Black Sabbath (1963)

I first saw this in the early nineties on a VHS. Revisited this recently on a blu ray. This film is an anthology of three tales of terror.The first one is about a woman who is stalked by a caller while in her apartment. It is revealed that her ex-boyfriend has escaped from prison n that she was the one responsible for turning him in. Her female friend comes to her apartment to give her company. Nice twist, nice angle.... This segment was OK. It was shot in jus one apartment n the tension is not that high. In the second segment a Vladimir while riding on a long journey discovers a corpse by a river. The corpse is decapitated and has been impaled with a knife. He approaches the nearby house n finds out something weird n sinister about the dead corpse n the killer of the corpse. This is the best segment of mine. The trademark of Bava missing in the earlier segment is covered very well in this one. The Gothic imagery n cinematography! This segment reminded me of Black Sunday. The atmosphere in this segment is laid on thick with winds howling through a purple-lit night, and a roaring log fire illuminating an old wooden peasant's house. The mountains, the valleys n the river is captured very well. The ruined fort/castle was creepy. The atmosphere was so cold that i pulled up my blanket while watching this. The cottage in the middle of nowhere looked straight outta creepy paintings. One of the best part in this segment is Boris Karloff's acting n get up. Very creepy. One very creepy scene has Boris Karloff standing outside a window peeping. The third one is of a nurse who robs a ring while preparing the body of a recently deceased woman who was involved with the occult and seances. A really spooky one.

I was only a year old when this movie came out and about seven years old when I saw it on the Late show.---Yeah! I was one of these sick lil kids that adored monster and horror movies.Black Sabbath is an Italian based movie that has been dubbed into English. I often wondered how the heck Boris Karloff got involved in such a project, but he and the movie don't disappoint with the chills.The movie is composed of three separate stories ala Tales of the Crypt like with the infamous voice of Boris Karloff as part narrator. The first story, A Drop of Water really gave me the coo-hoonies as a kid. It has a Gothic scary atmosphere with the old plot that "crime does not pay" after a nurse steals a dead woman's ring. The second, The Telephone is similar plot but more of revenge from the dead ploy. The third, I Vderlack written by Tolstoy (REALLY, he wrote a vampire story!) staring our own Boris K, is a campy, but creepy vampire tale.So if your up to just some plain chills and thrills or just a Karloof fan---try this, maybe with the lights out and enjoy!

Thanks to this movie I've been able to add the term 'wurdulak' to my vampire lore. Or maybe not. The Wurdulak segment of this movie offers two different interpretations; Boris Karloff's explanation states that it's a vampire that lives on the blood of those they love. In the story itself, it's described as a living corpse that needs blood to survive. And even with that, there are hints of a werewolf connection, and when an already dead boy entreats his mother to open the door of their remote cabin, it's Karloff's character Gorca who's standing there. So there's a shape-shifting element at work as well. So I guess it can be whatever fits your mood, you make the call.The version of the film I caught on Turner Classics had 'The Drop of Water' as it's first segment. A lot of the story dealt with the fear one's own imagination can create when it's running on overdrive. A dripping faucet and bumps in the night made for an effective story that was climaxed by one of the creepiest dead or alive faces you're apt to ever catch on screen, reminiscent of a 'Tales From the Crypt' type horror. The horsefly was a creepy bonus.'The Telephone' rather intrigued me for it's rather garish physical appearance - a bright red body with a black receiver. I wonder if you could have gotten a phone like that back in the day of the dial. All rather moot today, but interesting nonetheless. This story might have borrowed it's concept from an earlier Twilight Zone episode titled "Long Distance Call'. Another TZ story followed this film chronologically with the title 'Night Call', both using telephones to reach out to the great beyond.The Wurdulak episode appeared last in this trilogy with a somewhat expected twist at the end for fans of this kind of stuff. I had to chuckle a bit when Karloff's character picked up the boy portraying his grandson, the kid actually looked scared of him and I don't think he was acting. It reminded me of actress Mae Clark who appeared with Karloff in the original 1931 "Frankenstein". She was so frightened by his appearance that they worked out a little gimmick between them whereby Karloff wiggled his pinkie finger when they were filming together to let her know he was thinking of her.Fans of modern day horror flicks might not get their fill of scares with this picture but for it's era it works pretty well. There appears to be some Hammer Horror inspiration with the first two segments regarding the bright, vivid colors and detailed appointments used in the sets. Karloff fans ought to be satisfied with his role in the final chapter, looking positively creepy while right in his element. Even the horse Vladimir (Mark Damon) rode in on knew enough to get the heck out of there.

Excellent horror anthology film from Mario Bava with three stories as well as linking segments with Boris Karloff. The first story is "The Drop of Water," about a nurse who steals a ring off the finger of a medium's corpse. If you guessed that won't end well for her, you're right. This is a suspenseful story with fine atmosphere. That corpse is one of the creepiest-looking things I've ever seen on film. The next story, "The Telephone," is about a woman receiving mysterious taunting phone calls. A nice-looking segment, and Michele Mercier is definitely attractive, but this is the weakest of all the stories. That isn't to say it's bad, though. It's interesting enough just not as good as the other two. The final, and best, story is "The Wurdulak," about a family awaiting the return of their father (Boris Karloff) who went out to kill a vampire. When the father returns, he's very different. Karloff is lots of fun in this story as well as the linking segments.This review is mainly for the dubbed American version. The original Italian version differs from the American with the order of the stories changed as well as some violent and suggestive content that was cut for American release. I give both versions the same score because, to me, the differences aren't enough to make one better than the other. "The Telephone" has the most significant changes but remains the weakest story in both versions. The Italian version has a score by Roberto Nicolosi and the American score is by Les Baxter. I preferred the Baxter score personally but I can see where others would prefer Nicolosi's more subtle score. I recommend you try both versions if you have the time. It's a colorful and beautiful-looking film that ranks high on the list of horror anthology movies I've seen. Karloff and Bava fans will love it.