{"id":30737,"date":"2025-03-01T01:05:39","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T09:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=30737"},"modified":"2025-03-01T01:05:39","modified_gmt":"2025-03-01T09:05:39","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-the-mask-of-satan-1989","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=30737","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: THE MASK OF SATAN (1989)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This Blu-ray from Severin Films is currently available\nfor purchase.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You wouldn\u2019t believe how much horror product was available\nto youngsters growing up in the 1980s. I grew up in this era and remember there\nbeing genre films arriving at theaters almost weekly, as well as even more\ntitles arriving on VHS for rental. For a time, it seemed as if there was never\na shortage of features to watch. But, if you were as taken with creepy movies\nas I was, you eventually did find yourself overly familiar with American\nslashers. For me, that meant checking out international efforts and being introduced\nto the likes of Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, as well as Mario Bava and his son,\nLamberto Bava.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Demons<\/em> movies, which were produced by Argento and\ndirected by Lamberto Bava, were VHS rentals that I revisited numerous times.\nTruth be told, I liked them so much they became permanently ingrained in my\nyoung brain. Still, despite seeing numerous films from this part of the world,\nsome Italian titles didn\u2019t reach North American audiences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week, Severin Films has released something of an\nobscurity from Europe in the late 1980s. Until now it has pretty much been\nimpossible to find in this part of the world. It\u2019s an Italian horror TV-movie\nfrom Lamberto Bava called The Mask of Satan<\/em> aka Demons 5: The Devil\u2019s\nVeil<\/em> aka Sabbath<\/em> \u201cEpisode 4\u201d (as it originally aired) which was a\nvery loose remake of the Mario Bava classic Black Sunday<\/em>. It seems that\nthe producer asked a bunch of filmmakers to film TV-movies, with all the\nstories using a witch as the centerpiece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, The Mask of Satan<\/em> redo doesn\u2019t top the\noriginal masterpiece, but it\u2019s a surprisingly slick (and graphic) effort, and\none that will certainly amuse 80s horror addicts. The disc itself is also top\nnotch, sporting a 2K picture restoration from the original camera negative. In\nfact, the image quality is really impressive and the disc contains some fun\nbonuses as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This tale follows a group of young skiers in the alps.\nThey\u2019re warned by a helicopter pilot that the area is dangerous, but the\n20-something kids ignore the warning. By the end of the opening credits,\nthey\u2019ve all fallen deep down an icy crevice. The injured skiers attempt to find\na way out, only to discover a masked figure frozen in the ice, and an entryway\ninto an incredible, abandoned building mostly buried under snow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, one of the group members takes the mask,\nreleasing the spirit of a witch named Anibas (Eva Grimaldi), who immediately\ntries to influence the youngsters, make them sin and turn them into her\nservants. Most go bad, but one pure skier named Davide (Giovanni Guidelli)\nresists the witch\u2019s influence. Soon, Davide\u2019s girlfriend Sabina (Debora Kinski)\nstarts trying to seduce him, making the protagonist wonder if she might be\npossessed. He receives some assistance from a priest (Stanko Molnar) who gives\nhim advice about warding off the evil force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As mentioned, this is an incredibly 80s movie, from the snow\noutfits and hair, to the bright neon lighting. It\u2019s all very silly, with Davide\nbeing tempted and resisting his girlfriend\u2019s charms, only to be chased around\nby his maniacal compatriots\u2026 and then have the very same thing occur again.\nThere are definitely some chuckles to be had and the movie lacks the chills of\nthe original film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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However, there is a lot to like. The sets and camerawork are\nspectacular. The snow crevice is a couple of stories tall and looks fantastic.\nOften, the camera whooshes around, moving up the icy walls and through the\nentire snowbound building. The make-up effects from Sergio Stivaletti are\namazing. This includes a series of paintings that move and stretch as evil\nforces burst from the walls (not unlike a gag or two from the Demons<\/em>\nseries). There is also an effective impaling via shard of ice, a severed limb\nthat moves on its own, and creative witch effects. On several occasions, the\nlovely Sabina attempts to woo Davide. This results in some heavy petting, only\nfor the young woman to transform into a monstrous beast (with insect-like\nfeatures). The climactic appearance of Anibas is also memorable and reminiscent\nof the Greek creature Medusa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s certainly hard to take seriously as a terrifying\nmonster movie and the big twist involving the names of two characters is fairly\nobvious from the outset, but the young cast (which also includes Cemetery\nMan<\/em> director Michele Soavi) are more charismatic than you would expect to\nsee in this type of a film. And there\u2019s plenty of gore and nudity that you\nwouldn\u2019t see in a TV-movie of the era in this part of the world. It\u2019s a fun,\nvisually dynamic feature that is a technical delight to watch. I was surprised\nat how much the film amused me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Blu-ray from Severin Films looks astonishing. The film\nis presented in a widescreen 1.78:1 aspect ratio with incredible clarity that\nreally makes an impression. Outdoor locations look spectacular (often featuring\nsnow falling from the sky), the sets really pop and the picture is excellent\noverall. It\u2019s hard to believe that this title was originally produced for\ntelevision.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The extras are also incredibly informative. There is a very\nlong discussion (over an hour) with the genial Lamberto Bava in which he goes\nover the origins of the project. First off, he admits that he hates remakes and\nalmost never finds them to be a worthwhile viewing experience. When the\nproducer of the Sabbath<\/em> TV-series asked him to redo his dad\u2019s famous\nfeature, he wasn\u2019t excited until the final concept was pitched to him. He liked\nthe idea of setting this take in the present day, as well as in the snow.\nKnowing that, besides the mask itself, there weren\u2019t many similarities between\nthis story and the original Black Sunday<\/em>, he ultimately agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bava is very fond of this picture because the producers gave\nhim a lot of freedom and more resources than he was usually given. He also\ntalks about how amazed he was with the unique locations in Switzerland, the\nelaborate sets, incredible effects and moving camera rigs. Additionally, Bava\nnotes that the young cast were quite strong. While the director admits he\ndidn\u2019t think Guidelli was really leading-man material, he liked the actor\u2019s\nwork and loved the other performances of the cast. He notes that even though\nMichele Soavi was making a name for himself as a director and had just finished\nproduction on his first movie, StageFright<\/em>, the filmmaker agreed to take\nan acting role in the picture as a favor. Additionally, Bava goes into the\nmake-up effects, how some of the practical gags were achieved and correctly\nnotes that these gruesome bits really hold up and look better than effects in\nmost modern movies. He clearly has a fondness for the final product and the\noverall look of the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are two cast member interviews as well. The first is\nwith co-star Mary Sellers, who describes her experiences working on the movie.\nShe admits that it must have been a frustrating experience for Bava corralling\nthe cast, remembering that most of the young cast were having a great time\ngoofing around during the shoot. Sellers admits that she doesn\u2019t like horror\nmovies and suggests the director was likely saddened by the reaction during\nfestival screenings when the producers were hoping for worldwide distribution\nfor these TV-movies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The interview with Debora Capriogilo aka Debora Kinski is a\nlittle more upbeat. She gives an overview of her career, talking about some of\nher most famous parts in European pictures, as well as her time with\nthen-partner Klaus Kinski (who suggested she use his name in credits). The\nactress talks about the time spent in the make-up chair and how arduous it was,\nbut seems to have had a good time onset and enjoyed working with Lamberto Bava\nand other cast members (compared to some other shoots she participated in).\nIt\u2019s an interesting discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had never heard of The Mask of Satan<\/em>, but it\ncertainly was fun catching up with this feature. It isn\u2019t in the same league as\nBlack Sunday<\/em> or as propulsively enjoyable as the filmmaker\u2019s Demons<\/em>\nmovies, but it isn\u2019t boring and is far more stylish than expected. In fact, it\nis a generally entertaining Italian genre film. The disc looks great and the\ncontent will impress anyone who enjoys the work of Bava or over-the-top but\nslick and stylish Italian horror pictures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Blu-ray from Severin Films is currently available for purchase. You wouldn\u2019t believe how much horror product was available to youngsters growing up in the 1980s. I grew up in this era and remember there being genre films arriving at theaters almost weekly, as well as even more titles arriving on VHS for rental. For […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":30747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[122,2875,5527,5528,9319,10039,10042,12048,13235,13366,13380,13864,16846,17684,18083,21553,21554,21555,24383],"class_list":["post-30737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-122","tag-black-sunday","tag-debora-capriogilo","tag-debora-kinski","tag-horror","tag-italian","tag-italy","tag-lamberto-bava","tag-mario-bava","tag-mary-sellers","tag-mask-of-satan","tag-michele-soavi","tag-remake","tag-satan","tag-severin-films","tag-the-mask-of-satan","tag-the-mask-of-satan-blu-ray-review","tag-the-mask-of-satan-review","tag-witch"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30737\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}