Black Sunday on AllMovie

Black Sunday (La Maschera del Demonio) was not only director Mario Bava's first feature, but also the first step in actress Barbara Steele's colorful horror film career. Steele plays Katia, a vampire (or witch) princess. The film is predicated on the legend that one day each century Satan is permitted to freely roam the earth. Awakening from death, Katia lays siege to a Russian castle, seeking vengeance on the descendants of those responsible for her long-ago execution. Her victims are saved in the nick of time by the Church, which condemns Katia to be burned at the stake. (Didn't they already try that?) This is the film in which we're treated to a close-up of Katia's ravaged face, pockmarked by the dreadful spikes of the iron mask in which she was entombed before her re-awakening. Though it proved to be the turning point in her career, Steele did not see Black Sunday until years after its completion, at which point she noted "how beautiful" it was. Strangely enough, she's quite right.