Black Sabbath (1963)

Awards
- 2 wins & 1 nomination total

Top cast14

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Michèle Mercier

Rosy (segment "Il telefono")

Lidia Alfonsi

Mary (segment "Il telefono")
(as Lydia Alfonsi)

Boris Karloff

Gorca (segment "I Wurdalak")

Mark Damon

Vladimir D'Urfe (segment "I Wurdalak")

Susy Andersen

Sdenka (segment "I Wurdalak")

Massimo Righi

Pietro (segment "I Wurdalak")

Rika Dialyna

Maria (segment "I Wurdalak")
(as Rica Dialina)

Glauco Onorato

Giorgio (segment "I Wurdalak")

Jacqueline Pierreux

Helen Chester (segment "La goccia d'acqua")

Milly

The Maid (segment "La goccia d'acqua")
(as Milly Monti)

Harriet Medin

Neighbor (segment "La goccia d'acqua")

Gustavo De Nardo

Police Inspector (segment "La goccia d'acqua")

Milo Quesada

Frank Rainer (segment "Il telefono")
(uncredited)

Alessandro Tedeschi

Coroner (segment "La goccia d'acqua")
(uncredited)

Did you know

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Trivia
This film served as inspiration for the naming of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath. In 1968, the band (then called Earth) was playing a small club in Birmingham, England. Across the street was a movie theater showing the film Black Sabbath. The band noticed that more people were in line to see the movie than were to see the band. Realizing that "horror sells tickets" they decided to change the band's name to Black Sabbath.

Goofs
The narration of this film's English-dubbed version claims that "The Wurdulak" was written by Tolstoy and that "The Drop of Water" was written by Chekhov. The first claim is misleading; "The Wurdulak" was not written by Leo Tolstoy, the famous author of "War and Peace", but by minor novelist Alexei Tolstoy. The second claim is completely untrue; Anton Chekhov never wrote a short story titled "The Drop of Water" or any story with a plot resembling that of the so-named segment of this film.

Quotes
Gorca: What's the matter, woman? Can't I fondle my own grandson? Give him to me!

Alternate versions
As documented by Tim Lucas (in Video Watchdog #5), the order of the segments was rearranged by AIP for the English-language release. The original ordering was: "The Telephone," "The Wurdalak," and "The Drop of Water." In addition, "The Telephone" was re-dubbed and slightly re-cut by Bava at AIP's request to create a supernatural angle and disguise the lesbian overtones of the story.

Connections
Featured in Hatchet for the Honeymoon (1970)

Mario Bava should not be forgotten.

"Tre volti della paura " is a movie made up of three sketches,linked by Boris Karloff's comments -he plays the lead in the second segment - and all dealing with death following a logical progression:fear of death in the first sketch,some kind of "night of the living dead"cum vampires in the second one and terror around a dead woman in the third.Mario Bava did not need any special effects that mar so many horror films today:his baroque settings (Michele Mercier's flat in the first sketch,the countess's Gothic mansion in the third,and the lunar landscapes in the middle one),his knowing lighting effects,his color research,his incredibly effective use of the depth of field (visually stunning in the final segment)are as impressive today as they were forty years ago and were a strong influence on other Italian directors such as Dario Argento.Worth the price of admission.