現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)可以肯定，這是今年我看過的氣氛最好的恐怖片：神秘森林里處處是盤根錯節(jié)的詭異，仿佛下一根枝條就要扼住你的喉嚨；黑色的巨犬在午夜絕望的吠叫嗚咽，與身邊站立著的蒼白少女形成鮮明對比；濃霧每每在惡魔出現(xiàn)時漸迷人眼，每走一步騰起的煙霧都像是行走在云端的危險；結滿蜘蛛網(wǎng)的半塌城堡承受著詛咒，在人們的恐懼中失去了存在的意義；光影亦正亦邪在人臉上跳躍，在火焰半明半暗間舞出救贖與復仇的姿態(tài)；充滿了正義感卻執(zhí)行著血腥屠殺的人們繪注了全片的經(jīng)典，這才知道原來恐怖片《神殿》完全是對本片的一次借鑒與不成功的模仿。

影片以十七世紀一名女巫和其情人被族人殺死開始，戴上面具的經(jīng)典鏡頭成為本片的海報，相信每個看過該鏡頭的人在錘子落下的那一刻都會感到臉疼。兩個世紀之后，科學和技術逐漸打破了迷信、削弱了宗教的力量，兩名醫(yī)生僅僅因為興趣所在而不小心釋放了女巫，之后的斗智斗勇在精心營造的恐怖氣氛下絲毫沒有早期恐怖片的拖沓之感，成功的哥特風格似乎讓我聞到了數(shù)百年前的中世紀潮濕氣息：那些默默的承擔了幾千年恩怨情仇的建筑、那些沉淀在人們心底受詛咒的恐懼感、那些為愛追尋為情受苦堅定自己看見了整個世界的情癡們，統(tǒng)統(tǒng)被同一個惡魔吞噬，叫孤獨。

女主角一人分飾兩角，也許是因為長相實在不敢恭維的原因，在她唯一一次捂臉哭泣時竟是極美的。在最后女巫與少女爭奪身體時，以一個長鏡頭表現(xiàn)少女從曼麗到衰老的過程真心精彩，化妝和剪輯配合的天衣無縫，所以當女人再次從老嫗變回少女時再欣賞一次這種特效也相當賞心悅目。這種特效同樣表現(xiàn)在女巫從一個骷髏慢慢長出了骨碌碌轉的眼珠上，紅顏枯骨的殘酷美幾乎令人心碎。

而說到化妝，其實現(xiàn)代人看多了奇形怪狀的怪物洗禮后再看片中腐爛掉渣的鬼臉并不足為奇，然而此刻彰顯的正是光影和配樂的魅力。在陰影中一張若隱若現(xiàn)的腐爛的臉毫無生氣的向你靠近，驚嚇的面孔與魔鬼的臉龐交叉出現(xiàn)更加深了觀者的恐懼心理，這種效果尤其在黑白電影中展現(xiàn)的最完美。而在森林中那些橫生詭異的樹枝、看似清澈卻深不見底的池塘、在常年不散的濃霧中悄然矗立的墓群、象征著正義的十字架歪歪斜斜無不像一篇復活了的童話，陰冷的纏住童年的噩夢直至窒息。

影片中出現(xiàn)的十字架是大主教十字，又稱拜占庭十字，是基督宗教符號圣十字架的一種變體。與拉丁十字基本相似，但上方多了一個小橫杠。在拜占庭希臘和東歐十字架中還會在大主教十字下方再加一個傾斜的小橫杠，這也是東正教常用的符號之一。東正教符號出現(xiàn)也可以解釋影片背景設置在了俄羅斯附近的原因。

話說影片也有一個BUG：女主弟弟從很高的陷阱底爬上來還能雙手去抓吸血鬼，這讓我想起了《大內(nèi)密探零零發(fā)》周星馳雙手轉輪還能騰出手點炸彈的場景。

Italian horror maestro Mario Bava’s directorial debut, BLACK SUNDAY - also known as THE MASK OF SATAN, a more literal translation from its original Italian titleremains a gothic mood-enhancer par excellence, much obliged to Bava’s own cinematographic experiences and aptitude, its spooky, gnarly, chiaroscuro-heavy, imposingly ornate scenography substantively trumps up the well-worn story template drawn from Nikolai Gogol’s short story “Viy”. Set in the 19th century Moldavia, the corpse of Asa Vajda (Steele), executed (with a mask full of sharp spikes hammered into her face) for witchery alongside her lover Javutich (a menacingly vampiric Dominici) two centuries earlier, is resurrected inadvertently by the blood of passer-by Dr. Kruvajan (a four-square Checchi transiting two worlds apart as the unfortunate enabler-cum-victim) in a sepulchral crypt and immediately she tries to actualize the centuries-old curse hexed upon her demise, to exact revenge on the descendants of her brother who put her on the stake in the first place: Prince Vajda (Garrani) and his two children, son Constantine (Olivieri) and daughter Katia (Steele again, comporting herself with assured commitment in this dichotomous star-turn), a dead ringer of Asa herself, whose corporeal body she intends to possess. The plot courses through Isa’s inevitable resurrection and its equally inevitable debacle - effected by a concerted effort from a young doctor Gorobec (Richardson), who takes a shine to Katia and the God-fearing multitude - with steady assurance (without leaning heavily on gore or cheap scare) by nailing its Christianity-vanquishing-Satanism colors to the mast, and boosting an emphatically compelling score by Roberto Nicolosi, BLACK SUNDAY takes the mantle from earlier Hollywood horror and revitalizes the genre with a spellbound aura of chthonic terror, well-honed inevitability and the legerdemain of special effects (Katia’s rapid-aging process is quite a blinder of the magic-making practice), heralding the heyday of Italian “giallo” in the years to come, in which Bava himself would become quite a pioneer along with his younger compatriots Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, Umberto Lenzi, just to name a few. referential entries: Carl Theodor Dreyer’s VAMPYR (1932, 7.7/10); René Clair’s I MARRIED A WITCH (1942, 5.8/10).