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Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: ONE OF BAVA'S BEST....
Review: A not to be missed trilogy of horror tales hosted by Boris Karloff and done by Mario Bava. As atmospheric and colorful as you could ask for with the traditional Euro flavor that gives it that off-beat intensity not often found in American films. The stories are diverse: 1.)"The Telephone"--the sexiest with a woman being terrorized by phone calls from a supposedly "dead" lover; 2.)"The Wurdelak"--the most disturbing with a Russian mountain family plagued by an unusual and unforgiving heritage of vampirism starring Karloff himself; and 3.) "The Drop of Water"--the scariest with a turn-of-the-century nurse stealing a ring from an old woman's corpse who happens to be a witch. This is the widescreen European version and is excellently transferred to DVD. The women are beautiful and the thrills are plentiful. A must for any serious horror afficianado.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good job Image!
Review: People who complain about the average picture & sound quality of Image's Mario Bava Collection should be aware that some of these negatives had mushrooms growing on them. As for the movie...
This is, IMO, the best horror anthology ever. It is beautifully shot by Mario Bava (Mirroring the Poe/Corman productions of the time), has effective tales ("The Telephone" was hugely ripped-off by movies like "Scream" and "When A Stranger Calls", and "The Drop Of Water" is scary as hell, even for today), and nice music (Which is basically a reworked version of the "Black Sunday" music.
Image presents this gem in it's original European version, which is 10 times better than the terrible American version that A.I.P released in US teathers back in 1963. Altrough the American verion IS a good movie, it had the following list of "What you should not do while editing a movie":
-Gore and shocking images were cut.
-The stories were rearrenged, making the movie start with the strongest tale (In anthologies, the stronger tale should always be the last one).
-The "Telephone" segment was turned from a sensual suspenseful short thriller to a cheesy ghost story because it had some lesbian sub-plot (Coudn't they just change the lesbian thing on the dubbing?).
Now, it did have some good points:
-Extra-footage in "The Telephone" segment involving a man and his dog.
-Extra introductions by Kalloff.
Kalloff fans will be disapointed to know that the movie is presented in Itallian only, but I prefer it this way than with the poor English dubbing (See the "Black Sunday" DVD to see how "good" Italians dubbed their films in English). Besides, the american version of this movie should have never existed. It's just like removing nudity from Rodan paintings.
Picture: Good. There is a lot of spectacles, but the piscture looks great with very strong colors and detailed fragments.
Sound: Average. It's 1.0, but I wasn't expecting Dolby Digital 5.1. Good for a 40 year old movie.
Extras: Good for such a forgotten film. Liner Notes by Tim Lucas (Excellent ones, by the way), a trailer (That gives away the whole thing and should not be seen before the actual movie), and a large still gallery. Also, a bio on Bava and a Karloff filmography.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: It's in Italian Folks - No Karloff Voice!
Review: The best of the stories is "The Wurdulak". I couldn't enjoy it because the DVD is in Italian and dubbed in English. Without the SOUND of Karloff's voice, the D-V-D is a D-U-D for me!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Bava's best and why
Review: For those not familiar with Bava let's just call him the king of atmosphere(strange lighting, stylish shots, haunting music, hard to forget visuals). But it is in Black Sabbath that he actually shows most of his strengths of his movies without most of the weaknesses of foreign horror movies(bad plot, bad acting, dumb story). This is the sole reason why I would recomend Black Sabbath to someone who has not seen his work yet. The stories being short and taken by good authors helps greatly in the plot being simple and not bad. The three stories (The Telephone, The Wurdlac, and A Drop of Water) are all excellent with The Telephone about a vengeful ex-lover of a woman being harrased by telephone being possibly the weakest but still good and A Drop of Water with a nurse who pays the price for stealing from a dead psychic being the best.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Scariest Movie I have ever seen
Review: I have attempted to watch this movie several times and have not been successful. DRIP OF WATER gave me nightmares! Now I am an adult and am trying to get this sold out video, but must say I am nervous!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: One of the scariest movie moments ever!
Review: The terrifying vignette entitled "The Drip of Water" is a must-see horror classic. The overall poor production values and marginal acting actually enhance the atmosphere, and there is at least one totally heart-stopping, curl-your-toes scream near the end. Campy and even a little weird, but as much fun as one can have watching an old horror movie.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I finally got to see all of this movie
Review: Back in '63,when i was 9 years old, mommie dearest dropped me off at our neighborhood theater to see BLACK SABBATH. About 10 minutes after the picture started I mad a frantic dash for the exit; I had never been so frightened by a movie in my life. The movie opened with Boris Karloff introducing three tales of terror. The first one was called "A Drop of Water". It concerned a woman who gets a phone call late at night; she is asked to go prepare a corpse for burial. When she arrives, she is greeted by a spooked housekeeper who is bababling about a witches, evil and dying while in a trance. The coprse is an awful looking thing that resembles a cheap doll with most of it's substance sucked out; and it grins with an evil, knowing smile. On the corpse's finger there is a ring the woman wants. After she steals it, the coprse's glare seems to be saying to the woman that "YOU REALLY SHOULD NOT HAVE DONE THAT". During all this a glass of water is overturned and Mario Bava's camera focuses on the dripping water. Once she gets home she is bothered by the sound of dripping water which creeps her out because it sounds like the water in the witches apartment. Then the lights go out. When she catches a glimpse of the corpse in her apartment I ran for the exit as fast as my legs would carry me. Last night I was able to watch the rest of the movie. Although the movie didn't scarce me as bad this time, I was able to appriciate how well it was made. IMAGE entertainment presents the origianl Italian version with English subtitles. (It's strange to see Boris Karloff dubbed into Italian). The order of the movies have changed. The picuture is widesreened and sharp; audio is excellent. "A Drop of Water" by far the best story of the trio. It's full of atmospheric mystery with images that are the stuff nightmares are made of and is the best thing Mairo Bava ever did. There are two other stories which are good but not as effective. The first has a hot looking Italian babe in plauged by threatening phone call. The second has Boris Karloff as a Wurderlock which is a vampire. It's scary with great visuals but a bit slow. But "A Drop of Water" is so good, this DVD would be an excellent choice.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great vampire episode!
Review: Aaah, it's a Mario Bava movie! That's always a guarantee for visual pleasure. And that's
exactly the way with this film. "The Wurdalak" is one of three stories from his well-known film "Three faces of fear/Black Sabbath".
The two other episodes aren't of any interest by vampiric means, but this one is great!! Featuring horror legend Boris Karloff
(Frankenstein), dimmed in blue colors, it tells a tragic tale about love beyond the grave. Very stimulating snack for more!...

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Very enjoyable with beautiful women . . .
Review: This DVD is rated 3 stars because the soundtrack is very, very low in volume. The picture is very good -- not superb, but it's a very good presentation by Image Entertainment.

Be sure that you take note: this film is in Italian language only. That did not bother me nearly as much as having to blast my speakers up at full volume in order to hear the DVD. I would have given the DVD 4 stars, possibly 5 stars if it had better sound and if all three episodes were top notch.

What I really like about the Bava films are the women. Once again, he has sexy, beautiful women that are very provocative. Their costumes are usually revealing which is more sensual than today's nude scenes. If you don't get excited by the way Bava films women, check your pulse.

"The Telephone" and "The Drop of Water" are both excellent episodes. "The Telephone" is the sensual one, a short movie that will make you smack your lips. "The Drop of Water" is horrifying and you'll shrink back during the conclusion of this DVD.

"The Wurdulak", alas, is my least favorite of the three as it has only one absolutely chilling scene. Again, the women look splendid but that is really the only benefit.

I'm really glad I purchased this DVD [...]. I will probably play "The Telephone" and "The Drop of Water" to death, so it's a good thing DVD's last forever!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: BLACK SABBATH - BORIS KARLOFF
Review: WHEN SCARY MOVIES WERE SCARY. KARLOFF IS BRILLIANT. THE MOVIE IS BEAUTIFUL, THE COLOR EXCELLENT, THE FEEL & TEXTURE OF THE FILM IS WHAT ALL HORROR MOVIES SHOULD BE. AN EXCELLENT YEAR FOR THIS MOVIE. WATCH THIS ONE WITH THE FAMILY!


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