7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
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.
Starring: Barbara Steele, John Richardson, Andrea Checchi, Ivo Garrani, Arturo DominiciHorror | 100% |
Foreign | 54% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.69:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
1960’s “Black Sunday” is the movie that put director Mario Bava on the map. A helmer with an enormous capacity for creativity and low-budget craftsmanship, Bava funneled his cinematic skill into a gothic chiller, boasting a spooky castle, witchcraft, and poor saps tinkering with the devil. Delighting in mood and visual heft, “Black Sunday” solidifies Bava’s appetites as a filmmaker and secures his gifts with atmosphere, bringing out eerie events with an eye toward disquiet and menace, attaining a sense of dread while sticking to era-specific demands of action and impassioned performances. For more on the feature, please read Dr. Svet Atanasov's review and Casey Broadwater's review.
Overall, the AVC encoded image (1.69:1 aspect ratio) presentation preserves shadowy events and soft glamour lighting with a more grayish appearance. Crush pulls out some frame information, but it's not habitual. Fine detail is welcoming for this type of gauzy cinematography, delivering pleasing textures on make-up effects (securing intended horror) and pained responses, with close-ups adequately communicative. Castle interiors are also open for survey, isolating stone walls and set decoration. Print remains in semi-rough shape, with scratches, speckling, and debris present, and a few of the reel changes are jarring. A vertical white line also makes an appearance midway through the movie for a few seconds.
The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix is primarily concentrated on mood, and atmospherics are served well, defining howling winds, crackling fire, and castle echo. Being an English dub, dialogue exchanges are pronounced, providing clean dramatic extremes. Scoring is alert, doing an adequate job maintaining surges of suspense without spilling over into distortion.
A diluted Bava isn't an ideal gateway into the helmer's macabre world, leaving this Blu-ray release of the "Black Sunday" AIP cut of strictly for curious fans eager to inspect a different take on a horror classic. It's been Americanized but not seriously defanged, still retaining directional punch and nightmarish emphasis where it counts.
AIP Cut | 60th Anniversary
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Operazione paura
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E tu vivrai nel terrore - L'aldilà | Glow in the Dark Cover | Limited Edition to 3000
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4K Restoration | La chiesa | Cathedral of Demons
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Reazione a catena
1971
1997
1970
Featuring The Girl Who Knew Too Much / La ragazza che sapeva troppo
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I lunghi capelli della morte
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Il lago di Satana
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Paura nella città dei morti viventi | Standard Edition
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