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Created Nov 09, 2007 08:08PM PST • Edited Nov 09, 2007 08:08PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Very Good 3.5

   The movie takes place over two centuries ago. Princess Asa Vajda (Steele) is being sentenced to death from accusations of witchcraft. She is tied up and is forced to wear a mask. This mask is made to look like the devil. The towns’ people say that she doesn’t deserve to deceive people with the face she has. So they force the face of the devil on her, which they see as her true face. Unfortunately, shame isn’t the only pain when wearing this mask. There are nails all through out the inside of it, facing towards the face. The executioners force it on her and hammer it in to her head. Princess Asa’s prince also shares this same unfortunate fate.
   Right before the princess is executed she yells that she will never really die and her descendents will have to pay for what has been done to her. Princess Asa makes sure to keep this promise. One century after this happens it is rumored that she took her anger out on the present princess. It’s now exactly two centuries after the day the prince and princess were killed. The living Prince Vajda is very uneasy and scared. Later, the ghost of the prince attacks him and he just barely makes it out alive. No one believes him and they think he is sick. Princess Katia (Steele) remembers seeing two doctors earlier that day, Dr. Kruvajan and Gorebec.
   Dr. Kruvajan really erupted the situation. He was looking through the ancient castle where the prince and princess were buried. He accidentally breaks the glass. This brings Princess Asa back to life for two reasons. The first reason is that a cross was right in front of the window. This was thought to be the thing that was trapping her inside. The other reason this brought her back was when Dr. Kruvajan broke it, he cut his arm on the glass. This blood dropped on to Princess Asa and gave her enough strength to come back.
   Dr. Kruvajan is sent to help the supposedly sick prince. He tries to help him, but with no luck in the end. The ghosts refuse to rest, they aren’t backing down on their mission. They start killing the family and even the doctor. When he is missing, his assistant tries to find him. Once it becomes evident that the myths are true, Dr. Gorebec tries to save Princess Katia. The question is weather he is really capable of this though. He is trying to work against revenge, the super natural, and destiny. That is quite an unfair battle for a young man.

4. Acting

   Good 3.0

   Barbara Steele shined in this movie as the two different princesses. Princess Asa represented death and imposed fear through her anger. As Princess Katia she showed a sort of innocence. It was appropriate for her to play both of these roles. Not just because they are supposed to look alike since she is the others decendent, but because it follows Asa’s last words that she can’t die. In some respects a version of her is still living through Princess Katia.

5. Male Stars Good 3.0

6. Female Stars Good 3.0

7. Female Costars Good 3.0

8. Male Costars Good 3.0

10. Film

    Good 3.0

    This is not the most mind boggling plot, but it works. If someone used a similar plot today, it would be one of those weaker horror movies. The darkness and gothic style really make it seem authentic. It is able to pass for a believable movie. The dark theme is even kept up with the two main characters, which happen to be the protagonist and the antagonist: Princess Asa and Princess Katia. Asa’s darkness show that she represents death and is full of anger. Katia’s dark hair and clothes show that she is lonely, afraid, and hopeless. Since they do look alike this also implies that no matter what happens, Katia is destined for death.

11. Direction Good 3.0

12. Play Good 3.0

13. Music Good 3.0

14. Visuals Good 3.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 3.0

    The most graphic part of the film was when the prince and princess were excecuted. A nailed filled mask emerges in to their faces, killing them and forcing their blood out. Ironically, the most brutal event isn’t done by the antagonist. These towns people who were supposively fighting for good and safety essentially torture these two people and murder them.

17. Sex Erotic 3.0

18. Violence Brutal 3.0

19. Rudeness Profane 3.0

21. Reality

    Surreal 2.3

    Black Sunday has many references to religion. The only reason anyone was even thinking of witchcraft in the first place was due to their religious beliefs. They feared anything they thought wasn’t completely pure. This can be viewed as dramatized effect of something that could have happened in The Salem Witch Trials. Putting it in to a perspective like this, makes it seem more real. In turn it makes you wary of how you judge a person. The worst thing to the towns’ people is the devil so they label and force the princess and prince to look like that. Later as revenge, the ghosts make their victims look the same way. The doctor is even set on fire, which is the image that the ghost thinks he deserves: to burn in hell. Also, when the ghosts come back they are feared and seem unstoppable. However, as soon as someone holds up a cross they are powerless, they can’t even put up a fight any longer. Many horror movies have some sort of a cross in them. The difference is in those they only have a minor effect at the most. The villain continues its’ violence and is proven that it truly is a monster. In Black Sunday, they use the good prevails evil moral, by the sign of Christ being no match for the evil of Satan.

22. Circumstantial Surreal 2.3

23. Biological Surreal 2.3

24. Physical Surreal 2.3