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Black Sabbath
 
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Black Sabbath

Boris Karloff (Actor) | Rated: Unrated | Format: DVD
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)

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When American audiences first saw Mario Bava's 1963 horror trilogy, it wasn't the same film he had made in Italy. Finding it too terrifying for kids (imagine that!), AIP pictures trimmed it of violence and intensity, rescored it, and renamed it in order to cash in on the success of Black Sunday. New tongue-in-cheek introductions with costar Boris Karloff were added, the segments were rearranged, and one segment was completely rewritten in the dubbing. It was a good film even in its butchered form, but the original Italian version is excellent. The correctly ordered stories begin with "The Telephone," a gripping, ornate thriller that anticipates Bava's later "giallo" horror classics such as Blood and Black Lace. (In the American version, lesbian overtones were removed and the escaped criminal killer was turned into a vengeful ghost.) Karloff stars as a demonic, wild-haired patriarch in the eerie "The Wurdulak," a gorgeous vampire tale shot on misty, menacing sets. The masterpiece of the collection is "The Drop of Water," a chilling ghost story with shiver inducing imagery: the piercing dead eyes of the restless corpse will haunt you long after the film is over. Bava's original framing sequence ends with a playful tribute to the magic of moviemaking and storytelling, a sweet coda to remind us that it's only a movie.

The print suffers slightly from wear and tear and water damage but the colors are sharp and vivid. It's a bit disconcerting to hear Karloff dubbed in Italian, but that's a small price to pay for seeing the film in its original, uncut form. The DVD also features an extensive gallery of production and promotional stills, biographies, and liner notes by Bava historian Tim Lucas. --Sean Axmaker

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Customer Reviews

32 Reviews
5 star:
 (13)
4 star:
 (13)
3 star:
 (4)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (32 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars BUY AMERICAN!, Dec 7 2001
This review is from: Black Sabbath (VHS Tape)
The American version besides being absolutely the best version of BLACK SABBATH is also the original. Despite what the editorial reviewer says this movie was originally filmed in English. Don't believe me? Turn the sound down and read their lips. Taking a movie that was acted in one language and then dubbing it into another language is what I call "butchered". And Boris Karloff just doesn't seem the same dubbed and subtitled. And the butchering doesn't end there... They also changed the music and sound effects taking away much of the film's classic horror atmosphere. (BIG MISTAKE!) They changed the order of the stories which didn't seem to work as well. And they chopped out all of the funny Twilght Zone type intros that Karloff did for each story. I like the intros and missed seeing them. For all these reasons I don't recommend buying the widescreen Italian version. Get the real one. That's the 5 star Black Sabbath.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Warning: No alternate "American Version": A Pity, Nov 11 2002
By 
Peter Lee "pl2006" (Seven Hills, OH United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Black Sabbath (1963) (Widescreen) (DVD)
I was excited to learn that the original European version of this classic was out on DVD. As it turns out, however, the "bastardized" American version previously available on tape is the superior one. In fact, just about every decision AIP (American International Pictures)made when they proceeded with their tampering was the right one. First, they put the episodes in an order that worked better for the momentum of the picture. "The Drop of Water" is a short, scary, atmospheric shocker. Next up is the weakest segment, "The Telephone", giving audiences a breather. Saving the best for last is "The Wurdalak". Some cinephiles also berated the American's for subsituting a new score by Les Baxter. Though admittedly lacking in subtlety, Baxter's score at least feels like it belongs in a horror movie. The anemic Italian music feels like it could have strayed in from some mediocre historical drama. Most reprehensible about the DVD, however, is its failure to preserve Boris Karloff's glorious voice. I know his voice was dubbed for Italian audiences, but would it be asking too much to loop in his voice on an alternate audio track---especially when so many other quality DVD firms (Anchor Bay Entertainment for instance)would surely do so? As for the transfer, technical credits are good. And this may be the only way to see a pristine print of this marvelous film. Still a big disappointment and definitely a BARE BONES DVD. This film demands a "full blooded" (pun intended) release. This aint it.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Two out of three ain't bad, Nov 26 2011
By 
K. Gordon - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Black Sabbath (DVD)
Three short pieces. The first `The Telephone' is a thriller with no supernatural elements. It's
also pretty dull and predictable. It takes it's twists far too seriously.

But the other two stories `The Wurdulak' (starring a fun Boris Karloff, who also does the
terrific bookend pieces to the whole film) and `A Drop of Water' have a real sense of
enjoyable playfulness along with Bava's always present stylishness, and over the top lighting
(which can get annoying at times - in `Drop of Water' light from every window keeps rising
and falling. It may be that it's supposed to suggest lightening, but it's mostly just distracting).

When Bava has fun with the hoary clichés of vampires and revenge of the dead, it's a lot
easier for us to have fun too (and, ironically, I also found it more tense).
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