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- Black Sabbath - US DVD - 

"Black Sabbath" is a film which contains three distinct tales of terror. This 1963 
Italian-made movie was originally titled "3 Faces of Fear". Two prominent veterans 
of the horror genre are involved in this flick. Mario Bava ('Hercules Unchained,' 
'Black Sunday') directs. 
Boris Karloff ('Frankenstein,' 'The Black Cat') is the host and also appears in one 
of the tales.
"The Telephone" is the first segment. A beautiful young woman is terrorized by a 
caller who can see her every move. This story contains a fair, but not overwhelming, 
level of suspense. A pretty good twist is also worked into the plot. For an early 
1960s film, this one has strong sexual overtones. No actual nudity is shown, but Bava 
pushes this as far as possible. As I understand it, some of these scenes were edited 
out of the original release.  
Boris Karloff stars as 'Gorca' in "The Wurdulak." This tale is my favorite of the 
three. I am somewhat biased as Karloff is my favorite actor. That is the only reason 
why I like this one better then the other two. 'Gorca' has left his family to hunt 
down a 'Wurdulak.' The translation of "Wurdulak" is "a Blood Thirsty Corpse." The 
story centers on the family's fear of the mysterious 'Wurdulak.' At times the plot 
is weak. For instance we find out at the beginning of the tale that Gorca must return 
in five days. We are never told the relevance of why. Does that really matter?  
In a full-length film it might have, but not necessarily under these circumstances.  
Karloff gives one of his most menacing performances. A few portions of the tale are
actually kind of chilling. Some of the sets seem to have found their way from Roger 
Corman films of the same time period.  
"The Drop of Water" is the third installation. A nurse is summoned late one night. 
She is to dress an elderly Countess for her funeral. The Countess died during a 
seance. The nurse gets a little greedy and steals a ring from one of the dead woman's 
fingers. This one is a slow-paced psychological thriller with supernatural overtones.
As the story progresses we are not completely sure if the dead woman's ghost has 
returned, or if guilt has gripped the nurse's mind.
Bava balances all three of the stories. None of them dominates the film. All have 
their own character, strengths, and weaknesses. The decision to incorporate three 
stories into this film was a wise one. I strongly doubt that any of the three had 
enough to become a full length film. None seemed to be extremely well written.  
Their brevity helped to keep most of the flaws from being fully noticed. 
This film has one major mistake. To me it is a big one. The film is only available 
in English subtitles. Think about that for a second. Boris Karloff's voice is dubbed.  
His character speaks in Italian like all the other actors. Karloff is not only a 
great actor. He also has a great voice. Having at least his portion of the film 
spoken in English with Italian subtitles would have brought out even more of his 
performance.
"Black Sabbath" is far from a masterpiece. It is also not a bad movie at all. The 
diversity of the three stories gives just about any horror movie fan something to
chew on.
The DVD has a lean collection of special features. Available are a Mario Bava Bio
and Filmography, a Filmography of Boris Karloff, Photos and Poster Gallery, and a 
Theatrical Trailer.

Reviewed By Scal Williams

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