Black Sabbath (1963)

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The first one is great, although more falls under the thriller genre, the second is an average vampire story, and the ghost story at the end is lousy. On average ... mediocre. The original title of the film is in Italian, director is also Italian, actors are Italian, French and English, it's written everywhere that the film is Italian, but either I'm crazy or this film was filmed in English and synchronized to Italian, which is so irritating that it can not be described in words. The Italian language does not fit the genre and synchronization makes it completely ridiculous and totally kills the tension of the original story. Why they did this I have no idea, and if someone knows what the matter is, I would be grateful to hear the explanation.6/10

The stories in this anthology, narrated by Boris Karloff, are wonderful. They are full of atmosphere and terror. It is a masterful use of classic stories, presented in a nice way. The acting is excellent and the selection of stories fits the theme of darkness. One of them involves the effects of something that causes a person to kill only those who are the most meaningful to them--their loved ones. Another involves the stealing of a jewel from a psychic which leads to serious circumstances. Often these multi-story films have a single good one and the others are wanting. Here, with the help of Boris Karloff, things move naturally from one to the other, with an implied theme.

"Black Sabbath" made many viewing experiences reemerge from memory: "Gremlins", "The Shining", "Night of the Living Dead", "Scream"… but certainly not "Pulp Fiction". Yet, from what I gathered, this is what inspired Tarantino for the three-part structure of his classic anthology. Well, if only for "Pulp Fiction", we can be glad for "Black Sabbath"' existence. And you know what, I also have the strangest connection with "Black Sabbath". First of all, I'm not really hot about calling it by its American name as for more than almost fifteen years, I referred to it as "The Three Faces of Fear", and I think I should stick to it, if only because it says exactly what the film is about, an episodic journey into horror, while "Black Sabbath" sounds just too distant and 'marketed' to appeal to me and I just love how promising the original title sounds.Now to the personal story; I said fifteen years, but actually, it's only yesterday that I saw the film for the first tim. The thing is that I missed it when it aired on TV but looking at the title and the year of release, 1963, I asked my father if he knew about it. "Are you kidding? This movie gave me nightmares as a kid!" He told me the story about the ring, the one that stuck in his mind, but not how it ended, he couldn't remember. And then something strange happened, which I'm not proud of, I used to tell friends about the film, saying how great it is, and using the 'ring' story as a teaser.I can't count how many times I told the ring story, and when asked about the ending, I said I couldn't spoil it because it was too terrific. Oh no, I'm not proud… and I'm glad that's the only case I can think of, of talking of something I didn't see. That and (what a conscience-relieving review) rating "The Dark Knight" without watching it, but I retracted my vote and to my defense, I was just upset that the film was responsible for "The Godfather" losing its top spot on IMDb Top 250. All right, my first lie has at least one consolation: I made people aware of this film's existence and yesterday, I could finally see if it deserved the publicity I gave to it, or at least the 'ring' story.First of all, are these three-part films captivating, especially when they are from the same director? I grew up with the "Amazing Stories" TV series and I love how the thirty-minute format allows each film to get the essential without wasting time on exposition stuff or pointless sequences, they're straight-to-the-point and imaginative in the same time. And God forbid you didn't like one segment; you know if it ends with the best one, it will be all worth it. And when I saw that the 'ring' was the last one, I wasn't the least surprised, and I just want to start by saying I was almost disappointed it didn't last longer, it was the best segment, which is saying a lot actually.The three plots are rather simple, you can get the idea with a simple sentence: a woman stalked by a mysterious phone caller, a patriarch back from a successful hunt against a zombie-like creature called Wurdulak but who might have become one, and a nurse stealing a ring from a dead woman with psychic abilities (the dead woman, not the nurse). There are plots that were not new in 1963, but what the film lacks in originality is compensated by Mario Bava's operatic and baroque recreation of traditional horror elements, to give you an idea, it's as if Fellini tried to imitate Hitchcock. And I thought the film would be in black and white, there are actually many use of bold and contrasting colors, tones of green, dark and red mishmash in over-decorated, and over- furnished houses, creating an awkward mix between the weird and the mundane. This is a film of explicitly vivid imagery, even in the casting: Michele Mercier, Suzy Andersen and Jacqueline Pierrieux are the female leads and they simply illuminate the screen with their terrified faces, whether to express anxiety, apprehension, resignation or sheer terror when death is coming at you. Bava's kaleidoscope of fear is so bizarrely appealing it instantly earns its place among the classic horror movies with the acting Legend to endorse it. Indeed, you can't praise the film without ignoring the contribution of Boris Karloff and his performance as the ill-fated Wurdalak Grandpa. I know the second part is seen as the weak link, but there's a scene when Karloff is home and we're not quite sure whether he's a monster or not. He keeps a shadow of sympathy floating above his apparently rude manners, so when he wants to fondle with his grandson, the awkwardness is so thick we can choke on it, and this is why the film is efficient, nothing is never obvious until it's too late. But there's more to praise in Karloff's work, and I think it says a great deal about the appeal of the film, from the way Boris the Terrible introduces the three stories, from his delightfully scary close-ups and the over-the-top ominousness of his voice, you can tell the actor has fun playing in this film. And that's exactly what the penultimate shot, what the dead woman's look, what many weird psychedelic visual effects suggest, Mario Bava had fun making this film, and the film is fun, and I'll never believe that there's not a fun side behind the appeal of horror movies."The Three Faces of Fear" is not perfect but it's got style, atmosphere and a sense of self- derision that I'm sure inspired Tarantino, more than the three-part structure. And now, I'm glad I'll finally be able to talk about the film and be genuinely enthusiastic about it.

Hosted by Boris Karloff, three tales of supernatural horror and terror are presented.The good Stories: The Drop of Water-Called to a remote house, a caregiver asked to prep a body for an upcoming ceremony incurs the supernatural wrath of the owner's spirit when she steals the dead woman's prized ring for herself. This here is one of the most chilling and utterly suspenseful entries in the film and perhaps of the genre as a whole. The atmosphere of this one is incredible as the ornate, elaborate house is Gothic splendor that looks even better with all the gorgeous lighting and photography utilized to showcase it all, leaving the setting here effective enough on it's own right before taking into account all the other supernatural action to get into play here. The exploits of the fly buzzing around the woman's finger before becoming a vital part of the torment against her later on, the continuous and nearly incessant dripping water from the faucets and drips of her house where there's the brilliantly atmospheric section of her attempting to turn of everything in the house before it gets to her and there's the masterful sequences in her house of the banging noises and thudding footsteps wandering around after her while being confronted with the lightning storm and that absolutely spectacular first appearance of the ghost woman. Though it does end on a whimper here, this one is still an utterly enjoyable and effective effort.The Telephone-Inundated with strange telephone calls, a woman comes to believe that her jealous boyfriend has come back to haunt her and tries to survive a frightening nightmare with her friend watching her while being assaulted by the madman. This here was quite the enjoyable and satisfying entry here mainly in the way this one really works over the then-burgeoning giallo motifs into a solid and workable variant here by focusing on so many of the lurid tropes of the style so early into the genre's creation. The elaborate set-up of the degenerate killer stalking the beautiful young woman and tormenting her in sexually-explicit actions before going for the kill at the finale, marking quite an impressive and stylized tone here that works rather well with the utterly spectacular amount of atmosphere present. The apartment setting here is quite striking with the clean white space and sensual actions featured, all quite prominent aspects of the style and more than worthwhile enough to make this interesting enough. There's a slightly hokey manner in which the final resolution plays out which isn't all that impressive or enjoyable as it comes off rather familiar in how it plays off, but it's not enough to really hurt this one.The Wurdulak-On the hunt for a deranged killer, a huntsman traveling in the remote woodlands finds the family residing in his chosen shelter are plagued by the very wurdurlak he is chasing and bands together with them to stop him. This here was quite a fun and enjoyable effort that works really well here in the context of the other stories. Not only is this the longest one in here which makes it absolutely more chilling by being able to really sell the change and how it/s affected him overall, from the irrational behavior about his beloved pets to the eerie manner his lifeless eyes continually stare out at everyone and the confusing manner of which he seems to heel from his injuries, this one superbly builds up the feel that something isn't right so well that it scores some great shocks once it starts in on the slaughter of the family. The old- school Gothic-styled pacing and set-up don't hurt either, with this one really making such a strong atmosphere about it through those scenes, the hunting abduction of the grandchild or the effectively eerie and chilling approach in the woods over the bridge that it manages to cultivate a really dynamic and incredible sense of fun even in the finale as it moves into the grand, glorious Gothic- fueled encounter deep in the bowels of the castle dungeon. It does overstay somewhat with it's length coming into play and the characters here show some rather lame actions in order to move this along, but overall it's still quite a bit of fun.Today's Rating-PG-13: Violence and children-in-danger.