Black Sabbath

Original title: I tre volti della paura

1963
X
1h 32m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Boris Karloff hosts a trio of horror stories about a stalked call girl, a vampire-like monster who preys on his family, and a nurse who is haunted by her ring's rightful owner.Boris Karloff hosts a trio of horror stories about a stalked call girl, a vampire-like monster who preys on his family, and a nurse who is haunted by her ring's rightful owner.Boris Karloff hosts a trio of horror stories about a stalked call girl, a vampire-like monster who preys on his family, and a nurse who is haunted by her ring's rightful owner.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

15K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 wins & 1 nomination total

Top cast14

Edit

User reviews138

Featured review

7/10

Horror classic full of thrills, chills, and suspenseful by terror maestro Mario Bava

This terrifying film with plenty of vampires , weird deeds and murders is formed by three stories proceeded in some memorably horrific set-pieces : 1) ¨The telephone¨ by author Snyder : A prostitute (Michele Mercier) terrorized in her flat by phone calls from a broken-out inmate (Milo Quesada) receives visit her lover (Lidia Alfonsi). 2) ¨The Wurdalak¨ by Aleksey Tolstoi : In a night of nightmare during the early 1800s , a Russian noble (Mark Damon, usual in Spaghetti Western) and a family (exceptional Boris Karloff, a gorgeous Susy Andersen, and Massimo Roghi) stumble vampires who must kill those love and go after their descendants ; the undead vampires of hell terrorize the house in a orgy of stark horror. 3) ¨The drop of water¨ by Chekhov : In the early 1900s , a nurse (Jacqueline Pierreux, mother of actor Jean Pierre Leaud, 400 blows) steals a ring from a medium dead and she seeks avenge , then a ghastly specter arises , exacting cruel revenge for past robbery.

Bava's second great hit (the first was Black Sunday or Mask of the demon) surprisingly realized with startling visual content and well scripted by Marcello Fondato and Albert Bevilacqua . This omnibus terror is plenty of thrills and chills in glimmer color and in lurid paste with sensational results . This genuinely creepy tale is photographed by Ubaldo Terzano and Bava himself with magentas , shades of ochre , translucently pale turquoises and deep orange-red reflecting paleness on the victims . Eerie and suspenseful musical score by Roberto Nicolisi , though in American version was composed by Lex Baxter , Corman's usual. The motion picture was stylishly and strikingly shot by Bava , filmed in parallel orbit to those Roger Corman ( Edgar Allan Poe cycle) and produced by American International (James H. Nicholson , Samuel Z. Arkoff) . Bava along with Riccardo Freda are fundamental kings of Italian horror , in fact collaborated deeply among them , as Bava terminated two films of Freda, ¨Il Vampiri¨ and ¨Caltiki¨ and they created the Giallo sub-genre. Rating : Good , acceptable atmospheric direction from genre master MarioBava , this is one more compelling horror ventures in which his camera stalks in sinister style throughout a tale with extraordinary visual skills . A must see for terror buffs.

ma-cortes
Dec 11, 2008
Permalink

Photos197

+ 193

More like this

7.1

6.9

7.1

6.5

6.9

The Girl Who Knew Too Much

7.4

Rabid Dogs

6.6

The Whip and the Body

6.2

Lisa and the Devil

6.2

Planet of the Vampires

5.9

Baron Blood

6.3

Shock

6.3

Hatchet for the Honeymoon

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
This film served as inspiration for the naming of the exceptionally influential doom metal band Black Sabbath. Questioned individually, no two members of the band tell the story quite the same way. The most consistently repeated details are that Geezer or Tony walked past a theatre in 1968 and saw the large crowds lining up to see this film. Black Sabbath, known as Earth at the time, were playing small clubs around Birmingham. When comparing the size of the crowds waiting in line to see this film to attendance at their shows, they came to the conclusion that music that frightens people would sell more tickets. Writing and jamming sessions eventually resulted in a song called Black Sabbath that was such a great change in direction (whilst still retaining their roots in blues, jazz, and soul) that they kept the name for the band and wrote all of their music from that point onward in a similar style.

Goofs
The narration of this film's English-dubbed version claims that "The Wurdulak" was written by Tolstoy and that "The Drop of Water" was written by Chekhov. The first claim is misleading; "The Wurdulak" was not written by Leo Tolstoy, the famous author of "War and Peace", but by minor novelist Alexei Tolstoy. The second claim is completely untrue; Anton Chekhov never wrote a short story titled "The Drop of Water" or any story with a plot resembling that of the so-named segment of this film.

Quotes
Gorca: What's the matter, woman? Can't I fondle my own grandson? Give him to me!

Alternate versions
As documented by Tim Lucas (in Video Watchdog #5), the order of the segments was rearranged by AIP for the English-language release. The original ordering was: "The Telephone," "The Wurdalak," and "The Drop of Water." In addition, "The Telephone" was re-dubbed and slightly re-cut by Bava at AIP's request to create a supernatural angle and disguise the lesbian overtones of the story.