Monster of the Day #273

“Oh, no! And the big dance is tonight!”

  • alex

    An absolute masterpiece. Bava astonished everybody with his directorial debut. And Barbara Steele of course became a star thanks to this (double) role. In that scene she is the perfect illustration of the seduction of Evil.

  • zombiewhacker

    Hopin’ and prayin’ this is Bava week!

  • A villainess so mighty she dominates the film even completely immobile in a stone sarcophagus.

    And it’s fully believable that her face, even pockmarked, could seduce the poor old professor. I mean, I’d like to see her have a go at me.

  • Rock Baker

    It took quite a bit of doing to finally get the American version of Black Sunday, but I’m quite happy to have it in my library now! Superior Italian horror film. Sadly, it sets the bar so high it seems impossible to match. Black Sunday is in a league with the better Hammer stuff, and I can’t think of too many Italian genre films I can say that about. I also think most of Bava’s credit comes from this one film, which has to be the best thing he ever did. While I haven’t seen a LOT of Bava pictures, maybe a dozen or so, the majority of them have been real dogs.

  • P Stroud

    Bava was able to make a mostly coherent movie from time to time. This one was one of them. Without Barbara Steele (the only actress who could snarl with her eyebrows) it would have been quickly forgotten.

  • Rock Baker

    As it is, Black Sunday is too obscure for my liking.

  • Flangepart

    And it’s fully believable that her face, even pockmarked, could seduce the poor old professor. I mean, I’d like to see her have a go at me.

    Sandy Petersen said this on June 13th, 2011 at 2:18 pm
    Ewww…not me. That’s like saying the Borg queen was sexy.
    Noooo, she looked like a frog person. This also ain’t floatin’ my bobber.
    Now, the ‘unpuncheded’ version, that’s another story.
    I’ll stick to human women, thanks. Got enough trouble understandin’ them!

  • Rock Baker

    Even without makeup, Steele could strike a facial expression that was far more terrifying than it was lovely. Take Black Sunday as an exellent example. When she’s calm and has her mouth shut, she looks a bit like Hazel Court (is that the one I’m thinking of?) and she’s quite lovely. Whenever she gets excited, though, her eyes bug out and her mouth grows wide and she snarls a bit, and it ain’t pretty at all. Very strange.