| Black Sabbath (1963) |
|---|
| Director: | Mario Bava |
| Writers: | Mario Bava, Alberto Bevilacqua, and Marcello Fondato |
| Starring: | Boris Karloff, Mark Damon, and Michele Mercier |
 |
The Plot: Black Sabbath is an anthology horror title that tells three separate stories. The first one told is “The Drop of Water.” This story tells of a Victorian-era housekeeper who is brought in to take care of a deceased fortune teller. As she goes about her job, she notices a fancy piece of jewelry that she intends to steal. When she does, she finds that she will have a night of true terror ahead of her. The second story is “The Telephone.” In this story, we are introduced to a modern woman who is contacted via the phone by a former lover who is supposed to be dead. The third story is “The Wurdalak.” Our final story tells of a nobleman who travels around Russia before finding a very peculiar family living in a cottage. As this family awaits the return of their father, it seems that they are all worried that he will return as a Wurdalak, a vampire. When he arrives, he is pale and quick to aggression, but they decide to wait the night out and see if it is their true father who has returned to them. This turns out to be a grave mistake. |
| The Review |
|---|
)
)
)
)
It is unfortunate that the movie begins with “The Drop of Water,” because it is absolutely the best and most memorable story of the three. Featuring the visual motif of a shriveled up elderly fortune teller, her face is enough to send shivers down the spine of most viewers. Why the folks at AIP thought this was a good opener for the movie completely baffles my mind. This sequence is a closing segment if ever there was one. Building on a tremendous amount of suspense and featuring the most outrageous lighting in the film, “Drop of Water” is actually frightening. When the elderly woman, whose face looks like a distorted plastic doll, stares directly into the camera, it becomes obvious that this is the sequence that audiences will remember. This is the one that will prevent the kids from being able to fall asleep. Although I do not intend to bury the other pieces of this anthology, all three are pretty solid, but “Drop of Water” is a nightmarish trip into the bizarre and it is certainly a big part in why this movie is still so fondly remembered.
)
)
)
)
| The Conclusion |
|---|
