This was Bava's directorial debut - although he had already directed several scenes without credit in other films. By 1960's standards, this is a pretty gory film, leading to it being banned in the UK and chopped up by its US distributor American International Pictures.

In the 1600's, the witch Asa Vajda (Barbara Steele, creating her legacy as the horror female supreme) and her lover Javuto are put to death by her brother. Before she is burned at the stake and has a metal mask hammered to her face, she curses their entire family.

Several centuries later, Dr. Thomas Kruvajan and his assistant, Dr. Andre Gorobec (John Richardson, Frankenstein '80) ae traveling to a medical conference when their carriage breaks down. Of course, they're in a horror movie, so they wander into an ancient crypt and release Asa from her death mask and getting blood all over her face.

That's when they meet her descendent Katia (also Steele),whose family lives in the haunted castle that of the Vajdas. Gorobec instantly falls for her and really, can you blame him?

All hell literally breaks loose, with Asa and Javuto coming back from the dead, possessing Dr. Kruvajan and concocting a plan to make Asa immortal by stealing Katia's youth. Can good triumph against evil? Can you kill a vampire by stabbing wood into its eye socket? Which one is hotter, good or evil Barbara Steele?

A lover of Russian fantasy and horror, Bava intended this film to be an adaption of Nikolai Gogol's 1835 horror story "Viy." However, the resulting script owes more to Universal Studios-style gothic horror. AIP cut or shortened the branding scene, blood spraying from the mask after it was hammered into Asa's face, the eyeball impaling and the flesh burning off Vajda's head in the fireplace. And in the Italian version, Asa and Javutich are brother and sister in an incestuous relationship.

Black Sunday has left quite an impression on fans and filmmakers alike. Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula contains several shot-for-shot homages, as does Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. And Richard Donner based the cemetery scene in The Omen on the moment when Barbara Steele with her hounds.

For a director who is so well known for his work in color, Bava has just as much skill in black and white. The sets were actually created in monochrome, with no color, to add to the dark mood.

My favorite scene in the film is when Bava creates a split screen effect where Steele's two roles come together, as Asa intones, "You did not know that you were born for this moment. You did not know that your life had been consecrated to me by Satan. But you sensed it, didn't you? You sensed it... That's why my portrait was such a temptation to you, while frightened you. You felt like your life and your body were mine. You felt like me because you were destined to become me... a useless body without life."

BARBARA STEELE became an icon of horror films (the way Christopher Lee did when he played Dracula),when she played the role of a vampire witch princess burned at the stake in the 17th century who returns two hundred years later with a vengeance. Not that the story itself is all that original, but when done as stylishly as it is here, with the perfect B&W atmosphere and chiller mood, it's a winner.

There's no let-up in suspense from the gripping opening scene where the mask of Satan is nailed onto the face of the poor victimized woman, even though the unfolding of the story is rather slow. The graveyard scene of an undead man rising from the earth is masterfully photographed. The mood becomes more and more intense as several key characters emerge as vampires.

As a young doctor who figures importantly in the plot, JOHN RICHARDSON is a rather wooden actor and makes a cardboard hero, but in a film that relies on its effect for brilliant camera-work and Gothic touches, it's not much of a flaw. Barbara Steele's impassive mask-like beauty is suitable in the eerie dual role she plays with wide-eyed conviction.

The moody camera-work captures the spirit of Gothic horror in every shadowy scene. While the story itself is less than inspired, it does fulfill the promise of a good cobweb chiller right up until the rather predictable ending.

Well worth watching for fans of this genre.

Since I discovered Barbara Steele about five years ago, our paths have not crossed until now. She certainly was/is a sultry being. This was a true surprise to me. Mario Brava works magic with an incredibly atmospheric offering. From the beginning, as two people are executed, one as a Satanic presence and the other as a witch, this evolves into a masterful horror movie. As the young doctor and his mentor find their ways to the spooky churchyard where the bodies of these two entities were interred, the suspense never stops and the threat lies over everything that occurs. The charming Ms. Steele dominates the room in every scene in which she appears. As the seductive witch and the young, spooky princess of the castle, her physical presence is always scene crunching. The plot of the Satanic character who loves her and is trying to make his way back to his earthly realm works very well. I've always loved books and movies about curses from dying witches (from my early experience with "The House of the Seven Gables") and this ranks near the top of the list. Take the time to watch this hidden treasure.