Black Sunday (aka Mask Of Satan) movie review

Black Sunday or Mask of Satan in Europe is an Italian horror movie, released in 1960. Black Sunday is renown for it being a very influential movie in the horror genre, inspiring many movies including Bram Stoker's Dracula. Black Sunday is a movie about a witch who was tortured, by having an iron mask of Satan nailed on to her face, and then the inquisitors tried to burn her at the stake, but she was saved by a sudden rain that put out the fires. She cursed the family that put her to death and vowed that she would return to have her vengeance on them. Fast forward 200 years and two doctor friends traveling to Russia through the country side, their carriage loses a wheel and while it is being repaired they find the tomb of the witch and while trying kill a bat that is attacking him, one of the doctors breaks the cross that is keeping the witch imprisoned in her tomb. She then raises from the grave along with her vampire lover. She then takes her revenge on the family that put her to death. This movie really helped to push the boundaries of horror. The Italians have always pushed the boundaries of gore and horror in their movies, in fact Black Sunday was actually banned in the UK for several years because the the levels of gore and horror themes in the movie. The version that I have of this movie is the original Italian version, and has the scenes that were originally cut from the initial US release. The production quality of the movie is absolutely fantastic for the time, and the acting and the casting was all perfectly done. So the only things I have negative to say about this film, has nothing to do with the movie itself, but I do have issues with the way that it portrays withes as devil worshipers, and it kind of helps to perpetuate the negative stereo-types of witches. I do like the vampire elements of the movie, and thought that that was really well done. This is definitely a must see classic horror movie, that all fans of the genre should view. Would I recommend this movie? Yes, very much so, this is an absolutely amazing movie, and definitely a must see for all horror fans. This is a very important film in the history of horror, and definitely broke new grounds.