Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Black Sunday

Play trailer Poster for Black Sunday 1960 1h 23m Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
88% Tomatometer 24 Reviews 78% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Burned at the stake, a vampire witch princess (Barbara Steele) wakes up centuries later with her undead henchman.
Watch on Prime Video Stream Now

Where to Watch

Black Sunday

Black Sunday

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Mario Bava's official narrative debut is a witchy nightmare steeped in gothic splendor, shot in chiaroscuro black and white and punctuated with startling gore.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View More
Nick Schager Lessons of Darkness 02/05/2008
A-
One of the cinema's preeminent examples of gothic horror. Go to Full Review
Derek Adams Time Out 02/09/2006
The visual style still impresses, but the story beneath it has become too formularised for the film to retain all its original power. Go to Full Review
Eugene Archer New York Times 05/10/2005
2/5
It will leave its audiences yearning for that quiet, sunny little motel in Psycho. Go to Full Review
Alan Jones Radio Times 10/31/2024
4/5
A masterpiece of the macabre that showed Bava's sheer mastery of the terror medium, it had censors worldwide up in arms over its still powerful opening torture sequence, in which a mask of nails is hammered onto Steele's screaming face. Go to Full Review
Sean Axmaker Stream on Demand 10/21/2024
[Mario Bava's] vivid style—gliding camerawork, dramatic lighting, striking compositions, and atmospheric sets cobbled together from limited resources—set the standard for Italian gothic horror ... Go to Full Review
Howard Waldstein CBR 06/27/2023
Black Sunday is surprisingly gruesome and tastefully terrifying in all the right ways. It's an essential of Italian horror that begs to be seen. Go to Full Review
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
Nick O May 29 Monumental Mario Bava horror! Chock full of Satan worship, witchcraft and demonic possession, making it extremely dark and ahead of it’s time for 1960. See more Hector I Apr 25 Watching a lot of Gialli these days, I heard about a film that marked the transition from Hammer gothic films to Giallo, Black Sunday or La maschera del demonio! This is a retelling of a story adapted from Gogol's Russian vampire tale Vij, from which Bava didn't keep much. This is a classic Hammer-style gothic story. What's different? The atmosphere is at once “classic” gothic, but something is a little more disturbing; the image is so beautiful, looks so real. There's a hint of German Expressionism in the looks - in fact, everything here goes through the eyes, through appearances.... What changes above all is the graphic violence: the masks and what they inflict is truly terrifying, as is the witch's rebirth. So yes, the dragon on Iavoutitch's outfit is Kitsch and that's a shame, but overall, it's a real success! It also looks like a member of Deep Purple, reminiscent of Argento's soundtracks ;) The demon's mask, the missing link between gothic and giallo films and later slashers? could be good, even if it's more Hammer than Argento, but you can feel a different touch. See more Insomniac X Mar 30 Mario Bava's eye for composition and spooky atmosphere elevate what might otherwise have been another run of the mill Dracula knock-off. This period chiller is rich with beautifully framed gothic imagery -- windswept ruins, foggy graveyards, witches, vampires, villagers with pitchforks -- this movie has it all, along with a few moments of startling brutality. Perfect viewing for halloween season. See more Steven M 11/20/2024 It’s got that ancient look to it. See more steve d 10/21/2024 Cool creepy old movie with brilliant use of light and shadow and great atmosphere. I have a crush on Barbara Steele now. See more Joseph D 10/10/2023 Came upon this gem thanks to Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments of all time. Normally I'm not one for B&W stuff, but this film holds up as a suspenseful thriller. See more Read all reviews
Black Sunday

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Movie Info

Synopsis Burned at the stake, a vampire witch princess (Barbara Steele) wakes up centuries later with her undead henchman.
Director
Mario Bava
Producer
Massimo De Rita
Screenwriter
Ennio De Concini, Mario Serandrei
Production Co
Galatea Film
Genre
Horror
Original Language
Italian
Release Date (Streaming)
Feb 8, 2017
Runtime
1h 23m
Most Popular at Home Now