time on Tubi (which means you’ll have to sit through some commercials, but it’s worth it!).

Tomorrow’s sponsor is everyone’s favorite cheerleader, and a wonderful woman I am also proud to call a friend, Kelli Marony.  Kelli has chosen for me the first horror film made during the Pandemic Lockdown, Host.  Kelli will be representing The No-Kill Coalition, a group that protects and advocates for shelter animals.

There are Eleven Sponsorship Slots Left in the Halloween Horrorfest this year.  To claim one, do one of four things:

1) You can become a Domicile of Dread Patreon at any level.  Patreons always get a free slot, as well as advance access to podcasts and other goodies!

2) You can buy me a coffee at Ko-Fi.  Suggested donation is $3

3) You can make a donation to Black Lives Matter.  Suggested donation is $10.  Please forward your receipt to me as proof.

4) You can choose to make a donation to the charity chosen by a sponsor on his/her/their day. Like with the third possibility, please forward me proof of donation.

As with last year, if I end up with more sponsors than there are days in October, I will go into Horrorfest Overtime, which means Halloween goes into November for me--and you!