BLACK SUNDAY 1960 AIP RE-CUT IN ANAGLYPH 3D MARIO BARBARA STEELE HORROR IN 3 DIMENSIONS DVD-R!

Black Sunday (Italian: La maschera del demonio, lit. ‘The mask of the demon‘) is a 1960 Italian gothic horror film directed by Mario Bava in his official directorial debut, and starring Barbara Steele, John Richardson, Andrea Checchi, Ivo Garrani, Arturo Dominici and Enrico Oliveri. Loosely based on Nikolai Gogol‘s short story “Viy“, the film takes place in Moldavia and tells the story of a witch who is put to death by her brother, only to return two centuries later to seek revenge upon his descendants. Having provided cinematography on Hercules (1958) and Hercules Unchained (1959) for the production company Galatea and helping finish two of their other films, Caltiki – The Immortal Monster (1959) and The Giant of Marathon (1959), Bava was permitted by the company’s president, Lionello Santi, to make a film for foreign markets; he chose to make a horror film to capitalize on the recent success of Terence Fisher‘s version of Dracula (1958) for Hammer Film Productions. After he developed a four-page outline faithfully based on Gogol’s story, several other screenwriters, both credited and uncredited, worked on the script. Former Rank Organisation contract players Steele and Richardson were cast as Bava felt that British leads would allow the film to compare favorably to Dracula. Filming took place in the studios of Scalera Film in Rome and on location at Castle Massimo in Arsoli; shooting was complicated by Bava’s frequent reworking of the script and Steele’s conflicts with the crew. Black Sunday had limited financial success upon its initial Italian release. It was acquired for distribution in the United States by Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson of American International Pictures (AIP), who oversaw numerous alterations to the film prior to its American release, including the removal of some scenes of violence and sexuality, redubbing the dialogue, and replacing Roberto Nicolosi‘s musical score with one by Les Baxter. The film found greater success upon its American release in 1961 when it became the highest-grossing film to be released by AIP in its first five years of existence. The film was banned for several years in the United Kingdom and did not receive a wide release there until July 1968, when it was released by Border Films as Revenge of the Vampire. Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson of American International Pictures (AIP) had been buying the American distribution rights to Italian films since 1959. In 1960, the two were invited to Rome by their Italian talent agent, Fulvio Lucisano, to view Black Sunday. Arkoff spoke about this screening in 1997, saying that because they were viewing the Italian version of the film, an interpreter and Lucisano helped to guide them through the plot. Arkoff found the film to be a “picture of a first class horror and suspense director”, and was introduced to Bava after the screening, congratulating him. AIP acquired the film for approximately $100,000, recovering its production budget. For the film’s release in the United States, AIP re-edited scenes, re-dubbed the soundtrack, and changed several of the characters’ names. Arkoff deemed the ELDA version of the film to be “technically unacceptable”, and had Lou Rusoff produce a new English version at Titra Studios in New York City, which was directed by Lee Kresel and edited by Salvatore Billitteri. In contrast to the embellishments of the ELDA version, Titra’s dubbing was largely faithful to the cast’s spoken dialogue, although some phrases were softened, such as Asa’s line “You too can find the joy and happiness in Hades!” which became “You too can find the joy and happiness in hating!”. AIP removed or shortened the more violent and sexual scenes in the film, including the hammering of the “Mask of Satan” onto Asa’s face, the scene in which she kisses Kruvajan to drain his blood, and the priest’s staking of Kruvajan’s eye. Arkoff reasoned that, “All of AIP’s films were very clean, so anything that was suggestive of playing around – fornicating a corpse, you know what I’m saying? – we wouldn’t stand for it.” A dialogue exchange between Katia and Andrej that serves to develop their romantic relationship, as well as a climactic exchange between Andrej and the priest in which the former melodramatically laments Katia’s apparent death, were also cut, as AIP believed that the juvenile audiences it was targeting would react negatively to these scenes. AIP’s editing reduced the film’s runtime to 83 minutes, compared to the 87 minute runtime of most Italian prints. Nicolosi’s score was replaced with a new one by Les Baxter. Arkoff and Nicholas felt Nicolosi’s score was “too Italian” and that American audiences would not like it. Baxter flew to New York City on January 9, 1961, to record the new soundtrack for the film at Titra. Lucas considers the re-score to be a major factor in the success of the American version, noting, “Baxter’s score is everything Nicolosi’s score is not: boisterous, unsubtle, boldly orchestrated, incessantly busy — musically underlining every footfall, every droplet of dripping blood… every smoking undulation of dry ice”. Baxter’s score incorporates Nicolosi’s “Katia’s Theme” at several points, although a piano version of the theme representing a piece played by Katia that suggests her mutual feelings for Andrej was re-scored with a dirge that more closely follows Steele’s hand movements on the instrument. He also adapted “Katia’s Theme” for the title song of his 1961 exotica album Jewels of the Sea. black & white anaglyph 3D, mono, widescreen. comes with 2 pair 3D glasses. DVD-R comes packaged as shown in coloor DVD case, wrapped in plastic!