My second Halloween horror movie
recommendation for this year is a classic film from 1963. Directed
by the late, great Mario Bava and known as “The Three Faces of
Fear” in it's native Italy, this movie is an anthology of three
short stories guaranteed to raise the hair on the back of your neck.
As a bonus, the film features Boris Karloff as both the narrator
between segments and as the terrifying vampire Gorcha in the Wurdalak
story.
The American version changes the order
of the three stories, moving the most frightening of them from third
to first, reedits another story changing the plot significantly and
replaces Roberto
Nicolosi's original score with a
lounge tinged soundtrack by Les Baxter. Both versions have their
merits but I recommend the Italian version if you can find it.
Conversely the American version is streaming on Netflix if you don't
want to go to all that trouble. I'm going to assume that you watch
the American version and briefly describe the three stories in that
order.
In “The Drop of Water” a nurse
steals a ring from a dead, old gypsy and quickly regrets it as the
corpse seemingly follows her home and haunts her for her theft. This
segment is absolutely terrifying as the dead lady in question is
quite grotesque especially considering the movie's age. When I saw
this movie as a kid, I had nightmares for weeks. Its short, simple
and utterly effective in conveying a sense of dread and horror. This
was the final short in the Italian version and no doubt sent viewers
out of the theater still shivering. The American version remarkably
begins the movie with this segment, which is a great way to start but
makes the other two shorts seem tame in comparison.
I mean Jesus Christ, wouldn't this scare the SHIT out of you?
The second film is called “The
Telephone” and really had the scissors taken to it by American
International Pictures for the U.S. Release. As written and directed
by Bava, “The Telephone” is a tale of revenge and murder
involving a mobster harassing a woman who was instrumental in getting
him sent to prison. This segment was particularly progressive in
that its female lead is a lesbian. I guess lesbians weren’t “cool”
in the U.S. In 1963 so that element of the story is removed
completely and the film was reedited and dubbed to be a ghost story.
Both versions are effective but either way this is weakest link in
the Black Sabbath chain and is most likely why it was first in the
Italian version.
Finally we have “The Wurdalak”
staring Boris Karloff as an father who went off to do battle with a
vampire and returns home infected with the curse himself. This is a
dark and brilliant spin on the classic vampire story. Karloff's
Gorcha is a dirty, shaggy haired ancient looking creature and has
quite a presence on the screen. Events spiral out of control as one
by one, each family member joins Gorcha as one of the walking dead
and the remaining humans can't bring themselves to destroy their
loved ones. This segment was sandwiched between the other two in the
original version of the movie but in the American version its last.
It works either way but being in the middle probably helped it as the
longest story of the three.
All three films are things of beauty to
look upon. Seriously, they just don't make them like this anymore.
Bava's use of color, camera angles and wonderfully designed sets give
the proceedings a gothic and surreal overtone. You may be familiar
with his directorial debut, Black Sunday (known as The Mask of Satan
in Italy) a wonderful black and white horror movie staring Barbara
Steele. If you enjoyed that then you'll love Black Sabbath as it is
equally lush from a visual standpoint only this time in color.
There's no gore to speak of although you might be surprised by some of what happens in "The Wurdalak" segment. But there's certainly nothing here to compare with modern movies, so this might even be a good choice for
family viewing (with older kids.) In any case, pop a big bowl of pop
corn and get ready for a classic horror movie.
View the Black Sabbath Trailer
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