Black Sabbath

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Thomas V @TomVee 3d For me, this was a fun movie albeit not a great one. It's low budget, cheesy, and campy. It doesn't rise to the level of Black Sunday, but still it's a fun watch. This is not giallo, since it's too early and strays into supernatural, gothic horror territory. But it has the neon colored, heavily stylized lighting of that subgenre. Mario Bava is a master of style, which is evidenced in the ornate set decoration, as well as some very fine cinematography that makes the most of the sets, which are obviously all on a sound stage. This is an anthology, with three vignettes, the first two of which are nothing special, but the third really pulls out all the stops, with overwrought acting, some very attractive Italian actresses, vampires, and the wonderful Boris Karloff himself, who seems to be having a blast. 60 plus years later, the film reads much more tongue in cheek than scary, but that does not spoil it. See more Brant F @destroyfascism Mar 31 A really nice segue between classic Gothic horror and the more contemporary giallo bloodbaths that we all came to love, Black Sabbath sits somewhere between that old school, candlelit dread, all shadows and whispers and creeping rot, and the stylized brutality later perfected by Dario Argento. The film has three separate stories, and yeah, "The Telephone" is the most contemporary, but "The Drop of Water" is the one that sticks with you, the one that gets under your skin and stays there, like it does for most people. Overall, a great historical artifact of horror movies, catching the genre right as it’s shifting gears and getting meaner. See more Hector I @Hector1184BC Mar 6 The first story (Il telefono) concentrates tension in a woman’s apartment, foreshadowing giallo with voyeurism and subtle sexual tension, though the jazzy soundtrack sometimes disrupts the rhythm. The second (I Wurdalak) adapts Tolstoy, with a young noble in a cursed countryside; pink, green, and blue lighting, Gothic ruins, and the father’s possible wurdalak create a tense, dreamlike, "survival horror" atmosphere. The third (La goccia d’acqua) is the most effective: a terrifying corpse, a Gothic palace, and the dripping water motif make the atmosphere extraordinary. Small Gothic details — lighting, architecture, window crosses — unify the three tales. Overall, the first two are solid, and the third excellent, giving 3/5 for the first two and 3.5/4 overall. See more Joel H @786Joel Oct 14 While Black Sabbath’s biggest legacy may be the heavy metal band that appropriated its name, it’s actually an entertaining movie. Well, it’s actually three short horror films in one. “Drop of Water” is by far the strongest & scariest story, and images from that tale will be haunting me for a while. The plot for "The Telephone" felt slightly disjointed and confusing, though Michèle Mercier gives a compelling performance. And "The Wurdulak" wandered a little too slowly for my tastes and didn’t have a satisfying ending. Black Sabbath may be uneven, but it’s worth watching, especially for that one segment. See more Kalissa H @kali_416 Aug 27 The telephone was the best followed by a drop of water and the wurdulak. See more Steven M @RT67981172 02/26/2025 The first tale will give you nightmares. See more Read all reviews

Black Sabbath

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