the seventeenth century, Moldova, the witch Asa Vajda Igor and his lover are accused of vampirism. Before burning them alive, the executioner pulled down over their faces a mask with sharp spikes. About to die, Asa launches a curse on his descendants. Two centuries have passed. Dr. Krujavan, assisted by his disciple Andrei, accidentally awakens the witch. Prince Vajda dreads the fulfillment of the curse, while his daughter, Princess Katia, is the perfect portrait of the witch. The mask of the demon (made in 1960 based on a story by Gogol), is the first film by Mario Bava. Already known for his work as director of photography in Italy, where he signed a work of great visual richness, which opens a long and distinguished career as a director, whose style has profoundly influenced the Seventh Art, and in particular the cinema horror.
A captivating aesthetics
The first sequence, which shows the execution of the two worshipers of the devil, immediately plunges us into a fascinating plastic construction. The macabre atmosphere that emanates plans - the misty layers of winter and Moldavian folk load generated by this place, the hooded executioners who carry out their grisly task, tracking shots on the skinny branches of trees, the mask that s' driven into the flesh of Asa - is beautifully rendered in black and white photography of Bava. While the film sometimes suffers from some imperfections. Some connections are botched. The special effects are not of equal quality. The narration and tramples the psychology of characters can not escape the great archetypes of the genre. But these weaknesses are largely offset by a bewitching aesthetic vision. Bava uses his experience as a head carrier and a talented artist. For example, the difficulty level of the puppet shake a bat attacking Krujavan, the filmmaker decides to throw the menacing shadow of the creature on the walls of the crypt. This choice gives strength to the expressionistic sequence and allows the same opportunity to forget the weakness of trickery.
The sets (designed by Giorgio Giovannini), in addition to being beautifully filmed, particularly vivid. On this point, we find no false notes. The walls of the cave-ridden centuries, the predominance of Gothic architecture, the gates decayed badly greased the cobwebs, the dilapidated castle and furniture dusty prince (remnants of the bygone glory of his dynasty) suggest a whiff of embalming livid in these places, where death seems to prevail at all times.
The preponderance of nighttime sequences, found in most horror movies, almost becomes a pretext for Bava to test his mastery of chiaroscuro, with the Like the great Baroque artists. The lighting effects are particularly complex and results. An outdoor scene, a stunning beauty, reveals the walls of the castle which stands out in the dark when the clouds away to reveal a full-moon triumphant. Light caresses of the sun low on the left side of the frame and enhances the threatening aspect of the monolithic mass, which focuses the bulk of the plot.
The slowness of certain camera movements evokes the slow, inexorable march that led life to death. The mask of the demon , because of its narrative substance and form, is an ode to nothingness. Bava also uses distorting temporal Igor returned from the beyond, leads the coach must return to the Krujavan dying prince. The race is filmed in slow motion and horses - almost ghostly vision - seem straight out of hell. Bava also uses other techniques just as effective. Speed optical tracking shots front and rear staging boosts and strengthens the terror felt by the viewer. For example the zoom on the frozen face of Igor, who advances to the prince in order to assassinate him, echoes the abominable traits of the protagonist.
Some frames, especially in the first part, express the gravity of evil that emanates from the film. While Krujavan and Andrei through the estate of Prince, we see that the camera is placed behind the crooked branches, which cover almost the entire frame. Bavarian landscape just a small opening between the branches, which allows the viewer to see the carriage away into the background. The plan suggests that the characters enter a death trap, they can not escape. The same idea is suggested when the two characters move toward the crypt and pass under an arch. We note that the frame is slightly tilted. Bava said that Andrei Krujavan and enter a place governed by evil forces, which impose new rules to reality.
The style adopted by Bava works in depth the material of the film Twilight Murnau ( Nosferatu , 1922), Browning ( Dracula , 1931), Dreyer ( Vampyr , 1932) and Halperin ( White Zombie , 1932). But if one feels cast the decisive influence of the great masters of terror, we also note several innovative features that make Mask of demon one of the first horror movies Modern (1) .
The filmmaker dusts off the genre by changing some codes inherent in particular vampire movies. Humans must not drive a pile in the heart but in the left eye of monsters to destroy. The sequences where the blood spurting profusely gives Mask of demon texture gore as refined fresh ideas, thus imposing new designs on the narrative and aesthetic (2) . The scenes where Asa's face gradually restores are very impressive. A swarm infamous anime first orbits of the dead, while in another plane, white globes start to form.
Other elements, however, brings us fully into the tradition of in this genre. The creatures must feed on blood. They are endowed with powers hypnotics and fear the crucifix, holy pictures, fire and light. Overall, Bava takes over the characteristics of the imaginary vampire (from Dracula Stocker to horror movies). The demon mask expresses both rupture and continuity.
The theme of the dual key to interpreting the film
The prince is obsessed with the portrait of Asa and Igor, who belong to his family for two centuries. One night the old aristocrat believes perceive a change in the griffin painted in the second table. The animal was alive before, seems to be dead. The obsession becomes terror. The representation of vampires is twofold: it is both pictorial and is resurrected figure. The portrait captures symbolically dead, while witchcraft allows them to actually win eternity.
haunted Shades, reflecting the pattern in a glass of wine, ominous shadows on the walls, the image of the witch cleverly introduced by a fade when Krujavan throws a stone in water: death is first projection before incarnation. It invades the mind before attacking the body.
Princess Katie is the perfect lookalike of Asa. It draws its vital energy that the witch will be able to relive. Death feeds on life by attacking the integrity of the flesh. Symptoms of the curse are always the same: victims are disfigured, as the vampires are the scars on their face mask of the devil. Pass away the living and the dead back to life. Gradually, vampires regenerate and regain a normal appearance. Asa plants his fingernails into the arm of Katie to begin the transfer of energy. Once his flesh will be totally reconstituted, the witch can take the place of his double in the world. Death is triumphant. It dominates life to the point of the exploit. Asa, born to Katie is only the cook of the beyond. The body of the princess is no longer an object of flesh to strip a carcass in the making.
Also, Katia's candor, his angelic face, her milky skin, her cleavage, can bring a touch of light in a world so obscure, for it carries the genes that predetermine a gruesome end. It is also won by the sadness and renunciation, because it senses the danger that threatens it. After the death of her father, Katie does not believe in life and realizes his own degeneration - she looks at her reflection in the water and realizes that her beauty fades every day. Death conquers all vanities. This idea is suggested when Bava films, twice, put on a skull the edge of a niche of the crypt. Recall that the skull refers often in the iconography Baroque to the motto "Memento mori", which is, according to Barbara Borngässer, "the leitmotif of a disordered society, haunted by angst . The author adds that "The theme of Vanitas, none of earthly existence, through all the arts" (3) . can easily recognize the timeless value of this theme, very present in Bava's filmography ( body and whip , The house of exorcism , The Girl Who Knew Too , etc..). The happy ending is in fact a subterfuge and expresses a total nihilism. The plans are foiled the witch and burnt at the stake. The vampire woman returns to death. Katie, meanwhile, returns to life effectively disappears when the double but this is only a reprieve. Her beauty will continue to wither and turn it once again become dust.
Bava's aesthetic perfectly describes the purity of death. And it is this purity that ultimately becomes an object of fascination, direct response to this morbid instinct in every man - the witch doctor Krujavan attracts by offering him a kiss, while she still bears the marks caused by hideous mask. The viewer, like the doctor, can hardly escape this mechanism of seduction. He ended up being totally subservient to process film, as if trapped in a table as wonderful as terrifying.
Aurélien Portelli
