Just watched this for the first time. Pretty solid old horror flick and surprisingly gory at times. I especially liked the usage of long shots to develop suspense.

Good Italian gothic classic! A great mix between witches and vampires. The story was ok, not Bava's best but still thrilling and entertaining. Steele did an amazing performance.

Black Sunday is a black and white gothic horror film focused on the revenge plot of an executed plot and the people trying to stop her.

The plot itself is fine. It's nothing extra special, but it facilitates the movie well enough. The characters and many of the other general building blocks of the film are also fine. So why is this movie worth watching?

Well, the director, Mario Bava, does a stellar job of setting the scene. The soundtrack to the movie is spectacular. The black and white really aides to the atmosphere, as does the cinematography. The cinematography, in particular, is outstanding. The film relies on a wonderful selection of long shots. There are many shots where the length doesn't particularly add to the story, but it certainly adds to the atmosphere and overall creepiness of the movie. The film also includes some fairly gruesome scenes, nothing quite like a splatter film, though. The scenes are well placed and add to the experience rather than become the focus themselves.

All in all, if you're after a great atmospheric horror film and don't care much about a plot or characters, you may find yourself enjoying Black Sunday.

First scene was great. The movie looks good. Soon it's like a foreign Hammer Horror movie. Not for me.

Sorry it posted twice. Derp, derp.

Just watched this for the first time. Pretty solid old horror flick and surprisingly gory at times. I especially liked the usage of long shots to develop suspense.

The visuals are stunning but the story is kind of pedestrian. I have no idea what audiences may have thought of this in 1960 but watching it now it really plods along. The opening scene of the execution of the witch are gripping and brutal. I mean come on an iron mask lined with spikes and hammered on with a sledge!?! Ouch! Some of the effects are kind of neat but Mario Bava's soon-to-come anthology "Black Sabbath" is much more interesting and eerie.

The original title of the film is La maschera del demonio.