An elderly gentleman (Boris Karloff) presents a terrifying trilogy of tales. First up, a greedy nurse steals from the recently deceased, but finds that the dead don't take kindly to thieves. Then, a young woman finds herself terrorized on the phone by an ex-lover she once thought gone. Finally, a nobleman stumbles across a beheaded corpse, and soon thereafter, a worried family whose father has not returned for five days, but who soon may under peculiar circumstances.
Mario Bava's importance to the horror genre can't be denied. Most aficionados cite works such as Black Sunday, Blood & Black Lace, and Planet of the Vampires as essential viewings for fans of Italian horror. He's also played a huge part in Italian cinema's affinity for beautiful women and dark endings. Another feature with such high praise and respect is 1963's Black Sabbath, which yes, did inspire the band of the same name. So in a way, you can thank the Italians for helping give birth to heavy metal! Okay, I admit that sounds stupid. Still, it was either that or resort to making a LOT of jokes based around the band's lyrics and song titles throughout this review.
Reviewing anthology films always tends to be a bit on the difficult side, given that all of the segments could be treated as individual films. Black Sabbath has a lot in common with most anthologies though, despite it predating a majority of my personal favorites. For example, it saves the best and (arguably) most memorable segment for last. I don't think I can recall ANY anthology that hasn't done this though. The first segment, titled "The Drop of Water," felt a tad bit too short for my liking. It relies upon the shock factor with seeing a dried up corpse a tad bit too much, but the quiet tone it sets up before the big "conclusion" does work a bit. I can give high praise for the makeup in this segment too, which looked pretty gosh darn good by 1963's standards.
The second segment, "The Telephone," had a rather underwhelming end, but was otherwise well done and had a great lead actress in the beautiful Michele Mercier. You can also see where films such as When a Stranger Calls and Scream got some of their inspiration from after viewing this segment. The only true downfall of this story was that the conclusion feels underwhelming, at least considering what it was building up to.
As stated above, however, the crowning achievement of Black Sabbath comes with "The Wurdulak," a supernatural tale about a loved one returning not quite the same as they once were. Boris Karloff, in addition to portraying our narrator introducing the stories, stars in this one, and of course, gives a pretty darn creepy performance that makes this segment worth watching, even if you end up skipping the other two. I do wish some of the dialogue hadn't been so schlocky or downright odd ("Can't I fondle my own grandson?!"), but that comes with the territory sometimes. The characters are more well developed, which is most likely due to this segment running the longest. Heck, it doesn't even really LOOK like a 1963 film, though that was due to some exceptional lighting used at just the right time.
By today's standards, Black Sabbath isn't perfect, but it is something worth viewing at least once. Given that the film is going to turn sixty years old next year, and that the final segment can still hold up as a magnificent piece of horror, that is absolutely worth respecting.
Tomorrow, I'll begin my descent into hell with a plethora of sequels within two days, all of which will start with HELLRAISER: INFERNO.
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