Review of Black Sunday (1960) by Colin F — 06 Feb 2011

I had never heard of this film until I recently saw some of it on a Mark Gatiss Horror documentary and thought that looks good, so thought I would check it out.

To be honest I was surprised how gruesome the film is, especially for a film made over 50 years ago, some scenes are literally horrifying and make the Hammer Horror films of that period pretty tame. Getting past the gruesome bits it is really a good little film, very atmospheric, quite creepy at times and very well made. It is a very different type of horror film which deals with Witches and vampires rolled into one which I have not seen in any other film. Barbara Steele was a great choice to play the Vampire Witch because she comes across as so bloody weird. My only criticism is that because the film is Italian made, the version I watched was very badly dubbed, some very over voice acting! Apart from this well worth a gander.