Tuesday, November 1, 2011

La maschera del demonio (1960) aka Black Sunday


This film is absolutely gorgeous. The lighting and shadow, the gothic architecture, and the general atmosphere of the picture is stunning. A strange mixture of vampirism and witchcraft, Black Sunday is possibly the best gothic horror film I've ever seen. While the dubbing is mediocre (which is to be expected from 60s Italian films) and the plot mildly confusing, the copious amounts of gothic imagery are breathtaking: a dark castle, a ruined crypt, an exploding stone coffin, spiked masks, burning witches at the stake, secret passages, gnarled tree branches, and fog billowing everywhere. This film is the gothic horror go-to. Not to mention the generous amount of gore uncharacteristic of films from 1960.

9/10

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