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Black Sabbath
List Price: $19.97
Available from Amazon
$7.99
on 12-7-2008
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Features
Actors: Boris Karloff, Michèle Mercier, Jacqueline Pierreux, Mark Damon
Directors: Mario Bava
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Language: Italian
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Number of discs: 1
Rating: 
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
DVD Release Date: October 23, 2007
Run Time: 86 minutes
Average Customer Review:
  (77 customer reviews)
Reader Reviews
This review is from: Black Sabbath (DVD)
One of the best Italian horror films ever made, director Mario Bava's 1963 movie BLACK SABBATH (Italian title: I TRE VOLTI DELLA PAURA) is actually a delicious trilogy of stories, each different in timbre and texture, but each a masterful atmospheric study in unmitigated fear. In the first short, entitled "The Telephone," a contemporary (circa 1960s) woman is taunted by a series of bizarre and alarming phone calls. But things get really interesting when she learns who it is that's been calling. (Warning: Some viewers may be put off by the lesbian subtext of this story.) "The Wurdalak," the second entry, is an eerie variation on the vampire legend that is based on the Aleksei Tolstoy novella THE FAMILY OF THE VOURDALAK (SEM'YA VURDALAKA). The action takes place in what appears to be medieval Europe, and the celebrated Boris Karloff (alas, with his dialogue dubbed in Italian) turns in an excellent performance as Gorca, the patriarch of a peasant family. When Gorca returns from assisting in the pursuit and destruction of a Wurdalak--a vampire of sorts that is compelled to feast only upon its own loved ones--his family suspects that he's not quite the man he used to be.... Purportedly an adaptation of story by Chekhov, "A Drop of Water" is the last entry of the trilogy, and it is unquestionably the creepiest. Set in a Victorian manor house, it involves a private nurse who steals a ring from her recently deceased charge and is subsequently haunted by the vengeful corpse. Or is she? The acting is good, the sets are sufficiently eerie, the stories are well written and creepy, and the women are pretty. But first and foremost, BLACK SABBATH is a superior horror film due to Bava's great vision and direction. He knows what it takes to scare people, and it is his use of stark yet simple imagery, unusual juxtaposition of sounds, and sometimes tenebrous lighting that generates genuine goose bumps and psychological jitters. (Your skin will crawl every time you remember the image of that corpse with the empty, unblinking stare from "A Drop of Water.") Extant copies of the film are in one of two forms. One presents the film as originally intended (and released in Europe) by the filmmakers. The dialogue is completely dubbed in Italian (with English subtitles available), the stories have not been edited by anyone other than the director and his crew, and the three stories as a whole are vignetted by a Boris Karloff preface and epilogue. However, the other version presents the film after it was vitiated by its U.S. distributor, American International Pictures. In that one, the stories have been edited (one to the point of being unintelligible) and their relative order rearranged, and inappropriately witty intros (featuring Karloff) have been tacked on to each. Also, an English soundtrack has been added, one that was not created with any input from Bava or the original scriptwriters. Until recently, the AIP re-dubbed re-cut was the only version of the film readily available to American audiences. Though not a totally un-watchable film in AIP's butchered format, it is simply not the masterpiece that Bava's original is. With that in mind, it is recommended that, if at all possible, viewers avoid the AIP version altogether and watch only the original Italian version. And please note, then, that this review refers to that original release--with English subtitles--which IS the version now being offered on the Image Entertainment DVD. And speaking of the DVD, it is a bit short on true bonus features, and it is possible to see some signs of wear on the print that was used. Still, this widescreen digital transfer looks good overall, with rich and vivid colors and crisp focus. Most importantly, it is fantastic opportunity for American horror fans to finally see--and own!--this excellent scary film in the form in which its creators intended.
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Black Sabbath
List Price: $19.97
Available from Amazon
Price: $7.99
Updated on 12-7-2008.
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