Black Sunday (1960)
A vengeful witch and her fiendish servant return from the grave and begin a bloody campaign to possess the body of the witch's beautiful look-alike descendant (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Mario Bava
Written By: Ennio De Concini, Nikolay Gogol, Mario Serandrei
Starring: Barbara Steele, Andrea Checchi, John Richardson, Ivo Garrani, Arturo Dominici, Renato Terra, Mario Passante, Clara Bindi, Tino Bianchi, Antonio Pierfederici, Enrico Olivieri, Germana Dominici
Genre: Horror
AKAs: The Devil's Mask (Show all 3)
- La Maschera del demonio
- The Mask Of Satan
Country: Italy
Where to Stream
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Black Sunday belongs to 44 collections
1. 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (collaborative: moderated by kozan26 - 234 stars)
2. Features under 91 minutes (collaborative: moderated by epiphany - 56 stars)
3. Psychotronic Film and Video Guides (collaborative: moderated by Gregzilla - 40 stars)
4. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2008 revision) (collaborative: moderated by Scottathon - 39 stars)
5. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2010 revision) (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 32 stars)
6. The Guardian's 1000 films to see before you die (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 30 stars)
7. Passed the Bechdel Test (collaborative: moderated by geohawk - 29 stars)
8. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2012 revision) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 25 stars)
9. They Shoot Pictures' Recommended Viewing (collaborative: moderated by Cinephile - 19 stars)
10. Edgar Wright 1000 Favorite Movies (Aug 2016) (collaborative: moderated by Aron Ericson - 17 stars)
11. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2011 revision) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 14 stars)
12. Vampire (collaborative: moderated by td888 - 13 stars)
13. Films available in HD (collaborative: moderated by kubricksucks - 13 stars)
14. Witches (collaborative: moderated by Moribunny - 12 stars)
15. TimeOut's 1000 films to change your life (collaborative: moderated by ppinocchio - 11 stars)
16. Arthouse Horror (collaborative: moderated by BeeDub - 6 stars)
17. Gothic horror (collaborative: moderated by edkrak - 5 stars)
18. Slant Magazine's 100 Greatest Horror Films of All Time (collaborative: moderated by edsu - 5 stars)
19. Cinemag's Best 200 films Ever Created! (collaborative: moderated by hristos - 4 stars)
20. Capsules, guest reviews, list candidates... (366weirdmovies) (collaborative: moderated by sesito71 - 4 stars)
21. Italian cult/genre/B-movies (public: edkrak - 4 stars)
22. Horror (public: fruititself - 4 stars)
23. Horror (public: horrorjames - 4 stars)
24. 501 Movie Directors (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 3 stars)
25. Cult Movies (Danny Peary) (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 3 stars)
26. A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss (public: kylie - 3 stars)
27. High contrast black and white cinematography (collaborative: moderated by juandr - 2 stars)
28. The Mammoth Book of Slasher Movies (book) (public: Ag0stoMesmer - 2 stars)
29. Eurohorror (collaborative: moderated by Shmendrek - 1 star)
30. Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments (collaborative - 1 star)
31. A Year of Essential Cinema (collaborative: moderated by Ibetolis1 - 1 star)
32. The Overlook Film Encyclopedia: Horror 1960s (collaborative: moderated by RoyalB - 1 star)
33. Italian horror (collaborative: moderated by mattburgess - 1 star)
34. Kim Newman's Nightmare Movies (collaborative: moderated by RoyalB - 1 star)
35. Cinetheque (public: allegreller - 1 star)
36. American International Pictures (collaborative: moderated by RoyalB)
37. Versátil Home Video (collaborative: moderated by allegreller)
38. Arrow Video (collaborative: moderated by mattburgess)
39. Owned (BD) (public: bizarre_eye)
40. Filmspotting Ratings Project: Week 31 (public: PeaceAnarchy)
41. Horror/Suspense Movies I Own (public: Lord Moe)
42. My Home Video Library (public: joseywales)
43. Edgar 256 (public: caffe)
44. A Spook-a-doodle October (public: Tarnop)
Browse the full list of collections
| Stars | User | Rating | |
| 6 |  |
terrymac | 75 72nd |
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This is a good-looking film - the lighting is very effective, bringing the well-composed B&W shots to life, and the set design and camerawork contribute to a creepy, gothic atmosphere. It starts really strongly, but becomes a bit uneven and unfulfilling towards the end. The dubbing on the version I saw was a bit ropey, but acceptable. Still, it's entertaining, and fans of Bava, Italian horror and even Hammer films (well-dressed academics battling evil?) will probably enjoy this.
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| 6 |  |
BeeDub | 85 63rd |
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Has occasional flashes of brilliance, but it's not the classic it could have been.
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| 3 |  |
MartinTeller | 84 81st |
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This is pretty impressive for a debut, a first-rate gothic horror film. The mood is appropriately creepy, the music is very good, the cinematography quite thoughtful and evocative. It's a little cheesy, but horror and cheese often go together well.
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| 3 |  |
eveelun | 67 35th |
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The sets are fantastic, and there are some wonderful shots. But after the striking first part, the film gradually gets slower and less interesting, and the final act is rather anticlimactic.
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| 3 |  |
caiman | 86 82nd |
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Cheesy at times yet creepy at others. Overall I really liked it. This was not a typical vampire movie as there were no wooden stakes, no garlic, and no fangs. I liked that about it. Very well-written and directed as well. The black and white cinematography looked great, utilizing shadows and light to make a great gothic atmosphere.
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| 2 |  |
PeaceAnarchy | 74 40th |
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Starts off very creepy but it doesn't quite succeed in carrying that through the film.
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| 2 |  |
Stain | 100 95th |
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Classic. Barbara Steele looks beautiful and like a corpse at the same time
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| 2 |  |
KasperL | 50 30th |
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The striking opening scene is great, but - though visually impressive as well, particularly for a directorial debut - the rest of the film is not very interesting at all.
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| 2 |  |
INDYATMN | 75 41st |
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Bava's definitely got some impressively creepy and even brutal shots (the mask stuff can hold up against anything these days) that must've made this ahead of its time, but there's very little surprise or momentum sandwiched between the setup & climax. Even the climax is a bit anti-climactic as neither of the 2 leads or lead monster does much. & since they barely know each other the romantic angle's meh. I do wonder how the hell he got Steele to age & de-age - if it's a dissolve it's invisible
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| 2 |  |
empiremag | 4 71st |
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"...the greatest gothic horror movie ever made in Italy."
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| 2 |  |
SirRobbie | 80 81st |
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Strikingly beautiful black-and-white photography and great sense of horror. If it weren't for the wooden acting and horrible dialogues I would consider it a masterpiece of Gothic Horror.
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| 2 |  |
Lord Moe | 76 38th |
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Beautifully shot but curiously told. Barbara Steele has the perfect look for a wicked witch but she is so underutilized that I am left a little annoyed at the end. Still worth watching, especially since it's an early Bava film.
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| 2 |  |
Paxton | 70 63rd |
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She's cute and she's a witch and they kill her at the beginning in spectacular fashion and then she comes back and plays two roles and did I mention she's beautiful. She is.
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| 1 |  |
amerigo | 76 41st |
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Some nice shots and set designs, but besides that, there's not much here.
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| 1 |  |
Dean Franz | 35 34th |
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Atmospheric but ultimately empty italian horror flick. Highly influential, which only means that it's worth watching but not necesarilly that it's any good.
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| 1 |  |
moraesfelipe | 82 88th |
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The chiaroscuro, the practical effects and the intense search for a moral ambiguity -- the witch is burnt among people dancing and laughing, and even though the couple ends with a kiss, the last is given to the fire burning the witch -- make this a true powerful gothic horror film, with Bava's skillful, quick and intelligent camera floating around in every which way it can -- from long pandering shots to strong closeups and raccords. It's christianity (again) seeking purity through violence.
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| 1 |  |
oskarhu | 72 24th |
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Doesn't live up to the excitement of its introduction. Nice visuals here and there but lacking in everything else.
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| 1 |  |
WWallce4prez | 72 51st |
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Lots of crucifixes, shadows, secret passages, and some pretty good gore. Bava’s classic isn’t very scary but it succeeds in nailing a good gothic tone.
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| 1 | moviesinhell | 75 54th |
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The pic that put graveyard beauty Steele -- cast here as a reanimated witch -- on the horror-movie map also represents one of gothic great Bava's most atmospheric excursions.
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| 1 |  |
Frosty | 60 41st |
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A great intro and perfect casting in Barbara Steele. The film has some really nice photography and a few interesting ideas and techniques. Unfortunately for a 86 minute movie it manages to have pacing problems as well as awful dubbing on some of the secondary characters.
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| 1 |  |
TrixRabbi | 79 64th |
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An absolutely brutal film.
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| 1 |  |
ribcage | 76 70th |
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Practically an archetype for gothic horror and its great. Witches and castles and hero doctors and secret passages, and this is Italian so above all FOG.
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| 1 |  |
ratedargh | 80 65th |
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Fantastic atmosphere and overall look. It's a tiny story, which helps focus it. The biggest problem is the dubbing, which is really unfortunate. Aside from that, it's a really effective horror film that has aged really well.
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| 1 |  |
Barraoc | 60 38th |
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It's got a beautiful Gothic setting and Barbara Steele's hypnotic eyes going for it. Some of the performances are more wooden than the surrounding woodland, but the English dubbing might have been to blame (at least partially) for that.
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| 1 |  |
hotsake | 65 62nd |
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The sets, atmosphere, and cinematography were great the story was passable but the acting was quite silly and overdone.
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| 1 |  |
backwardsuit | 75 66th |
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A wonderful horror film with powerful macabre imagery and spellbinding gothic ambiance. Very strong start and finish but the middle undoubtedly drags quite a bit. The story is fine although nothing really special or exciting. The atmosphere is fantastic though and a couple of scenes actually kinda spooked me out despite the well worn gothic horror style. Mario Bava was such a brilliant craftsman his films are always worth watching just for the exquisite visuals.
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| Average Percentile 54.7% from 627 Ratings |  |