Director:
Mario Bava
Cast:
Boris Karloff….Gorca / Himself
Mark Damon….Vladimire d’Urfe
Michele Mercier….Rosy
Lidia Afonsi….Mary
Jacqueline Pierreux…Helen Chester
Starz Home Entertainment presents Black Sabbath. Screenplay by Mario Bava, Alberto Bevilacqua & Marcello Fondato. Running time: 93 minutes. Unrated. Theatrical release: May 6, 1964. DVD released Oct. 23, 2007.
The Movie
This film has to be cool since it inspired a quartet from Birmingham, England to change their name from Earth to Black Sabbath. Although if Ozzy and the boys had seen the film in Italy, we’d be humming “Iron Man” by The Three Faces of Fear. Black Sabbath, the movie, is a horror trilogy which touches upon psycho phone callers, vampire relatives and undead crazy cat ladies. To tie together the three stories, Boris Karloff acts as host and star of the middle segment. Although you might be a bit confused since Karloff only speaks Italian.
“The Telephone” rings for Rosy. Her ex-lover is making harassing phone calls. He’s a recently escaped prisoner. In the era of caller ID and call blocking, we no longer have to worry about such annoying things. Trapped in an era of primitive phone technology, Rosy is stalked by the constant ringing and the threats. In order to get a little relief, her best girlfriend visits. The girlfriend is as creepy as the ex-lover. Turns out she’s angling to be Rosy’s new lover. AIP’s cut for America clipped out all the lesbian moments from the movie. Thank goodness for this Italian cut on the DVD. While Mario Bava does a magnificant job creating terror out of tension. If anyone calls you while watching this DVD, you will jump.
“The Wurdalak” features a family haunted by vampires in the wilderness of Eastern Europe. These bloodsuckers are called Wurdalak. What makes them so special? A female character explains, “The Wardalaks are bloodthirsty corpses. They yearn for the blood of those they loved most when they were alive. The more they’ve loved someone, the more they long to kill them to suck their blood.” The Wurdalak haunting the family is their grandfather played by Boris Karloff. The master of horror looks great as the undead patriarch picking and sucking the relative he loves the most.
“The Drop of Water” has a nurse arrive in the middle of the night to dress the corpse of a former patient. The dead woman was a clairvoyant who died in the middle of a seance. Nobody liked her cause she creeped them out. The nurse relieves the corpse of a stunning blue ring since it won’t be going to a relative. Why hide it in a coffin? However the nurse finds herself stalked by the sound of dripping water and a nasty fly. Is this the nurse’s guilty mind playing tricks? Or has the cat woman’s ghost returned for the stolen ring? The clairvoyant cat lady’s house has a multi-color lighting scheme that looks like the inspiration for Dario Argento’s Susperia.
The epilogue of the film has Karloff give the audience a finally spooky thought before the lights come up. The scene also allows Bava to expose his piece of movie magic that made Karloff look like he’s on horseback. This is a playful ending for such a stressful film.
Black Sabbath doesn’t play up the gore featured on Black Sunday. Instead Bava ratchets the suspense to an extreme of Hitchockian level. None of the films allow you to take it easy. Anthology horror films seem to only have one or two good segments, but Black Sabbath‘s trio are all exceptional. After watching this film you won’t be in the mood to answer the phone, hang with grandpa or steal a ring off a dead woman.
The DVD
VIDEO:
The picture is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The transfer looks fantastic when it comes to the colors.
AUDIO:
The soundtrack is in Italian and mono. The subtitles are in English. Like a Stephen King novel, you’ll have to read to be completely scared. Tim Lucas, editor of Video Watchdog and an upcoming Mario Bava biography, gives insight into the film. He explains how this Italian version differs from AIP’s US edit.
EXTRAS:
A Life In Film: An Interview with Mark Damon (21:00) starts with him explaining how he was “discovered” by Groucho Marx at an amusement park. Damon explains how he helped spark Roger Corman into making House of Usher for AIP. Damon claims that he directed most of Pit and the Pendulum. Damon set up Eastwood for Fistful of Dollars. He discusses his work as producer which includes Oscar nominated pictures. A very informative and entertaining interview with Damon.
International Trailer (3:25) sells the scary and the passionate moments in the movie. It does give away one of the stories. Don’t watch this until you’ve seen the movie.
US Trailer (2:22) opens with Karloff asking if you believe in ghosts. It sells the creeps, but spices it up with the sexy moments.
TV Spot (0:54) has a lot of screaming to let the folks glued to their late night spooky TV show know there’s a new horror in the theaters.
Radio Spot (1:03) welcomes us to an evening of five Karloff movies distributed by AIP.
Posters and Still Gallery has over 60 production stills, lobby cards and posters.
Talent Bios has text histories of Mario Bava and Boris Karloff.
