Ooh, I've been waiting for this one! And I don't just mean that it took Severin approximately two months to ship my Black Friday order. 😉
Lamberto Bava's
Mask of Satan is a title I've been eager to own since the days of laserdisc, but it's never been released on any format. The best I'd been able to manage was a bootleg DVDR I purchased at a horror convention years and years ago; and I was happy to get that. So, while this may not be the single greatest I-horror title in the pantheon, I was thrilled when Severin announced it as a special edition blu-ray. Curiously, they describe their release as "the first time ever in North America," which is typically a delicate way to hype a quasi-debut without mentioning the film's already been released in other parts of the world, sort of like saying a scan is from "original film elements" when a label can't find the original negatives. But if there's another blu out there anywhere in the world - Japan, Italy, Spain, anywhere - I've never heard of it, and believe me, I've searched! I would've bought it. But if it is out there, I'm glad I never found it now, because I'd be double-dipping for this anyway.
has always struck me as the most
Demons-like of all the unofficial
Demons sequels (this one was known as
Demons 5). Ostensibly, of course, it's a remake of his father,
Mario Bava's
Mask of Satan, a.k.a.
Black Sunday, where a woman is accused of witchcraft, killed by having a spiked mask hammered into her face, and resurrected a hundred or so years later to seek revenge. But they immediately, with
Barbara Steele and her zombified husband lurking around a mansion in the original, and a bunch of yuppies turning into monstrous maniacs in an ice cave here. And hey,
Demons also had a
Black Sunday-inspired metal mask starting off the horror, worn by
Michele Soavi, who also has a major role in this. The only thing really separating this from the
Demons franchise proper is the fact that the demonically possessed in this film spend most of their time behaving like rude pranksters rather than feral killers.
Rewatching this more recently, I was surprised to see
Nikolay Gogol's name in the credits. Indeed, both this and the original
Mask of Satan claim to be remakes of his famous story
Viy,
famously adapted directly in 1967. And sure, both films feature a resurrected witch, but otherwise Mario's
Mask feels even more dissimilar to
Viy than it does
Demons. However, watching Lamberto's
Mask with
Viy in mind, yeah, now I see it. Sure, it's a modern updating that takes plenty of liberties, but there's definitely more
Viy in here than
Black Sunday or
Demons,
especially the climax, when our hero draws a protected ring around
himself in the haunted church while various monsters and spirits fly
circles around him.
Putting aside its associations to other films and stories, though, 1989's
Mask of Satan is a good time in its own right. Bava's pretty much got the band back together with some wild special effects by
Sergio Stivaletti (one in particular really stands out!) and an lush score by
Simon Boswell.
Everything takes place on one elaborate set, enhanced by one or two
impressive outdoor locations, with the kind of colorful photography
we've all come to love and expect in classic I-horror (for no reason at
all, one nook in the ice cave emanates a bright green glow). You do feel the lack of
gore, which is probably an unavoidable consequence of this being a
made-for-TV project. I wouldn't hold this up as high as the official
Demons movies, but it's a respectable runner up.
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2024 Severin BD.
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Presented
in a pillarboxed 1.67:1, we're told Severin's blu is a 2k scan taken from
the original negative and, in terms of colors, contrast, etc, it looks
pretty great. The film's grain is barely even hinted at, though, and I know 2k
ain't 4k, but you'd never see a 2k scan on 1080p looking like this come out
of Arrow. It is a dual-layer disc, with the film taking up more than half the space itself, but I wouldn't be at all surprised this is a transfer Severin was just handed from an Italian lab. Honestly, it's the kind of thing that will irritate the "pixel peepers" among us, but most viewers won't mind or even notice, because it's such an attractive transfer otherwise. Talk about colors "popping," that one girl's ski jacket practically irradiates your living room with pinkness whenever it's in front of the camera.
Interestingly, there is no English dub, but besides
the Italian, there is also a Spanish track, both of which are in
DTS-HD. And Severin has gone the extra mile to include two sets of
English subtitles, one matching
each dub.
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Mary Sellers
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Severin's blu isn't over-crowded with special features, but what
it's got is excellent. Basically, there are three on-camera interviews, and each one is a great addition. First, Bava himself gives an enthusiastic and comprehensive
overview (except he doesn't address the
Demons connection at all), talking about everything from how this was originally planned as a six-part international film series of witchcraft to the fact that this film hasn't been available on disc until now is because the negatives were lost and just recently located. Then we've got tighter interviews with two of the lead actresses:
Mary Sellers and
Debora Caprioglio, who talk about their experiences on this film and their careers in general. Yes, Debora is asked and explains her relationship with
Klaus Kinski. Besides that, though, there's not much else. But this does come in a super cool, embossed slipcover if you order it direct from the label.
So do I recommend this? Heck yeah, I'm dancin' in the end zone!
Not that it's a classic, but it is good - it impresses a little more
now, too, seeing it in full quality - and ticks a very long awaited
title off of our lists. This is a film fans have been pestering Anchor
Bay and everybody else about for decades.
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