Barbara Steele on the making of Black Sunday (AKA The Mask of the Demon, 1960, director Mario Bava).

Mario Bava's first and arguably best film (a case can be made for the creepy Kill, Baby, Kill), Black Sunday is a glorious, black and white, old school horror film. The former cinematographer Bava crams every scene with mucho atmosphere and overwhelming dread. Bava's imagery is so powerful the film could have easily done away with dialogue and been offered up as a silent classic.

You want the perfect Halloween horror film look no further. Crumbling castles set against endless sunless skies, Gnarled tree limbs shaped like bony hands, misty decrepit graveyards, a mysterious carriage moving silently through the fog filled night, every frame feels old and dead. Black Sunday has the look of a classic Universal film but Bava's camera is more restless, a precursor to the extreme movement later employed by Dario Argento. Bava also punctuated Black Sunday with a series of shocking, graphic images which led to its being banned in England.

Nobody who has seen the film will likely forget the image of the huge, spike laden, demon mask being pounded into Barbara Steele face. Or the scene where Steele's mask is removed to reveal a hole strewn face crawling with maggots, worms and scorpions.

The plot, based on Gogol's The Vij, concerns the witch Asa (Barbara Steele) and her lover Javuto (Arturo Dominici). Before being put to death for their evil ways Asa puts a curse on her brother and swears to return to deal with his descendants. Two hundred years later Asa awakens after the blood of a visiting doctor is dropped on her tomb. Meanwhile the lovely Katia (also Barbara Steele, in the first of her numerous career double roles) walks the ruins with a pack of frightening dogs. She runs into the doctors and begins revealing the secrets of the haunted region. Then...if you haven't seen the film it's time to go check it out. Black Sunday is best watched on a cold, windy, stormy night with the fireplace roaring. A good cigar, your favorite chair, a tasty stout and a tumbler of whiskey will prepare you for one of the all time great horror films.