Black SundayItalian horror maestro Mario Bava was a prodigiously talented all-rounder who, early in his career, distinguished himself as a cinematographer for Roberto Rossellini and Jacques Tourneur.
Black Sunday sealed his directorial credentials and launched the career of cult 'Scream Queen' Barbara Steele (who can also be seen in this season opposite Vincent Price in Roger Corman's The Pit and the Pendulum).
Shot (by Bava) in luminous black and white, Steele plays a 17th century Moldavian princess, condemned to death for witchcraft and vampirism, who bides her time until a chance resurrection unleashes her vengeful powers.
Based on a short story by Nikolai Gogol, Bava amps up the gothic quotient with gorgeously dreamy visuals and striking set pieces that evoke the mood of classic Universal Pictures horror films - all fodder for a young Tim Burton's febrile imagination:
"Black Sunday really stood out for me, because it had very lurid, vivid and stark images, which is what you want from a good horor movie...Digital technology certainly has a place in filmmaking, but when you're watching a movie like Black Sunday, you really feel as if you're there. When you combine the stagebound sets with the actors, their costumes, and everything else, you really feel as if you're within that particular world... That's the vibe we were trying to capture in Sleepy Hollow" (Tim Burton, American Cinematographer, December 1999).
New 35mm print. Uncut European (English language) version.
Special thanks to producer Alfredo Leone for making this print available.
