Black Sabbath - AIP Cut (1963) ****
Mario Bava's Black Sabbath (1963) is simply one of the best horror anthologies ever made. Though it's only three stories, each one is unique and worthwhile, filled with beautiful actresses and spooky imagery. It's not a gory movie, but it's got an old school charm that holds up to this day. Hell, pioneering metal band Black Sabbath took their name from the film, which only adds to its legacy.
This time around I watched the AIP Cut. While it's nice to hear narrator and star Boris Karloff's voice on the English version, I'm of the opinion that the Italian version (which is shorter and contains a different score), known as I Tre Volti Della Paura (The Three Faces Of Fear), is superior (my review of that version here). I also like the order of the stories in the Italian cut better, which opens with "The Telephone", followed by "The Wurdulak", and concluding with the best story, "The Drop Of Water". In the AIP Cut "Water" opens the film, "Telephone" sits in the middle, and "Wurdulak" closes the proceedings. Regardless of order, all the stories have great atmosphere (and "Water" is still terrifying). The various differences in the two cuts are detailed here.
This time around I watched the AIP Cut. While it's nice to hear narrator and star Boris Karloff's voice on the English version, I'm of the opinion that the Italian version (which is shorter and contains a different score), known as I Tre Volti Della Paura (The Three Faces Of Fear), is superior (my review of that version here). I also like the order of the stories in the Italian cut better, which opens with "The Telephone", followed by "The Wurdulak", and concluding with the best story, "The Drop Of Water". In the AIP Cut "Water" opens the film, "Telephone" sits in the middle, and "Wurdulak" closes the proceedings. Regardless of order, all the stories have great atmosphere (and "Water" is still terrifying). The various differences in the two cuts are detailed here.
Bava's images (Ubaldo Terzano shot the film, but Bava was also uncredited) are, as expected, flawless (though he only supervised the Italian version, which has different color timing). His many years as a cinematographer previous to directing served him well—as good of a storyteller as he was, he was first and foremost a master technician.
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