Black Sabbath

Bava’s finest film – a trilogy of suspense and the supernatural – inspired legendary heavy metal outfit Black Sabbath to use the name for their band after hearing about the film!

Black Sabbath (aka The Three Faces Of Fear) is a horror anthology film originally released in 1963, comprised of three short films: ‘The Drop Of Water’, ‘The Telephone’, and ‘The Wurdalak’. In the Italian DVD/Blu-ray release version, the order is different than in the American one, and also with a different film score.

THE DROP OF WATER
In Victorian London, nurse Helen Chester (Jacqueline Pierreux) is called to a large house to prepare the (not entire convincing looking) corpse of an old lady, a medium. As she proceeds with her preparations, she notices a sapphire ring on the hand of the deceased, and – momentarily overcome with greed – steals it. Whilst pulling the ring off the finger, she accidentally tips over a glass of water, with drops splashing across the floor. She is also assailed by a fly buzzing around her head. Not one for being interrupted in her job, she quickly finishes it and then returns to her East End flat.
A short while later, the lights begin to flicker, and Helen hears the sound of dripping water. Later still, the buzzing of a fly can be heard, and finally, the corpse of the dead medium appears in various places of Helen’s apartment. When the corpse moves towards her, Helen goes half-mad with fear, begs for forgiveness, then strangles herself imagining the medium doing it. The next day, the concierge finds her dead on the floor. The investigator and pathologist on the scene conclude that Helen literally died of fear, and the pathologist notes that there are no signs of violence on the dead nurses’ body, with the exception of a bruise mark on her finger where a ring obviously was pulled off…

THE TELEPHONE
Set in contemporary Paris (speak, 1963 when the film was made), the story concerns high-class call girl Rosy (Michele Mercier), who returns home to her lush apartment after a night out. Shortly after, the telephone starts ringing, and a mysterious voice threatens to kill her. Rosy receives several more calls, and the caller turns out to be Frank, her former pimp who recently escaped from prison. Rosy almost goes insane with fear, for it was her testimony against Frank which landed him in the slammer. She also finds a note which someone pushed through her front door, with a newspaper clip about Frank’s escape. In desperation, she calls her friend Mary (Lydia Alfonsi) for help, with whom she once had a lesbian affair. Although the two women are no longer close, Mary agrees to stay the night in Rosy’s apartment to ease her mind. What Rosy doesn’t know is that it’s none other then Mary who placed the phone calls (with a disguised voice), as she feels it’s her only way to win Rosy back for herself. She gives the increasingly terrified girl a sleeping pill to help her relax, then sits down at the desk and starts composing a letter to her one-time girlfriend, explaining that it was her who placed the calls and the reasons for it. Deeply engaged in writing, she doesn’t hear that someone has broken into Rosy’s apartment. The intruder turns out to be the real Frank, here to carry out his revenge on Rosy. He grabs a nylon stocking and strangles Mary from behind, not realising he is killing the wrong woman. After the dead body slumps on the floor and Frank sees her face, he makes his way to the bedroom to finish off Rosy. However, earlier that night she had placed a knife under her bed following Mary’s advice. As Frank begins to throttle her, Rosy stabs him (though it is never explained how a woman apparently zonked out on sleeping pills finds the physical strength to defend herself from a sudden attack). With now two dead bodies in her apartment, Rosy breaks down in hysteria.
It is interesting to note that for the American version of the film, the lesbian aspect of Rosy and Mary’s relationship had been removed, and the contents of the note had been altered… In fact, the writing slowly appears on a blank page, word by word, thus turning ‘The Telephone’ into a ghost story as opposed to a noir-style revenge thriller. Why this was done, who knows – as the noir style angle works better!

THE WURDALAK
Based on a short story by Leo Tolstoy, and set in 18th century Russia, the story stars horror icon Boris Karloff as a much-loved paterfamilias who might not be what he seems.
Nobleman Vladimir Durfe (Mark Damon) discovers a beheaded corpse during a long trip through the countryside, with a knife still stuck in the corpses’ body. Vladimir keeps the bloody dagger as a souvenir (as you do), and later on stops at a rural cottage, asking for shelter. As he is welcomed inside, he notices several daggers on the wall, with one empty space… Returning home, Giorgio (Glauco Onorato) explains that the knife belongs to his father, who has not been seen for five days. Giorgio offers a room to Vladimir, then introduces him to the rest of the family: his wife Maria (Rika Dialina), their young son Ivan, his younger brother Pietro (Massimo Righi), and sister Sdenka (Susy Andersen) During dinner, it transpires that they are anticipating the return of their father, Gorcha (Karloff). He went to fight the dreaded outlaw Ali Beg, a ‘Wurdulak’. Realising the question etched on Vladimir’s face, Sdenka explains that a Wurdalak is of the undead, someone who feeds on the blood of the living, preferably close friends and family members. Giorgio and Pietro are certain that the corpse Vladimir had discovered is that of Ali Beg, at the same time they have to acknowledge the possibility that their father might have become infected himself while trying to kill Ali Beg.
Bang on at midnight, Gorcha returns, but his dishevelled appearance and strange behaviour only confirm their suspicions. Later that night, Gorcha attacks Pietro and flees with little Ivan. Giorgio then beheads the corpse of his beloved brother, to spare him from becoming a wurdulak. The corpse of little Ivan is found and brought back to the cottage. Giorgio wants to behead him too, but his hysterical wife threatens to kill herself if he proceeds. The little boy is buried with his body intact. Meanwhile, Vladimir has fallen for the beautiful Sdenka and the two go on the run, seeking shelter in the nearby ruins of an abbey.
The next evening, as Girogio and his wife are in bed, they hear the cries of a child. Looking out the window, it’s Ivan having risen from the grave. When Maria wants to come to his aid, her husband warns her that Ivan is no longer their son but is now a wurdalak. In despair, Maria stabs her husband and runs to the door to let Ivan in, but it is the terrifying Gorcha who stands at the doorstep. Walking towards Maria, he turns her into a member of the undead.
Meanwhile in the abbey, Vladimir and Sdenka confess their undying love for one another, and both drift into a sleep. Woken up by strange calls for her name, Sdenka makes her way to the abbey’s exit, only to find herself surrounded by her undead siblings and her father. Begging them to go away with the words “Leave us alone, I love this man”, Gorcha calmly replies, “No one will ever love you as much as we do” and she too is bitten and – screaming - taken back to the family home. Alarmed and woken by the noise, Vladimir chases after them. Arriving at the cottage, he finds Sdenka in bed, once again declaring her love for him. He senses the change in her expression, but submits to his fate and allows her deadly embrace.

Both DVD and Blu-ray come with the following specials: Italian and American version of the film, audio commentary, intro by author and horror critic Alan Jones, interview with actor Mark Damon, ‘Twice The Fear’ comparison featurette, trailers, TV and radio spots, reversible sleeve, collector’s booklet.