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

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User reviews138

Featured review

Karloff is Wonderful!

This is an anthology film with three stories, totally unrelated introduced by a rather aged, dignified Boris Karloff. Karloff introduces each with great savvy and a generous dose of wit and humour. All three stories were directed by Italian horror specialist Mario Bava, whose use of the camera was legendary and unique. The first story was based on a story by Chekov called "The Drop of Water" and it is the best of the three. This little story about a nurse that steals a ring off the body of a witch, having been warned not to, is one of the scariest scenes ever to be filmed. The second story about a killer and a phone is adequate. The third story, starring Karloff as a Wurdelak...or vampire..is very good. It has plenty of atmosphere, and is the only film in which Boris ever played a vampire. All in all, Black Sabbath is a good film. It shows the talent that Bava had for taking fairly ordinary situations in life into horriffic ones.

BaronBl00d
Aug 19, 2000
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Storyline

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Did you know

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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.