Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Awesome Horror Streams for Hallowe'en Screams on Roku - DAY 04: Black Sunday (1960) [dir. Mario Bava]





Greetings, Boils & Ghouls...



...and welcome to 'Day Four' of "Awesome Horror Streams for Hallowe'en Screams on Roku" where I will be bringing you my top picks of the fright flicks in the carefully curated catalogue of macabre movies from the 'Shudder UK' horror streaming service - any of which can then be streamed to your television via the magic of Roku player - so, dim down the lights... and prepare for some frights! :-O


If you read my hallowe'en blogathon preview - FOUND HERE - which I published on Saturday, then you will know that I plan to post one Hallowe'en / Horror related article every day, throughout the month of October, each featuring one horror movie from the current 'Shudder UK' content library. With recommendations for thirty-one of the best fright flicks I can find, by the end of the month, this means you should have plenty of great choices for your macabre movie viewing as we count down the days to Hallowe'en... as well as ensuring some top-notch cinematic scares come October 31st! ;-)


For my fourth instalment, in this series of posts, I'm going to suggest that we re-visit a horror movie from years gone by, which I always like to come back to from time to time, as a reminder of just how great those monochrome classics were. Given there are at least four well-known alternate names for this particular movie, I figured it would make a fitting post for 'Day Four' of my blogathon this year! Anyway, to whet your appetite, here's the movie poster for the film:-





ORIGINAL CINEMA POSTER.....................IMAGE SOURCE: Wrong Side Of The Art


Directed by Mario Bava, and starring Barbara Steele, John Richardson, Arturo Dominici and Ivo Garrani plus Andrea Checchi & Enrico Olivieri (amongst others), it tells the story of how a vengeful witch and her fiendish servant return from the grave and begin a bloody campaign to possess the body of the witch's beautiful look-alike descendant. First released in 1960, under the original title of "La Maschera Del Demonio", it was (at first) banned in the UK for it's scenes of violence which were deemed "unusually gruesome" at the time. It didn't arrive in British cinemas until 1968, where it has been shown both as "Revenge Of The Vampire", as well as "The Mask Of Satan", although among the list of other titles by which the movie was known are "Black Sunday" and "Mask Of The Demon" to name but a few. For those of you that have yet to see this "cult classic", here is a brief taster of the film courtesy of the original theatrical trailer for the movie:-






If you'd like to know more there's a full list of the cast & credits on the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) listing for "Black Sunday" (1960), FOUND HERE, which also includes a full storyline / plot summary as well as box office stats, technical specs & much more. For die-hard fans, there are even more tidbits of information to be had from the Wikipedia Page for "Black Sunday", VIA THIS LINK, which may help to fuel your appetite for (yet) another screening. Although, as with "Night Of The Living Dead" (another favourite of mine) which featured in my previous post from this month-long blogathon series, if you're already a fan, it probably won't take much persuading to watch this again !!






Anyway, as with "Night Of The Living Dead" from yesterday's post, there are several Roku channels through which you will be able to watch "Black Sunday" (1960). That said, because the idea for this month-long blogathon was to suggest thirty-one great Hallowe'en / Horror themed movies from the fang-tastic 'Shudder UK' streaming service, I'm going to recommend you stream it on that channel! :-)






If you haven't already added it to your channel selection, you will find "Shudder" listed among the "Film & TV" channels in the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store. You can easily add it to your Roku player(s) by navigating to the built-in 'Channel Store' (accessed via "Streaming Channels" from the home screen on your Roku device) and scrolling through the options until you see the channel icon (pictured above). It's completely FREE-TO-ADD so, once you've located it in the list of channels, just click the "OK" button on your Roku remote to select it and then click "OK" again where it says 'Add channel' to install it on your Roku player(s). Having done that, it's simply a case of launching the channel via the 'Go to channel' option and navigating the on-screen menu to log-in (if you already have an account, but haven't yet done so) or start your free trial (if you are new to the service) and, once you see 'Shudder TV' playing on the screen, just push the "DOWN" arrow on your Roku remote to get to the main menu... from where you can "Search" for the film, "Black Sunday", and then press "OK" to select & then 'Play' this classic horror movie which, for the record, runs to 1h 25mins.


LINK TO WATCH 'Black Sunday' (1960) ONLINE VIA THE 'SHUDDER UK' WEBSITE


Fortunately for readers outside the UK, this vintage horror classic also happens to be available via 'Shudder' in the United States, though (sadly) not in Canada at the time of writing... however, there are other resources at your disposal (most notably via subscription to 'Fandor', or else ad-supported on 'Tubi TV', for Canadian streamers... as well as those in the U.S. seeking an alternative to 'Shudder' for watching this movie) but any Roku user can also stream "Black Sunday" (1960) via several Roku channels - regardless of region - just use the 'Search' feature on your Roku, and type in the title of the film (i.e. "Black Sunday", in this case) to find and then watch it instantly on your Roku device! ;-) :-)


Meanwhile, for that full cinema experience, here's a few of the other cinema posters that movie-goers in 1960 and/or 1968 would have encountered depending on their particular location around the world:





ITALIAN ONE SHEET CINEMA POSTER............IMAGE SOURCE: Wrong Side Of The Art




USA ONE SHEET CINEMA POSTER.....................IMAGE SOURCE: Wrong Side Of The Art





BRITISH QUAD CINEMA POSTER...............IMAGE SOURCE: Wrong Side Of The Art



Finally, to round-off this fourth instalment of my month-long blogathon on 'Day Four' of the annual 'Countdown To Halloween', here's another FRIGHTENINGLY FUN FILM FACT for you... if you've ever seen Tim Burton's "Sleepy Hollow" (1999) then you may already have spotted / know this but, if not, he "borrowed" some of the imagery from "Black Sunday" to use with his "Sleepy Hollow" film. In particular, there is a scene where Lisa Marie's face is punctured by an Iron Maiden but, given that Burton has explicitly cited Mario Bava's movie as an inspiration, this is hardly surprising !!




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Anyhow, that's all I've got time for today... but do remember to come back again tomorrow, for my next macabre movie recommendation from the 'Shudder UK' streaming library, when I will suggest another film for 'Day Five' of "Awesome Horror Streams for Hallowe'en Screams on Roku" right here on this blog. Meanwhile... please be sure to visit the Countdown To Hallowe'en website & show your support for this annual online Hallowe'en extravaganza PLUS don't forget to use the links you find there and check out all the other 'Cryptkeepers' taking part this year. I know they'll appreciate it, if you visit their blogs and share your thoughts on the contribution(s) they've made.



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ONE LAST THING, BEFORE I GO: Don't forget that, aside from the Hallowe'en / Horror-themed ghastliness going on around these parts for the next month, you can also keep up with the UK Roku action (as it happens) by following the companion Twitter Feed: @ukrokuchannels where you will find that up-to-the-minute info on all things Roku-related is posted on a daily basis (well, almost).



Until the next time, then...



That's all folks !!





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