Black Sunday/The Mask of Satan (1960 Italy/USA 83mins)

Source: NLA/ACMI Prod: Massimo De Rita (Italy), Samual Z Arkoff & Lou Rusoff (USA) Dir, Ph: Mario Bava Scr: Mario Bava, Enio De Condini, Mario Serandrei, loosely based on ?Vij? by Nikolai Gogol Ed: Mario Serandrei Art Dir: Giorgio Giovannini Mus: Robert Nicolosi, Les Baxter (U.S., AIP version)

Cast: Barbara Steele, John Richardson, Andrea Checchi, Ivo Garrani, Arturu Dominici, Enrico Olivieri, Antonia Pierfederici, Tino Bianchi

Former Italian cinematographer Mario Bava (Hercules, 1959) made his feature directorial debut (at age 46) with The Mask of Satan (aka Black Sunday). The atmospheric, black and white film stirred up controversy due to some disturbingly violent content (for the time) and made an international star of lead actress Barbara Steele (8½ [1963], Castle of Blood [1964], Caged Heat [1974], Shivers/They Came from Within [1975]). It also marked the beginning of a multi-picture deal between Bava and American International Pictures who would release several of Bava's subsequent films, usually in altered and censored forms. Beginning in the late 1960s, Bava's The Mask of Satan/Black Sunday has often been cited by film critics and historians as an example of an influential and effective horror film of lasting artistic value.