Horror Grab Bag Week:La maschera del demonio

Welcome my poor readers to the inherent evil that is Horror Grab Bag Week.  I decided we have not gone over an Italian horror film in a while and by God we need to fix that.  I drag you kicking and screaming into the mind’s eye of Mario Bava (Lust of the Vampire, The Day the Sky Exploded, Hercules in the Haunted World, The Road to Fort Alamo, Planet of the Vampires, Danger: Diabolik and A Bay of Blood) who is a Union head’s worst nightmare as he is a cinematographer/director/writer who dabbled in special effects as well.  Like most directors he has his trademarks and in his case he prefers tight zoom on a character’s face during suspenseful scenes and airplanes taking off and landing as a means to establish the beginning or ending to his story.   So it is off to the year 1630 and apparently black magic roams the land under Satan’s guidance.  Hey he likes to tutor.  Don’t judge.    So grab a soda pop from the vending machine, head to the lobby for some Gummi Bears and popcorn.   This is La maschera del demonio a.k.a. Black Sunday.

Mask of Satan for all your accessory needs.

Spoiler’s power had ravaged the lands and corrupted the youth.

In the lands of Moldavia a beautiful witch Asa Vajda (Barbara Steele of The 39 Steps, Your Money or Your Wife, Pit and the Pendulum, The Horrible Dr. Hitchcock, Castle of Blood, Piranha and The Silent Scream) and her little man servant Javuto (Arturo Dominici of Revenge of the Barbarians, The Trojan Horse, God Will Forgive My Pistol, Castle of Blood, The Senator Likes Women and Silent Action) are rousted by the local villagers to be burned at the stake for witchcraft and for murdering her brother.  Siblings just don’t always get along.   As a result of this witch trial Asa’s head is fastened with an iron mask so she may not enchant anyone else but she curses her brother’s blood line forever.

Dear God my English dub voice sounds sissy.

200 years later, Dr Thomas Kruvajan (Andrea Checchi of Tragic Hunt, The Day the life, Blood and Defiance, Imperial Venus, Torpedo Bay and Great Robbery in Milan) and his assistant are in route to a medical conference but one of the wheels on their quaint carriage snaps and the coachman is stuck repairing it.  As luck would have it they find Asa’s tomb from walking around and she is encased in a glass coffin lid with a giant crucifix over the lid.   Our two medical professionals end up smashing the lid trying to fend off a bat, Kruvajan’s blood drips on to Asa slowly reviving her.   She must be one of those rare vampiric witches we hear so much about these days.  Asa raises her man servant to go and find our good doctor for her unearthly delights and to reign over the descendant of the peasant rabble that destroyed her so long ago.  

Yes I have my comments and observations.  Don’t even tell me you are surprised.  Shot in 35mm Spherical this dubious film does arrive in black and white and is of course recorded in mono.  With some steady hand held of an almost 40 lb camera these poor guys’ backs had to be killing them.

Stone cold fox indeed. 

 I was curious in the posters both Barbara Steele and Arturo Dominici are show in the posters with vampire fangs and yet in the film I never once saw them flashed on camera.   It could have been a painful appliance or Bava wanted more of the dark magic aspect and less vampire.  Tallying at 87 minutes I feel the Italian dub with English subtitles was probably a better way to go but still a decent enough movie.