Palaest recommended

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

jadavix "Black Sabbath" is, as far as I can tell, the only horror anthology film Mario Bava made.The movie features three stories, as they generally do, introduced by none other than Boris Karloff, who also acts in the second part.The first story, "The Telephone", is about a beautiful woman receiving threatening calls that always start sexual and then turn threatening. The young woman believes the calls are coming from a man she helped put behind bars who has allegedly escaped prison and may be out for revenge, so she calls am estranged friend for help.The second story, "The Wurderlak", set some 100-200 years in the past, and has a young man travelling through an eerie village where he finds, and isn't really that shocked to see, a headless corpse with a dagger sticking in its heart. He removes the dagger, as you do, and stops at the first house he comes to, where he is told that the village is menaced by a vampire-like being called a "wurderlak", and the old man who lives in the house, played by Karloff, is out fighting it. The final, and probably best story is called "A Drop of Water". It's about a nurse who is called to the house of a cat lady who has died. Arriving on the scene, she steals the ring off the corpse's finger, and is then haunted by spooky sounds and apparitions when she returns home."Black Sabbath" is beautifully shot, particularly the second part, with its gothic scenery that reminds the viewer of Bava's previous movie, "Black Sunday". The first two tales are too hard to follow, however, and may bear the marks of studio interference: apparently the girl in the first story is a prostitute and the escaped criminal was her pimp, but those details are absent from this version. The second story starts well, and then suddenly seems to cram a bunch of plot details into one or two scenes, leaving you wondering how you got there so quickly. For example, at first it seemed the young man didn't know any of the people in the house, but about ten minutes later, he behaves as though he has been betrothed to marry her. The ending also didn't really make that much sense.Perhaps because of these details, the first two stories don't really generate any suspense or fear in the viewer. I believe "The Telephone" was edited to remove any mention of prostitution, and "The Wurderlak" had scenes of violence taken out, hence they are confusing and uneven, but it may not be Bava's fault.The last story is the best, and the only one that really made me feel anything like tension. It could be because it's the simplest one.The ending, in which we see Karloff back in his role as master of ceremonies, has one of those shots where the camera pulls back so that we can see the set, other cameras, and stagehands, which is an interesting way to end a horror movie.

qmtv This is the best movie I've seen by Bava. I didn't like Black Lace. Bay of Blood had some decent scenes, but a mess of a story. Five Dolls, was a mess, except for Fenech.I saw the American version, and have not seen the original Italian, which I've read has different plots and scenes. The best story here is the first, The Drop of Water. The acting and suspense is all there. The dead witch/old lady was great.The Telephone, 2nd piece was decent, but was also slow. Maybe the Italian version was much better.The 3rd, "The Wurdalak" with Karloff as a vampire was creepy and had some decent scenes, but it was mostly slow and it died like the undead.I'll rate this as a B-, or 5 or 6 stars. It's worth checking out for a few scenes. I hated the intro of each segment with Boris Karloff, all this takes you out of the movie and into documentary nonsense. I'm not a fan of trilogies. Better to make one long movie. The Drop of Water should have been the movie. Maybe adding some of the telephone nonsense and the vampire tones. Jacqueline Pierreux was the best actress here. Karloff was decent as the vampire, but take out the stupid intro segments. The other actors were decent.I don't know why Bava is praised so much. What is missing from this film is a director. His job here looks like he delivered a product, very mechanical. But where was the direction of the actors, and their interactions? Not much. The reason The Drop of Water works so well here is because it's mostly one actress. A truly great director would have gotten more performance from the actors, not just put up set pieces, add color, set cameras, and yell action.

PimpinAinttEasy Mario Bava writes an apology letter to Pimpin after he learns that Pimpin hated Black Sabbath:Dear Pimpin,I was extremely distressed to learn that an esteemed film critic like yourself did not think much about Black Sabbath. Over the years, I myself have been baffled by the adulation that this film has received. I mean, horror movie fans must be total morons. Hohoho!A lot of these moronic horror movie fans rave about the sets. But frankly, I am ashamed of their gaudiness. I do not remember what I was thinking when I allowed sets with purple doors.I agree that all the actors and actresses who took part in this monstrosity do not deserve to be allowed onto a movie set. Except maybe Boris Karloff who had too much make up on.The first story in the film "Telephone" was conceived by a 10 year old child. And the final story "The Drop of Water" by an 8 year old. Only "The Wurdulak" was written by an adult.You are known to give up easily on directors. But please watch a few more of my films before you give up on me. I long to be appreciated by a man of good taste like yourself, Pimpin.Yours Sincerely,Mario Bava.(4/10)

utgard14 Excellent horror anthology film from Mario Bava with three stories as well as linking segments with Boris Karloff. The first story is "The Drop of Water," about a nurse who steals a ring off the finger of a medium's corpse. If you guessed that won't end well for her, you're right. This is a suspenseful story with fine atmosphere. That corpse is one of the creepiest-looking things I've ever seen on film. The next story, "The Telephone," is about a woman receiving mysterious taunting phone calls. A nice-looking segment, and Michele Mercier is definitely attractive, but this is the weakest of all the stories. That isn't to say it's bad, though. It's interesting enough just not as good as the other two. The final, and best, story is "The Wurdulak," about a family awaiting the return of their father (Boris Karloff) who went out to kill a vampire. When the father returns, he's very different. Karloff is lots of fun in this story as well as the linking segments.This review is mainly for the dubbed American version. The original Italian version differs from the American with the order of the stories changed as well as some violent and suggestive content that was cut for American release. I give both versions the same score because, to me, the differences aren't enough to make one better than the other. "The Telephone" has the most significant changes but remains the weakest story in both versions. The Italian version has a score by Roberto Nicolosi and the American score is by Les Baxter. I preferred the Baxter score personally but I can see where others would prefer Nicolosi's more subtle score. I recommend you try both versions if you have the time. It's a colorful and beautiful-looking film that ranks high on the list of horror anthology movies I've seen. Karloff and Bava fans will love it.