The Mask Of Satan is a snow-bound ‘n’ gothic-edged slice of late 80’s euro horror. The film regards a group of skiers uncovering a witch's icy tomb, removing her spiked mask- to become pursued by her spirit.  It’s directed by Lamberto Bava- being somewhat of a reimaging/ tribute of his father's classic gothic horror film Black Sunday (1960). The picture blends eerier atmospherics, some neat sets, are-they-going-crazy-or-not thrills, and a few decent effect set-ups/ gory moments. Here from the folks at Severin is a Blu-Ray release of this lesser-seen/ known film- taking in a 2k scan, and a few extras.

If you try to search for The Mask Of Satan, you may well come a cropper. It started life as part of the Italian mini-series Sabbath- which began in 1989 and ran for six feature-length episodes- it had the brief of ‘looking at witches from different angles, ranging from historical accounts to popular folklore’. The Mask Of Satan (La Máscara Del Demonio, Demons 5: The Devil's Veil) was first shown on Italian TV on the  4^th of Jan 1989, going onto be shown at Fantafestival in 1990, before appearing on VHS in 1992.

Surprisingly the one hour thirty-eight-minute film looks very un-TV- movie-like. There are some great detailed sets, location shooting, and some (fairly) impressive effects.  The film opens on a bright sunny day on the ski slopes- as a group of eight twenty-something friends are out skiing together. All of a sudden, a huge crack occurs in the mountain- with all the group falling in. One of their number breaks her leg, while the others try to get out of the hole. Just beside them is an icy tomb- with a metal mask body sticking out, one of them prizes it off, and so the group's troubles begin.

As we move through the film the group discovers a grand stone-pillowed doorway to an ancient deep snow-bound village. Here resides just one person- in a large gothic church/ come castle- a blind blond-haired tied-back haired priest. Most of the film's action then takes place inside the said building- though we do get a great fog-bound flashback, where we see the witch being tied up, the mask hammered on, and blood dripping/ splattering onto her large breasts.

The film remains fairly eventful/ pacy- as members of the party are tied up, and force-fed salt. First, they are possessed then they are not. On the effects/ gore side of things we get a close-up dog and human eating another human scene, a demented and randy chicken-legged witch, figures appearing from blood-soaked cobwebs, green thunder bloats and protective light prisons, attacks from long-tongued Medusa and other demented ghouls.

The main church/castle set is great with weird paintings covering the walls, a studded confession booth with shifting body-crushing walls, a wooden torture tool room, with snow ever so often blowing through the building, and a generally decent eerie atmosphere.

I guess the only real issue here is some of the supporting acting, which is all pretty bad. Yes there are eight skiers, but we have one lead character here Davide (Giovanni Guidelli) who is the more sensible/ focused of the group- and he is fine in his role. His surrounding friends are just very vague character cliches- so really aside from him, you don’t really care about anyone else.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised/ rather taken by The Mask Of Satan- as I was just expecting very low-budget/ run-of-the-mill late 80’s euro horror. But it’s an entertaining film, with some great set design, a pacy plot flow with atmosphere & memorable effects.

Moving to this new region free Blu Ray, and we find a 2k scan of the film- this is wonderfully defined, with a great amount of clarity and depth to the picture itself.

We get three on-camera/English-subtitled interviews- which I presume are new/ recent. First, we have The Curse Of The Mask (37.06) with Lamberto Bava. He begins by saying that he hates sequels and remakes. Moving on to discuss how the film/ project first came about. He talks about the impressive set design of the church and crevasse, and we find out the ice grave was made from real ice. He touches on how the opening impressive skiing shot was filmed by the man who did the snow-bound shots in James Bond films.  He discusses the effective use of Steadicam shots in the film. He talks about the film's lead being fine but missing something. Before going onto discuss the rest of the pictures cast.  He discusses the film’s location, its score, and its effects- which he wanted to keep simple-yet-effective. So, an interview well worth a play.

Otherwise, we have Una Americana A Roma (12.59) with Actress Mary Sellers, and Sabina The Teenage Witch (11.54).

 It certainly is wonderful to see this lesser-known film from Lamberto Bava seeing the light of day. And if you enjoy slightly classier 80’s euro horror- the film is must. And as always with Severin we find a lovely print, and a good selection of decent extras.