In Moldavia in the seventeenth century Asa Vajda (Barbara Steele) and her lover Igor Javutich (Arturo Dominici) are sentenced to death for being satanic witches by Asa’s brother. The ceremony to keep them from rising again from the grave requires them to be branded and then have a bronze mask with spikes inside nailed to their faces. They are then to be burned at the stake.
A freak storm interrupts the burning of the bodies. Instead Javutich is buried in unconsecrated ground and Asa is put into a windowed tomb with crosses visible to the corpse inside and then placed in the family’s chapel’s vault. Before the mask is nailed to her face Asa curses her brother and his descendants.
Two hundred years later Dr. Thomas Kruvajan (Andrea Checchi) and his assistant Dr. Andreas Gorobec (John Richardson) are traveling to a medical convention and pass through the forest where Asa and Javutich were killed. The driver is not happy about going through the forest and drives too fast. A wheel comes off the coach.
While he is fixing the wheel Thomas and Andreas wander around the old run down chapel. When Thomas is attacked by a giant bat he shoots it and accidentally destroys the cross and the glass in Asa’s tomb. Thomas takes the mask off of Asa’s face to see what the corpse looks like. At the same time Thomas cuts his hand and a few drops of blood fall onto Asa. Outside the chapel they run into Katia Vajda (Barbara Steele). She lives in the nearby castle with her father, Prince Vajda (Ivo Garrani) and her brother Constantine (Enrico Olivieri). When the wheel on the coach is fixed Thomas and Andreas continue on to the village inn.
In the ruins of the chapel the blood drops from Thomas has brought Asa back to life. She telepathically raises Javutich from his grave. Javutich invades the castle and attempts to kill Prince Vajda but is thwarted when the Prince holds up a crucifix. The Prince is affected by seeing Javutich and the attempt on his life. He begins ranting. Katia tells Constantine that there are doctors staying at the inn. He sends his stableman Boris (Renato Terra) to get them and bring them back to the castle. Javutich kills Boris and goes to the inn finding Thomas outside having a smoke. Instead of bringing him to the Prince he takes him to Asa who turns him into a zombie-like servant. Using Thomas to request the removal of the Prince’s crucifix from the room Javutich is now free to kill the Prince.
Asa, however, is not done with the Vajda family. Her plans include taking over the life of Katia to make herself whole so that she and Javutich can rain evil on the world.
“The Mask of Satan” AKA “Black Sunday” AKA “La maschera del demonio” AKA “Revenge of the Vampire” was released in 1960 and was directed by Mario Bava. It is an Italian gothic horror movie based on Nikolay Gogol's short story “Viy”. It is also Mario Bava’s directorial debut.
American International Pictures purchased the film for the American Market. Although the film was done in English the accents on the Italian actors was thick so AIP redubbed it and cut some of the grossest parts out and called it “Black Sunday”. The original English version is the European version and was called “The Mask of Satan”.
In the Italian language version Princess Asa and Javutich are brother and sister which means they have an incestuous relationship. Neither the American nor the European includes this relationship. Ivo Garrani, who plays Katia's aged father, was actually only 36 at the time of filming.
Although the evil elements in the film are witches they also have some vampire traits and zombie-esque minions. The mix is reminiscent of Mexican horror movies but with lots of style and gothic elements. It’s rich with tension and malevolence. Barbara Steele is classic witch, demon, vampire, whatever you need her to be. She is also a contradiction. Her beauty is tenuous and when she is on screen you don’t know if she’s going to give you an alluring look or eat your face. It’s good horror in both content and atmosphere.