Mario Bava Still Reigns
After Saturday’s article on the directorial talents of Roger Corman, I thought we should look at a landmark film that he and AIP brought over from Italy. His efforts at American International Pictures helped many international film makers gain exposure to the American market. Today let’s take a look at an Italian Gothic Horror film from 1960. A film that is a landmark within film history and a classic that you might have missed!
1960 saw Mario Bava’s directorial debut with ‘Black Sunday’. Bava had been working for a few years on the crew of some successful Italian films. He was offered the opportunity to create the film of his choice. He selected Ukranian novelist Nikolai Gogol’s story ‘Viy’ to bring to the screen. After the worldwide success of Terrence Fisher’s ‘Dracula’ just two years earlier, Bava felt that a Gothic horror film would be a profitable venture. Little did he know that his work on ‘Black Sunday’ would still be celebrated 66 years later!
Bringing two British actors, Barbara Steele and John Richardson, over to Italy to add the international appeal, ‘Black Sunday’ tells the tale of a 17th Century Moldavian witch that was put to death. Two hundred years later she would be brought back to life accidentally. As you can imagine, she is not happy. She takes her regeneration as the opportunity to wreak revenge and return to her witchcraft efforts. Steele plays two parts. One is the Princess witch Asa while she also plays the identical, innocent, beautiful Katia. The film follows the effort of Asa to return to power and the efforts of locals and visitors to end her reign.
Bava’s direction is now one of the pillars of horror films. This film features little blood or gore, just the tension that is required of any Gothic horror film. His work heavily influenced future film creators like Tim Burton, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese and Joe Dante. They have all praised Bava’s films and skills as important and amazing. Bava was a shy man and he turned down multiple opportunities to leave Italy and make films in Hollywood. His movies may be low-budget, but they are high in quality and impact.
‘Black Sunday’ is currently on Tubi and The Criterion Channel. Please check out this wonderful film!
Side notes: All the sets and clothing is monochromatic. Bava felt that the contrast would “darken” the mood of the audience. Steele would later admit that she was a difficult actress with which to work on ‘Black Sunday’. She would attribute her issues as being young and inexperienced. Her on-set difficulty was mentioned by many of the cast and crew including Bava. Upon its release in America, this became AIP’s most successful film to that date. ‘The Omen’ director Richard Donner credits his graveyard scene to Bava’s work here. Even though it stars two Brits, this movie was banned in England for 8 years and wasn’t released uncut for over 30 years. Francis Ford Coppola says that some of his work on ‘Dracula’ was based upon ‘Black Sunday’. Included in Schneider’s bestseller ‘1001 Movies to See Before You Die’.
