Black Sunday

A woman executed for witchcraft in the seventeenth century, a spiked mask hammered onto her face, returns two centuries later when her tomb is opened. Her descendant looks exactly like her. The film's power is in the image rather than the story: black and white, fog, a world built almost entirely from shadow. Mario Bava had been a cinematographer, and in this first film of his own he uses light as the means of telling. Barbara Steele plays both parts. It counts among the starting points of Italian horror and was banned in Britain for years. Who it's for: those who like classical gothic horror and atmosphere. Who it's not for: viewers wanting fast horror; the film holds its scenes long.