Trivia / Black Sunday (1960)

• Completely Different Title:
  • Original: The Mask of Satan
  • US: Black Sunday
  • UK: Revenge of the Vampire
  • Germany: The Hour When Dracula Comes
  • Brazil: The Devil's Curse
  • Japan: Bloody Tombstone
• Fake Nationality: None of the cast is actually Moldavian. Two Britons (Steele and Richardson) and many, many Italians.
• Hostility on the Set: Bava clashed with Barbara Steele on set. Steele sometimes refused to come to set because she did not like her wig or the fact that her cleavage would be shown. One time she refused to come to the set because she believed that Bava would force her to appear nude. Steele later admitted that she was difficult due to her inexperience and her inability to understand Italian.
• In Name Only: The film's plays pretty fast-and-loose with Gogol's original story, save for the Moldavian setting and the antagonist being an undead witch.
• Re-Cut: A total of four different English-language versions exist:
  • The Mask of Satan (87 minutes) The complete version of the film featuring the original English language dubbing recorded in Italy and the original Italian score by Roberto Nicolosi. This is usually referred to as the "European Version."
  • Black Sunday (84 minutes) The U.S. theatrical version distributed by American International Pictures. This cut features a more dramatic dubbing job recorded in the U.S., a new score by Les Baxter, and trims to content to meet censorship standards at the time; notably removing the Brother–Sister Incest by changing the character of Javuto from Katja's brother to servent. Further edits to this version were used to create the 16mm U.S. television syndication version.
  • Revenge of the Vampire: The long-delayed British version is a trimmed version of The Mask of Satan that features the original English language dubbing recorded in Italy and the original Italian score by Roberto Nicolosi.
  • La Maschera Del Deomonio (85 minutes) Not the original Italian version as you might expect from the title. The main title is video generated (in bright red) and superimposed over the black and white film. The film uses the original English language dubbing recored in Italy. The score is a mixture of both the original Italian (Roberto Nicolosi) and U. S. (Les Baxter) scores.
• Real-Life Relative: The milkmaid menaced by the recently-resurrected Javuto was played by actor Arturo Dominici's real sister.
• Same Language Dub: Shot in English with the majority-Italian cast speaking their lines phonetically, later to be redubbed by native speakers. This was Bava's preferred method to the standard practice of having individual cast members speak their lines in their respective native languages, as he found this quickly became needlessly confusing.
• Similarly Named Works: With the thriller novel and its 1977 film adaptation.
• Star-Making Role: For Barbara Steele and John Richardson.
• Translation Matchmaking: Billed as The Hour When Dracula Comes in the German-speaking world, despite being completely unrelated to Dracula or any adaptations thereof.
• Underage Casting: The actor playing Katya's aged father was only 36 at the time of filming.
• What Could Have Been: Steele and Dominici were both fitted with custom vampire fangs, but Bava ultimately decided against using them, deeming them too cheesy.