Black Sabbath

Rating:
Summary: BUY AMERICAN!
Review: The American version besides being absolutely the best version of BLACK SABBATH is also the original. Despite what the editorial reviewer says this movie was originally filmed in English. Don't believe me? Turn the sound down and read their lips. Taking a movie that was acted in one language and then dubbing it into another language is what I call "butchered". And Boris Karloff just doesn't seem the same dubbed and subtitled. And the butchering doesn't end there... They also changed the music and sound effects taking away much of the film's classic horror atmosphere. (BIG MISTAKE!) They changed the order of the stories which didn't seem to work as well. And they chopped out all of the funny Twilght Zone type intros that Karloff did for each story. I like the intros and missed seeing them. For all these reasons I don't recommend buying the widescreen Italian version. Get the real one. That's the 5 star Black Sabbath.

Rating:
Summary: "Drop of Water" in the dark is tough to beat.
Review: As a young boy living in American Fork, Utah I remember seeing "Black Sabbath" on Nightmare Theater sometime around 1965-66. The only story of the trilogy I remembered was "The Drop of Water," and even that was vague in my memory now over thirty years later. But recently on AMC I saw a short clip from "The Drop of Water" and a flood of memories came back to me. I immediately went online and found a copy of "Black Sabbath." A week later I gathered my four sons around the tube to watch this classic. Admitedly, "The Telephone" and "The Wurdalack" did not scare any of us too much (although from an artistic perspective they capture a mood and ambiance seldom duplicated in recent years.) But with the presentation of "A Drop of Water" no one made a sound. When it ended, I asked the boys what they thought (ages 19, 17, 15, 11) and they were speechless. The had never been so engrossed in a simple plot. What a refreshing feeling to know that we can still be horrified without profanity, nudity, multi-million dollar special effects, or gallons of blood. It is a shame that virtually no directors today understand how to make a truely scary movie. I leave the theater again and again frustrated and angry that producers and directors today are so limited in their imagination and technical expertise that they feel they have fill the screen with ridiculous monsters, naked cheerleaders, and tidal waves of blood. Much like the original "The Haunting" this movie reflects a time when audiences were allowed to use their imagination instead of being assaulted with ridiculously poorly-made tripe like we too often see today. If you want goosbumps that will last a long time get a copy of "Black Sabbath" and watch "A Drop of Water." IN THE DARK!!!!

Rating:
Summary: horror and literature well values!
Review: this film was abit strange, the narrator was Karloff him self and he told us about three horror episode, and the result is brain melting and if you are watching this on the rainy day alone.

Mario Brava was a very good italian director especially in the horror films during the 60's. Thats why I said that the old italian or british hammer horror films were much much better than the hollywood cheap modern scray tales. I said well the old british and italian horror films are much better than the modern hollywodd one, because the stories had a full classical literary meaning and the interpretation was absolutely excellent, which the modern Hollywood scarry films are not interrested in it.

Rating:
Summary: SCREAM
Review: I don't think that we are fully aware of the luck we have today to rediscover the movies of Mario Bava in the DVD standard. Only Jackie Chan and maybe Jean-Claude Van Damme have had until now the honour to see their almost complete filmographies being digitalized. I still remember the numerous hours I've spent in fly markets in order to find horrible VHS copies of the movies of the italian maestro.

So thank you Image and Tim Lucas for presenting today BLACK SABBATH aka THE THREE FACES OF FEAR in a sumptuous copy. Just look at these scenes filmed under a psychedelical lightning, really astonishing. Each three segments is a pure marvel. " The Telefon " is a lesson of cinema by a director with no budget but with thousands of ideas. You will discover how to create uneasiness and terror in a locked room with the sole power of sound and images. Great job of french starlet Michèle Mercier also.

The second segment - The Wurdulak - is a little gothic masterpiece with Boris Karloff as a hungry father looking for blood. Count how many scenes or ideas have inspired today horror director who - one must admit it - haven't invented anything. In the last segment - The Drop of Water - , Mario Bava used a mask created by his own father that is really very disturbing. Beware, Rob Bottin and others...

In short, this movie is essential for any serious movie lover's collection and I don't think that the italian version presented could be an argument to avoid this DVD. With the movies of Mario Bava, you can't speak of an original version and dubbed versions that are less authentic. Bava used in the same movie italian, french and american actors who didn't understand each other and spoke their own language during the shooting. So, in my opinion, the italian version is as much interesting as the american version. OK, Boris Karloff is dubbed in italian but in " The Telefon ", Michèle Mercier was clearly dubbed and nobody is arguing.

A DVD zone your library.

Rating:
Summary: ONLY GOT BETTER
Review: IT WAS GREAT TO SEE THIS CHILDHOOD FAVORITE IN IT'S ORIGINAL VERSION. ORIGINAL AS IN RUNNING ORDER AND IN ITALIAN. IT'S LOST NONE OF IT'S IMPACT WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES (ALTHOUGH I MISS BORIS' VOICE) OR THE RESHUFFLING OF THE 3 STORIES BACK TO THEIR CORRECT ORDER. THE MUSIC STILL STANDS OUT AS A GREAT HORROR S/T (AVAILABLE ON CD!!!). IT WAS REALLY INTERESTING TO SEE THE TELEPHONE BEFORE IT WAS HACKED UP TO MAKE THE KILLER A GHOST FOR AMERICAN AUDIENCES (IN ADDITION TO DELETING THE LESBIAN SUBPLOT). THE HUMOROUS ENDING WAS A NICE TOUCH. FOR BEING FILMED BACK IN '63, THESE WERE SOME PRETTY HOT EUROBABES. A GREAT ADDITION TO MY GROWING DVD COLLECTION OF FAVORITES.

Rating:
Summary: A CHILDHOOD FAVORITE
Review: THIS FILM IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE CHILDHOOD HORROR MOVIES THAT DID NOT STAR ONE OF THE UNIVERSAL MONSTERS. AND TO THINK IT WAS IN COLOR (I RECALL WATCHING IT LATE AT NIGHT ON AN OLD B&W SET IN MY ROOM). BORIS KARLOFF IS EXCELLENT AS THE NARRATOR OF THESE 3 TALES AND THE STAR OF THE 3rd TALE, THE WURDULAK. MY THORN EMI/HBO/ORION COPY OF THIS VIDEO HAS A RUNNING TIME OF 99 MINUTES WHILE THE VCI VIDEO LISTED HERE IS ONLY 96 MINUTES. THOUGH THIS AMERICAN VERSON IS SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT FROM MARIO BAVA'S EUROPEAN VERSION, IT STILL EVOKES FOND MEMORIES OF WHAT A GOOD HORROR FILM COULD DO IN TIME BEFORE THE SPECIAL EFFECTS DRIVEN PICTURE REARED IT'S UGLY HEAD. NOT TO BE MISSED. THANK YOU MARIO. THANK YOU BORIS.

Rating:
Summary: a true classic!! but don't watch the trailer!!!!
Review: No explicit gore. No screaming tenagers. Just a truly terrific, old fashioned horror movie full of atmosphere and great storytelling especially in the "Drop of Water" segment. It's truly chilling even after all these years.I highly recommend this movie. But please don't watch the trailer included in the DVD version before seeing the movie, it gives away the whole film!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: ANOTHER CLASSIC FROM THE MASTER OF HORROR
Review: One of Mario Bava's best films comes to DVD in the way he originally intended it, with the stories in their proper order.The print may be a bit scratchy, but it is so sharp and colourful it doesn't matter. If you sit through the mediocre first story, you'll be rewarded with two of the most stunningly haunting and beautiful ghost stories ever shot. So go on, then- BUY IT NOW.....WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

Rating:
Summary: THE DROP OF WATER... BY FAR THE SCARIEST EPIOSODE
Review: The Drop of water is the scariest Segment.The story was scary and the dead Womans face was so scary and horrible.I think the woman who was going to prepare her for burial should of left the dead womans ring alone.The first time i saw this story i was eating breakfast and getting ready for school.I mean man did it scare me half to death!!!!!!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Black Sabbath
Review: It's a shame. One of the scariest movies ever made, and it'snot available in English. I haven't purchased the English subtitled version because I'm not interested in that. It's not the Black Sabbath I grew up with. Very disappointing.