Black Sunday – Shout! Factory (4k UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1960
Director: Mario Bava
Writers: Mario Bava, Nikolai Gogol, Ennio De Concini, Mario Serandrei
Cast: Barbara Steele, John Richardson, Andrea Checchi, Ivo Garrani, Arturo Dominici, Enrico Olivieri

Release Date: October 7th, 2025
Approximate Running Time: 87 Minutes 26 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free (4K UHD), Region A (Blu-ray)
Retail Price: $39.98

"A Bavarian princess, burned at the stake with her lover for being a witch, comes to life after three hundred years to enact the curse of revenge on her remaining family members." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5 (4K UHD), 4.5/5 (Blu-ray)

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, "4K restoration from the original camera negative.

La maschera del demonio (Mario Bava, 1960) was restored in 4K by Fondazione Cineteca di Bolognaq, in collaboration with the copyright holders Alfredo Leone and Naor World Media Films, from the original camera and sound nagetiaves provided by Iron Mountain Entertainment Services.

The restoration work was carried out by L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in 2023."

Black Sunday comes on a 66 GB dual layer 4K UHD

Disc Size: 56.7 GB

Feature: 55.8 GB

This new transfer is a noticeable improvement over Arrow Video and Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray releases. The source looks excellent; flesh tones look healthy, contrast, black levels, and image clarity are solid, there are no issues with compression, and the image retains an organic appearance.

Black Sunday comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 24.7 GB

Feature: 22.5   GB

This Blu-ray uses the same master that is used for the 4K UHD disc.

Audio: 5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in English with removable English SDH. The track sounds excellent, the dialogue comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced and robust when it should.

Extras:

Extras on the 4K UHD disc include an audio commentary with writer Dr. Rebekah King, an audio commentary with Dr. Karen Stallznow, Matt Baxter, and Blake Smith, an audio commentary with film critic Brian Keiper, and an audio commentary with film critic Meagan Navarro.

Extras on the Blu-ray disc include an image gallery (44 images—posters/lobby cards/advertisements), a U.S. TV spot (18 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a U.S. theatrical trailer (2 minutes 5 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an international theatrical trailer (3 minutes 35 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Trailers from Hell interview with Larry Cohen (2 minutes 16 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with Rebekah King, an audio commentary with Karen Stallznow, Matt Baxter, and Blake Smith, an audio commentary with Brian Keiper, and an audio commentary with Meagan Navarro.

Summary:

There are two English-language versions of La maschera del demonio, Black Sunday. AIP’s North American release runs about three minutes shorter than the international version of the film, which is known under the Mask of Satan title. Most of the footage that has been excised from AIP’s version are moments that were deemed too graphic, and in all of Mario Bava’s other films that were released by AIP, a new score has been added in favor of the original score. Also, AIP reportedly commissioned a brand new English-language score for Black Sunday since they deemed the one that was supplied to them inadequate. It should be noted that neither of these English-language versions contains Barbara Steele’s voice.

Three hundred years ago, Princess Asa was condemned and burned at the stake for practicing witchcraft. Flash forward to the modern day, when two doctors en route to a medical convention stumble upon Princess Asa’s grave, which accidentally sets her resurrection in motion. Once reanimated, Princess Asa plans on taking the place of a woman named Katia Vajda, who looks exactly like her.

By the time Mario Bava had the opportunity to direct La maschera del demonio, he already had twenty years of experience behind the camera as a cinematographer. A few of the films that he worked on include Hercules, Hercules Unchained, and The Day the Sky Exploded. In the years leading up to Black Sunday, he also started several films as a cinematographer, only to complete them as a director when the original director exited the film. Two of these films, I Vampire and Caltiki, the Immortal Monster, foreshadow his work within the horror film genre.

When it comes to an opening scene for a horror film, one would be hard-pressed to name a sequence more terrifying than the opening scene for La maschera del demonio. The aforementioned scene revolves around a woman named Asa, who has been accused and simultaneously condemned for being a witch. Her persecutors then brand her by burning the ‘S’ into her flesh. After that, they put a spiked mask over her face and nailed it down as blood gushed out of the sides of the mask. And to finish her off, they attempt to burn her at the stake. Needless to say, this is a scene that leaves little for the imagination. With its in-your-face depiction of violence that firmly establishes the tone of La maschera del demonio.

Besides Nikolai Gogol’s short story Viy, which La Maschera del Demono was loosely adapted from, another clear inspiration is Hammer Horror Films and Universal classic monster films, most notably their Gothic-themed ones. And when it comes to visuals, there is never a shortage of atmosphere in La Maschera del Demon. And visually, there is not a moment wasted, as every inch of every frame is exploited for maximum effect, especially Mario Bava’s rendering of light and shadow. Another area where La Maschera del Demonio excels is its special effects, most notably during the reanimation sequence in its final moments.

The performances range from good to great. This most memorable performance comes from Barbara Steele (Nightmare Castle) in the dual roles of Katia Vajda and Princess Asa Vajda. She is mesmerizing in both roles as she delivers what is widely considered the best performance of her career. Another performance of note is Andrea Checchi (A Bullet for the General) in the role of an inquisitive doctor named Thomas Kruvajan, whose moment of indiscretion leads to Asa’s resurrection. Ultimately, La Maschera del Demono is an extraordinary horror film that ushered in a new era of terror in Italian cinema, and the magnitude of its legacy continues to shape the landscape of horror cinema.

Black Sunday makes its way to 4K UHD via a first-rate release that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and informative extras. Recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer