You were right professor - vodka here is excellent ...
(approximately 25 minutes of the film)
Mask of Satan
This old Italian horror, hand on heart, extremely interesting plot. 17th century. A witch named Aza is sentenced to death. Together with Aza, her obscurantist lover Yavutich gets distributed. Finally, the witch yells at the executioners, who will certainly take revenge. 19th century. Two doctors go to Moscow, the cart moves out of the way, the heroes enter the crypt where our friend Aza lies, a-hi-hi-hi ...
Damn shame, guys. I just got to the legendary horror director – Mario Bava! The classic Italian school of horror was plowed (from Argento to Deodato), but it was Bava's father who constantly flew by. I decided to finally correct this injustice, because Mario's films need to be watched.
“The Mask of Satan” is the first independent horror film in Bava’s career. The Vampires of 1956 was made by Riccardo Fred. The guy just quarreled with the crew, the producers invited Mario to stupidly finish Fred’s work. Yes, yes, that’s why vampires don’t count.
I liked the “Mask of Satan.” The film is beautiful, stylish (in some places, especially the crypt, the forest, etc.). Black and white palette. By the way, shot by Nikolai Gogol (if you believe the credits), a-hi-hi. One of the most iconic horror films of the 60s. The “Mask of Satan” influenced the horror in general. Actors (with the exception of beauty Barbara Steele) are unfamiliar, subjective. Playing well.
The movie came out in 1960. It's a little old, of course. On the other hand – skipped rough moments (see at least the cult scene with a mask, which was hammered (!) in the face). It has even been banned in some countries. In any case, Bava made a beautiful horror film (has more pros than cons).
The second title of the film is Black Resurrection!
Do you like retro horror with a bias in the Gothic atmosphere? You won't regret it. Tim Burton himself once praised. A dark tale...
Mario Bava is considered a recognized master of horror films and one of the founders of "jallo" - a separate direction in the genre of horror, which combines criminal thriller and eroticism. At the beginning of his cinematic career, Mario Bava worked as a cameraman or assistant director, sometimes even completing certain films for them. Once in 1960, having received from the producer of the studio Galatea Film an offer to make his own film, the director made his debut in the mystical horror Mask of Satan.
In the distant XVII century, the beautiful princess Azu Wajda and her lover Igor Ivutich were accused of witchcraft and devil worship, for which both were cruelly punished, but before her death, Aza brought an ancient curse to the Vajda family, swearing that her descendants would know her unrestrained revenge. Two centuries later, Dr. Kruvayan and his assistant Andrei Gorobets, on their way to Moscow for a congress, stop in an ancient Moldovan village near the castle once owned by the same Princess Aza. The beautiful Princess Katya lives in the castle with her brother and father. There, at the castle, Kruwayan and Andrei stumble upon the ruins of the chapel, where the body of Princess Aza languishes. Accidentally disturbing the peace of the princess, Dr. Kruwayan accidentally releases a curse that promises death not only to the Weid family, but also to everyone who deals with them.
It is quite difficult to talk about acting in the context of this film, because the actors involved in the film performed the standard images for this genre. So, Barbara Steele, who managed to play in several horror films, for which she was awarded the title of “Queen of Scream”, played two roles at once: the evil and insidious Princess Aza and the vulnerable and kind-hearted Princess Katya. Englishman John Richardson played the role of Andrew, a classic hero who rescues an innocent princess from the clutches of a monster. At the same time, worthy human images in the film can not be found, and therefore the characters are something like a set of standard templates.
In 1960, the film became a real sensation, because it broke a number of unwritten rules, including for using previously unprecedented cruelty and scenes of violence. However, Mario Bava does not try to pedal on cruelty per se, but seeks to increase feelings of fear, horror and hopelessness. At the same time, from the classic horror film “The Mask of Satan” is distinguished by a melodramatic aspect in which a handsome hero involuntarily falls in love with a beautiful heroine, and then is forced to enter into a cruel battle with dark forces for the sake of her salvation.
The plot takes place in Moldavia, and begins in 1630, when the beautiful Princess Azu of the Vaida family is accused of witchcraft and devil worship. She and her lover Igor Ivutich are first tortured, branded, and then killed, wearing a “devil mask” covered with sharp spikes on the inside. Before her death, Aza curses the Weid family, promising that one day she will return to take revenge on all who condemned her to this fate. Two centuries later, Dr. Kruvayan and his assistant Andrei travel to Moscow for a scientific congress, and their way just passes through these very places, which since then have been considered cursed and infamous. On the road, the wheel falls off at the carriage, and in order not to get bored, Kruvayan and Andrei explore the area where they accidentally stumble upon the ruins of an ancient chapel, in the catacombs of which they find a tomb where the body of the same Aza rests. Accidentally smashing a cross mounted over the coffin and cutting his hand, Kruwayan unwittingly awakens a witch who begins to bring her brutal revenge plan to life. First, she brings back to life her murdered lover Igor, who as a faithful servant begins to carry out errands, killing innocent people around, then turns Kruvayan into a vampire. And then the vampire witch targets the innocent Katya, who, like two drops of water, is similar to Azu, differing in the purity of her soul and body, in order to eventually inhabit her body and finally return to life.
In general, the “Mask of Satan” is a classic Gothic horror, in which witches, vampires and ancient family curses are involved, and the place of action is chosen by Moldova or the Carpathians, where according to the beliefs of the locals, some devilishness always occurs. By modern standards, it is difficult to call the film scary, but the fact that the “Mask of Satan” looks at least spectacular within its time, this is for sure. And since the film in principle is considered a classic of the genre, it is definitely recommended for viewing.
This film left me with mixed feelings. Mario Bava did a great job. The film achieves a fabulous appearance. Eerie atmosphere, twilight lighting, shadowy black and white images, etc., but I don’t think it covers bad action, barely coherent story and terrible dialogue.
The story is hardly fresh and original. The influence of Stoker’s Dracula, which has already been squeezed like a lemon, from Lightai and Marnau, to Universal Studios and Hammer Film Productions, is very much felt. The script also lacked a better and more elaborate dramatic structure. Again, storytelling has never been a big interest of Italian horror directors (with rare exceptions), so if you're a fan of European horror movies, don't worry.
I think it is worth mentioning the appearance in the film by Barbara Steele, which became her debut. And in my opinion, not very successful. “The Scream Queen” debuted very “oaky”, skimping on emotions, although the character of Katya Wajda had this in mind.
The last thing to note is that there are a lot of special effects. What is good is good.
Total: The film, with a fairly simple and hackneyed script, is good. Mario Bava has done a good job, worthy of a debut, a future master of horror. In any case, whatever this film has not received reviews, ratings on Movie Search and IMDb, there is no doubt that any horror fan should see the movie “The Mask of Satan”, at least once.
5 out of 10
Before The Mask of Satan, Mario Bava in Italian cinema was known mainly as a talented cameraman who managed to shoot 40 films, an enthusiastic creator of special effects and the savior of the Galatea Film studio. This studio quickly and confidently rattled inexpensive horror stories about monsters, allocating two or three weeks to create their opuses, or even a week. Not surprisingly, directors often went to bed on these sets - who had a heart attack, who had a nervous seizure, and who just did the legs. On the set of the film “Vampires” in the 57th year, director Ricardo Freda made legs. Operator Mario Bava, who worked on this project, who saw more than a dozen different plots in the lens of his camera, turned out to be a guy with much stronger nerves - he took on the directorial functions and not only finished the picture on time, but also ahead of schedule. After not demanding even a mention in the credits, a modest cameraman saved the studio twice more from such fugitive directors, there was no limit to the exultation of the producers. And they decided to trust him to make his own film and even — in a sign of special disposition — with a higher budget and a much more measured schedule.
Bava justified the trust. Moreover, The Mask of Satan became a hit, which is still considered one of the main films of Italian Gothic horror. This picture brought this genre to a new level in Italy and allowed Italian cinema to successfully compete with the British studio Hammer, at that time “monopoly” Gothic horror films. Then he shot a lot and successfully, including - in the crown Italian genre of gallo, becoming one of his ancestors, but still "Mask of Satan" is called if not the best, then - the most famous of his offspring.
The classic himself did not consider himself a good director, treated his second profession ironically, and in one interview even remarked: “All my films are complete shit, you can be sure.” Is “The Mask of Satan” as bad as the author thought it was, and as good as critics say, which included this film in various lists of “most, most ...”? As always, in the middle.
Of course, for 1960, the tape was really impressive. Bava did a painstaking job as a director, cameraman and artist, creating a world of pretentious and gloomy Gothic, in which there are characters of the film - whether Ukrainians, or Moldovans, or Russians with Poles - with the geography of his picture he did not bother, which, however, does not spoil it at all. First of all, this is an insanely atmospheric film, which served as a springboard for such outstanding artists as Tim Burton, Francis Coppola, etc., in turn, starting from the masterpieces of German Expressionism and American Universalav classics. This atmosphere of Gothic castles, mysterious dungeons, medieval inhuman rites, legends and legends envelops the viewer - even modern - and makes it goosebumps. The film's monochromeness serves him well, as if mummifying him in time. In the end, there were already opportunities to shoot in color then, but in color this film would clearly look ridiculous and certainly less atmospheric.
Actually, the Gothic atmosphere is the main magnet that can lure today’s viewer to the “Mask of Satan”. Another magnet - for our, at least, the viewer - the inscription "based on the works of N. Gogol" at the beginning of the film. However, the viewer, who wants to another film adaptation of “Via”, is waiting for disappointment. In addition to the very conventional place “Mirgorod” and the plot with a witch rising from the coffin (the lid at the coffin is ripped off properly – as in Nikolai Vasilyevich), nothing of our great writer remained here. Probably shouldn't have. Something tells me that this inscription appeared not from the desire to film a Russian classic, but from the unwillingness to buy the rights to all sorts of vampires and ghouls assigned to the British and Americans. With the same success it was possible to write “based on the books of A. Tolstoy” or “A. A. Akhmatova”.
The characters of the film, as well as the scene, are a mix of Transylvanian legends, Slavic folklore, British fiction and American genre films. And the plot is still more like “Dracula” than “Via”. Ivana, Katya and Andrea are flashing in the film, but this is more likely to cut the hearing than to please, because well... they do not know how to pronounce Russian names organically in the West! Although the peasants of Mirgorod - look like the likes of collective farmers from the Soviet films of the 30s, and behave the same way.
Lovers of tickling nerves today there is absolutely nothing to do. The film was banned in several countries because of the abundance of violent scenes. By today’s standards, the film is as naive as Morozco – with about the same level of mysticism, horror and adrenaline. I suspect that in the 60s it was banned rather because of the reluctance to create competitors, because Bava really talentedly played a game that is completely uncharacteristic for the Italians, beating both the British and the Americans, and they rushed to get rid of his picture. As for the horrors, in order to be scary, the film has too many absurdities and blunders, play and naive. His attempts to scare seem touching, so to scold him - his hand does not rise like the first Night of the Living Dead. However, there are a couple of rather tense scenes - and then bread.
Actors play well for the genre, excluding, of course, the traditional ridiculous pose of Glavgad, but then it was believed that all the henchmen of the Devil should behave like this. But Barbara Steele, one of the “scream queens” of that era, looked quite authentic in the role of a bloodthirsty witch and as an innocent countess. More than once I caught myself thinking that she would be great for the role of a pannock in a real film adaptation of Gogol.
Young John Richardson heroically rushed through the endless corridors of the castle and heroically could not decide who was alive and who was dead. Andrea Kecki became a kind of Ranfield and animatedly brushed off the cross. Arturo Dominici in the role of a certain underdracula, despite the venerable vampire experience and superhuman powers, entered into a completely equal fight with the young Enrico Olivieri, playing the brother of the beautiful princess. Ivo Garrini was very naturally moaning and frightened at the sight of fluttering nobility. And all together they preferred conversations to action, and stupid fuss to concrete actions, as in almost all horror films of the time.
To be honest, this is a very cute movie. Atmospheric, neat, visually luxurious, made with a soul and a great sense of style. Mario Bava, who deservedly became famous for this film, was too hard on himself, considering his films crap, and, first of all, made films of high visual culture. This, in fact, atones for his loss of fear. It's an age, though. Old people are forgiven.
- You have unleashed the forces of darkness that will bring you down.
Only last night finally got to the famous debut of Italian horror maestro Mario Bava. It must be admitted that for low-budget, European horror, it is shot on the head above Roger Corman’s crafts that appeared around the same years. The Gothic atmosphere, the black-white film and the outmoded sound of actors’ speech create the necessary tension. Although, one of the scariest films in history, I wouldn’t call The Mask of Satan. For this, the picture is too “classical”, if I may say so. According to its visual characteristics, it resembles the legendary horrors of Hollywood of the 30s: like Dracula and Frankenstein. From the first here - gloomy, wrapped in impenetrable fog Romanian forests, spider-webbed damp basements and family crypts. And from the second - an ancient estate of hereditary aristocrats and a village cemetery with rickety tombstones and crosses. Skillfully stylizing his creation under classic American horror, Mario Bava himself unwittingly, brings a certain bombast and even fabulousness to the plot. But it is likely that this catches the eye only today, when the picture is more than half a century old. Perhaps in the year of the release, she reacted differently. Not for nothing, in England, the “Mask of Satan” was banned for a long time, and then only got into limited release.
The script was written by a group of co-authors, including Ennio De Concini, Mario Ceranderi and Marcello Cocia. When working on the plot, they, as it is said in the credits, relied on the story of Nikolai Gogol “Viy”. However, even with a cursory retelling of the picture, it is absolutely impossible to notice at least some similarity with the famous story of the Russian writer! Rather, the “Mask of Satan” is not a film adaptation, and not even a “cinema based on” – but an independent film created by Italian filmmakers based on the horror stories of the Slavic peoples. And if you do not pay attention to the historical, geographical and artistic inaccuracies in the film (for example, judging by the characters - they are somewhere in Romania, but go to Mirgorod, from where you can get to Moscow in just an hour!) - you can get some pleasure from it. It is typical, first of all, of all old movies, provided that you certainly watch them sometimes.
And so, the story begins somewhere in the middle of the 17th century, when in Romania the Inquisition was fighting the henchmen of the Devil. The knights of the order seized the girl Aza from the noble family of Vajda, and her lover - the cruel Prince Igor Vojtich - who were accused of heresy and black magic. One of the inquisitors is the girl’s brother. And it is he who sentences them to a painful execution: a man is burned alive at the stake, and a girl is put on a steel mask with thorns on her face, after which she is nailed with a hammer blow to her head. Before his death, Aza curses his brother, promising to get even with his offspring. Then the action is transferred to the middle of the 19th century, and the main characters of the picture appear. This is Professor Kruvayan and his assistant - a young doctor Andrei Gorobets, who go in a carriage with a coachman - a drunken man to Moscow, to some scientific symposium. Wanting to spend the night on the way to the capital, the professor orders the driver to go through the forest in order to quickly reach the inn in Mirgorod. But the superstitious coachman first breaks down, assuring the stagecoach passengers that the forest is considered cursed. Only a couple of ringing coins makes him turn off the roads and go into the wilderness. Then there is a breakage of the wheel, and while the driver repairs the carriage, the doctors go to inspect the abandoned structure they found in the forest. They are the family crypt of the Wajda family. Walking through the damp basement and inspecting the stone tombs of noble princes, they find a coffin with the witch Aza. Due to an accident, Professor Kruwayan cuts his finger against the broken glass at the tombstone, and drops of his blood on the corpse of a witch revive her. After rising from the darkness, Aza awakens his lover, Voitich, who is buried in the local old cemetery. The dead decide to reunite, but for this they need to get the body of the young daughter of the head of the family Wajda – the beautiful Katya. In which, at a chance acquaintance, the doctor Gorobets managed to fall in love...
Further action develops mainly in the ancient estate of Wajda, in which the characters wander through basements and dark corridors, and the present paraphernalia, such as tapestries, ancient portraits and Gothic-style furniture and decoration, contribute to immersion in horror - atmosphere. The play of the leading actors, a little tense and expressive, which sometimes contrasts with the slow development of the plot. But all the performers are just wonderful. I liked the beautiful brunette with large dark eyes Barbara Steele, who has two roles here at once - Aza and Katya. Arturo Dominici was good in the image of the sinister prince - the dead Wojtic, Ivo Garrani was also liked as the owner of the estate - Prince Vajda, and Andrea Kecki as Professor Kruwayan. Antonio Pierfederici created a reliable image of an Orthodox priest, and the young John Richardson was successful in the role of the lover of Katya Andrew.
The film is technically designed just fine, its special effects are inventive and not intrusive, it seems that the authors mainly relied on the acting and psychological atmosphere of horror, which they still managed to recreate in several of the most successful episodes. And some of the directorial findings were later used by other directors, such as Francis Ford Coppola, when filming his revisionist Dracula. King of Horror – Stephen King highly appreciates this film by Mario Bava, and for many fans of the genre, I think this fact alone is enough to watch The Mask of Satan. The main thing is not to expect a picture of pure horror - then you may like it.
Inspired by the success of Hammer’s colorful and bloody films (which brought back Dracula, Frankenstein and other classic villains), Italian filmmakers created their own era of Gothic horror in the 1960s.
The pioneer of the genre in Italy was an experienced cameraman and director - Mario Bava.
Before becoming a director, Mario Bava made more than 40 films as a cameraman. In the 1950s, he was an assistant to director Recardo Fred, who was also at the origins of the genre in Italy. In 1956, Freda directed the film Vampires, which is considered the first sound Italian horror film. Freda didn’t get along while filming with the crew and Bava finished the rest of the film. The same story arose on the set of the fantastic horror film “Caltics – the immortal monster”.
The Mask of Satan (1960), became Bava's full-time directorial debut. The film was positioned as a film adaptation of Gogol’s “Viy”, but in fact, there is almost nothing left in it.
“The Mask of Satan” is a stunning horror film shot in mesmerizing Gothic scenery. He laid the foundation for subsequent Italian films of this genre. It has a lot of really shocking scenes that even now look frightening.
The initial scene of driving an iron mask into Aza’s face still looks impressive.
The Mask of Satan is the perfect combination of the shocking Hammer films and the black and white gothic atmosphere of the Universal horror films of the 1930s.
The role of the main villain was performed by English actress Barbara Steele. It was her professional film debut. Thanks to the "Mask of Satan." Steele became a classic actress of the genre, and received the status of “Queen of Scream”.
For most of the 1960s, Steele starred in gothic horror films, in which she played both positive and negative roles.
Due to its external features and excellent acting, Steele sometimes in one film played 2 roles at once - a fatal seducer and a girl with a pure soul. In The Mask of Satan, she also got 2 roles: a sinister witch and a beautiful innocent girl.
The distributor of Satan’s Masks in the U.S. was AIP (which at the time was launching a series of short stories by Roger Corman).
In America, the film was called Black Sunday. Over the next few years, AIP was the permanent distributor of Bava's films for American distribution.
The special style of “Masks of Satan” influenced in particular the work of Tim Burton, especially the creation of “Sleepy Hollow”.
Thanks to The Mask of Satan, Bava became the leading Italian director of horror films. His films were somewhat reminiscent of the Corman film cycle by Edgar Poe. You could say Bava was, in a sense, the Italian Roger Corman. But at the same time he had his own special directorial skills.
The result: a masterpiece of Gothic horror, must be viewed by fans of the classics of the genre.
Cruel for contemporaries and incredibly stylish debut of Mario Bava, as a full-length director of the full-length film, “The Mask of Satan” (or, more correctly, “The Mask of the Demon”). For the distant 1960s, this work was a real breakthrough in the genre of Italian horror - a vamp woman, a witch and a servant of the devil, was imprisoned in a crypt, doomed to rot for many years in a coffin, until one day several satellites, lost course, do not awaken her to life.
I liked this film a lot thanks to the realistic play of Barbara Steele, which shone both in the image of evil and in the image of the victim, as well as interesting special effects (“the aging effect” of the witch and the history of its creation impress with their resourcefulness). The issue of censorship is also important: in some countries, including the United States, it was not wanted to be shown at all in cinemas because of the extra-cruelty reigning in the frame, although the style of the film for years exceeded the expected progress, and none other than the Italians did it, specifically Mario Bava.
It is so interesting to watch the predictability of the characters on the theme “I know the short road” or “Let’s see what’s out there.” But they can not be called stamps, because the film was made a long time ago, when all this has not yet begun to migrate from film to film, and then parodied in films like “The Scream”.
The main theme here is still the castle, the abandoned cemetery and the foggy roads that have frightened people for centuries. And on the theme of the Middle Ages, the ancient story with the witch Aza is impressive (this background is no less exciting than it will be later in The Blind Dead). And superstitions surrounding the burial of this witch. She was buried in a coffin with a glass window - through it the witch sees a cross in the coffin, and will not dare to rise from the coffin. So it's very stressful when this cross is accidentally broken.
I loved the emphasis on this mask at the beginning of the film. It was shown in close-ups, and it seemed that it would be worn now not on a witch, but on the viewer. At some point I even wanted to recoil.
In addition, as in a horror film, he appreciated the approach of evil to the hero in the form of wind. When chairs and armor rolled over, doors opened, curtains swayed...
And the plot is intriguing and secondary characters. For example, as soon as a milkmaid appeared, who was sent to milk through the forest path, the imagination immediately played out: she would be the first victim? Or will she be the first witness?
The movie came before I was born. Therefore, I could see it in any conscious period of my life. But he fell, according to the incomprehensible laws of philosophy, just in an interesting period of time. On an evening that didn’t stand out, but the coincidences were strange.
For example, at the moment when the impressive revival of the sockets on the witch's decayed face began, I received a text message on my phone. And I had it with the sound of sloppy (and very suitable for the scene) water. As soon as the neighbors behind the wall loudly became noisy, the main character, Princess Katya, chirped: “Lord, how these dogs barked.”
And to top it all off, the film's "The End" appeared against a campfire backdrop. Everything would be fine, but 2 seconds after the screen went out, I saw a glow outside the window. A perfectly flat small fireplace looked rather strange against the background of the city night street. I did not understand who divorced him, but the planned evening walk canceled.
Cinema is truly a magical power.
No wonder this film of the famous classic Mario Bava was censored, because for his years he is incredibly assertive precisely in the path of frank presentation of terrible moments. They are enough in a demonstrative manner to describe what is not characteristic of the 60th, such as the piercing of the eyeball with a tree stake, the splashing blood from under a savage mask to the very face, and a real flash-shock in a shiny half-decay chest under the robe of a beautiful princess. Even the original prologue itself is tightly twisted with medieval systematic footage of a witch’s execution. Just do not assume that we are approaching the direction of gore in the near future was born; since now everything is stylistically maintained in a holistic, thought-out appropriate framework in conjunction with the plot and course of action, without excessive banal bloody outrage. This is an impeccable Gothic dark story in luxurious scenery and with the skillful cut of the operator - at the same time the director. Mario Bava sometimes plays with the “picture”, creating memorable mise-en-scene, where the black and white canvas perfectly brightens up with shadows and ghostly light what is happening, revealing clear edges between the foreground and the background, usually drowning in dangerous obscure darkness. Sometimes he will be straightforward with frank naturalism, showing near-close viewers truly terrible (for his years, especially) moments, for example, the revival in the crypt of the remains of a witch with her dead pale frozen face and pulsating liquid eyes.
In general, the whole entourage and spirit of the picture involuntarily very accurately resembles the classics of Hollywood horror, such as the 30s or 40s. Especially helps to give an immersive effect in the narrative - mentioned earlier in the text - a beautiful decor of a spacious castle with heavy draperies on the walls, large windows, stone statues of distorted monsters, a dusty roaring crypt, an abandoned cemetery, a sliding fog under black trees bare from foliage, as well as other half-dark nooks with steps into secret rooms. At the same time, the creation of Mario Bava stepped further beyond just re-creating the luxurious Gothic, because his Evil is much richer, stronger, more voluminous in multiple shots than the brainchildren of the studio-competitor Universal. And these are not only occasionally manifested monsters (in this case, witchcraft with vampire themes), but full-fledged dark heroes of the film with their machinations and dialogues, appearing before us naturalistically in a decent layer of timekeeping.
The acting game turned out to be somewhat theatrical, in fact, what it should be in order to appropriately merge with the provided action. Otherwise, it would not be the beginning of the 60s.
When watching, in addition to the huge directorial and camera potential of Bava, you can feel his developed ability to deftly summarize all the necessary tools together. Why does the work of lighters, make-up artists, decorators, composers, and others produce the true pleasure of the general completed spectacle? Some finds are just perfectly thought out technically, to recall at least a scene with the attack of a bat on a doctor: for his years it could only be predictably tied to ropes ridiculous monster, and so it was, but the sliding frame of the operator plays only the black shadows of the wings and the actions of a frightened person to press on the audience’s imagination, shading an unpretentious layout.
Surprisingly, even after so much of the past time, the plot does not sag anywhere, constantly stepping on the growing, intriguingly wedging into the epicenter of increasingly terrifying evil, not forgetting to feed fear with systematic bright shots. The whole timekeeping is incredibly fast and smooth, a given rhythm speeds up the pulse to the culmination of solving witchcraft secrets, baring the terrible true guises.
If you try to look for shortcomings, they “grow” from the specifics of the genre of their bygone era, that is, the specified theatricality, of course, coupled with a restrained (by today’s standards) stream of bloodthirsty, which now often abounds with tons of stained sham. And therefore, indisputably, the "minuses" turn into "pluses" for a certain number of viewers who are very dear, respect and most importantly really love the classics of the genre, treating some cinematic naivety of those years as pleasant highlights of the past, former people who gave us wonderful works made with restrained possibilities, but with a beautiful mesmerizing atmosphere of mysticism. And about how pleasant it is for the Russian-speaking viewer to know that Mario Bava himself took up the production of Nikolai Gogol - there is no question, let the writer, as they say, have horns, but legs.
That is why for the classic triple tandem: creations, the Italian master of the genre, and the indirect basis of the classical writer – the highest assessment is never sorry.
10 out of 10