By TESS HENSEN

Princess Asa is a vampire-witch who has been condemned to burn at the stake by her own brother, Prince Vaida. Just before a hideous demon mask is pounded into the flesh of her porcelain face, she places a curse on those who have damned her, in essence her own descendants.

So starts the directorial debut of the great Mario Bava's Black Sunday.

Flash forward 200 years. The Vaida family has fallen on hard times, as the curse has indeed worked its horrible magic, and a chosen few of Asa's descendant's have perished in the wake of it.

It is the anniversary of Asa's execution, hence, in the superstitions of the peasant folk, it has been dubbed "Black Sunday."

Asa, and the other unfortunate Vaidas, have been laid to rest in a desecrated crypt within the catacombs of a crumbling chapel. Asa has been sealed in a tomb with a glass window which, from inside, looks out onto a large cross standing upright on it. It is believed that Asa and her cursed, dead descendants may not really be dead, and that if she wakes up, she will immediately be looking out onto the cross and therefore will not be able to rise from her evil sleep.

Enter a scholar, Professor Kruveian, and his young portage, Dr. Gorobec. They are traveling through the Moldavian countryside by horse and carriage to some further destination. Of course, their carriage breaks down only a few feet from the chapel's entrance. As the driver attempts to repair the damaged wheel, the professor sees the ruined chapel and goes to investigate. He spies a doorway leading down into the bowels of the church and descends.

There he finds the tombs of the cursed Vaidas, along with Asa. Dr. Gorobec follows him, and as they explore the tombs, the professor provides his young friend with the details of Asa's execution, as he is familiar with the countryside's superstitious legend. As they look through the glass opening of Asa's tomb, he explains the reason for the cross being placed there. Suddenly the driver starts calling for them, and the young doctor goes back to the waiting carriage.

The professor is taking one last look around when a huge bat attacks him, and as he is flailing around with his cane, he accidentally breaks the cross, which in turn breaks the glass window of Asa's tomb. He kills the bat. He looks into the tomb, reaches in and removes the mask that had been put on Asa's face before her execution. As he reaches in, he cuts his hand on a piece of the jagged, broken glass. He notices that Asa's body has been extremely well preserved, then turns and joins his friend.

On their way out of the chapel, they are confronted by a beautiful woman walking her hounds. She is the current Princess of Vaida, Katia. Young Dr. Gorobec is instantly smitten with her, as he is attracted to her brooding sadness. The carriage has been fixed and they say their good-byes to the lovely princess and head to a nearby town's inn. Little does the professor know that a small amount of blood from his wound has seeped onto Asa's face, and has provided her with enough power to start invoking her will again.

Asa's first task is to revive her dead lover, Javutich, who was executed with her, and also wears a demon's mask. As the professor and young doctor are finishing up their meals at the inn, a young girl is sent out to milk one of the cows nearby. She is hesitant to go, as the barn is near the 'haunted' cemetery where Javutich is buried. She goes, under much duress. At the same time, the professor steps out to enjoy a smoke and explore the inn's grounds.

Back at Vaida's castle, the current Prince, Katia's father, is having bad dreams and ominous premonitions. He thinks that because of Katia's resemblance to Asa, something dire is going to befall her. He falls into a fit as he thinks he has just seen the now risen Javutich, and Ivan, the caretaker, is sent to fetch the doctor that Katia remembers meeting earlier that day at the chapel. Javutich overhears their plans, and drives his carriage back to the cemetery where he last saw the professor walking about the grounds, as he rose from his grave. He calls out to the professor that he has been summoned to the Castle Vaida, as the Prince has fallen ill. The professor, not knowing that Javutich is the risen dead, thinks nothing of it and immediately hops in the carriage.

The young girl from the inn has been hiding in the bushes and sees all. Javutich takes him to the castle, and instead of leading him to the Prince's chambers, leads him into the bowels of the castle which connect to the chapel and Asa's crypt! Once there, he falls under Asa's spell, she makes him a vampire, and he falls into her thrall.

His first task is to kill Prince Vaida. Konstantin--Vaida's son--Ivan, and Katia think nothing of letting the professor into their father's quarters. After all he is supposed to be there to help him. Konstantin and Katia retire for the night. In the morning they are horrified to find their father, the Prince, dead and the professor missing. Back at the inn, the young Dr. Gorobec is also surprised to find his friend missing. He is told that the professor was summoned to the Castle Vaida to care for the Prince. Gorobec is puzzled that the professor did not ask him to come along as well. It is explained to him by the young girl that the professor didn't even come back to the inn--he just left straight from the grounds in the carriage that came for him.

He gets a horse and rides to the castle. Once there he is sorry to find the Prince dead, the house in chaos, and his friend nowhere to be found. Suddenly a group of townspeople herd into the castle, concerned because they have just found one of their own group dead and drained of blood. The young girl from the inn is one of the group. The doctor sees her and pulls her aside, asking her to tell him every detail of what she saw the previous night.

As they are walking through the castle, she sees a painting of Javutich, and identifies him as the man who was driving the carriage that picked up Professor Kruveian the night before. Of course, it is hard to believe such a story since Javutich has been dead for 200 years. However, the girl insists and the young doctor has no recourse but to believe her. He now knows that the curse has reached it's fruition, and Black Sunday has arrived. He also knows that he has to do whatever he can to protect the beautiful Princess Katia, with whom he has fallen in love.

He finds a local priest and confides in him. The priest is also familiar with the legend and consents to help him put an end to Asa's evil. First, they go to Javutich's grave, hopefully to find and destroy him. Instead, they find the body of Gorobec's friend, Professor Kruveian. The priest explains that in essence, his friend is now in the legions of the undead, and they must destroy the evil in him. Gorobec asks how, and the priest explains that they must drive a knife through the eye of his friend. It is done, and they go in search of Javutich.

Gorobec finds Konstantin, who explains that he must go to Katia and protect her from Asa's spell. Konstantin is trapped in the bowels of the castle and battles Javutich and eventually kills him. Gorobec tries to find Katia, but she is already under the thrall of Asa, and has let Asa start to drain the life, blood and soul from her. Asa's goal is to reanimate herself using Katia's life-force. Gorobec finally makes it to Asa's crypt, where he confronts a now partially revived Asa. He sees what looks like Asa lying in the crypt. Asa, posing as Katia, tells him that she has been trying to drain her life and that he needs to kill her before it's too late.

As Gorobec lifts a knife to pierce her eye, he sees that she is still wearing a cross, which, if she were really Asa, she could not do. He realizes who the real Asa is, and whirls to confront her. As he does so, he brushes open her robe and finds that she is not completely formed yet, as her body is still just skeleton and decomposing flesh. The real Asa is carried off and burned at the stake, reliving her experience from 200 years before.

This film marks the debut of Mario Bava's illustrious directing career. Released in 1960, it is a masterpiece in the gothic horror genre that was just getting started with the wake of Hammer's offerings. It stars the smoldering Barbara Steele as Princess Asa/Katia. Steele has gone on to become one of the most beloved actresses in the genre, especially in the Italian trenches. In this film, she is in turns steamy, vulnerable, obscenely frightening and ethearically beautiful. What a range of emotions from a newcomer!

The film has a handful of alternate titles, the most recognized being The Mask Of Satan. It is also known as Mask Of The Demon, House Of Fright and The Hour When Dracula Comes, although the latter title does not really suit it, I think.

This is perhaps the most atmospheric black and white film I have ever seen. The word "gothic" just seems to drape like layered, black chiffon over every gorgeous scene. The opening sequence of Asa's execution is particularly intense, as is the scene of Javutich rising from his grave. The beginning of the film bears a disclaimer that warns anyone under the age of fourteen not to watch it as it contains shocking scenes never before seen on the big screen. I can understand why. While I have become largely desensitized to on-screen violence being the gore-hound that I am, if I had seen this film in 1960, I'm sure I would have covered my eyes during the part where Asa's spiked demon mask is pounded onto her face with a large wooden mallet. In a word - ouch!

The other scenes with a partially revived Asa invoking her will or drawing the professor to her are chilling as well. Steele has those huge dark eyes, that in turns can be magnetic or hideous. She has remarkable presence in either guise, and when she is on-screen, no matter who else is in the scene with her, it is Steele to whom you are visually drawn.

I don't know if there is an intentionally deep meaning behind this film. I suppose I could talk about the "disintegrating from within" family theme that is somewhat recurring in Bava's later offerings (the Verdilak segment in Black Sabbath and the greed of the murderous family in Bay Of Blood), but I think Bava just wanted us to have some pure, horrific fun with his first outing.

Image Entertainment has released this film in its uncut form (The Mask Of Satan) on DVD for their Mario Bava collection. I hear that it is a remarkable presentation, so if you own a DVD player I would recommend purchasing it in this format. I know I will.

When you have it in your greedy little hands, be prepared to be immersed in the absolute best of gothic horror. It is a beautiful film to behold and I think you will not be disappointed with the chill factor either. Experience Black Sunday now!

That's a good recommendation for any fan of classic Italian horror, Tess!  The new uncut DVD of The Mask Of Satan is astounding enough to justify having a DVD player.  Really!

Article copyright © Tess Hensen

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