User:Andrzejbanas/BlackSabbath

Black Sabbath (I tre volti della paura) is an Italian-French horror film directed by Mario Bava. The film is centered around three separate tales that have an introduction and conclusion from Boris Karloff. The film stars an international cast in three stories, the first involving Suzy (Michele Mercier} who continually receives threatning telephone calls and then reaches out to her friend Rosy (Michele Mercier) for help. The second is "The Wurdulak" starring Boris Karloff who returns to his family claiming he has slayed the Wurdulak, an undead creature which attacks that the ones it had loved the most while living. The third story "The Drop of Water" stars Jacqueline Pierreux as Helen Corey who steals a ring from a corpse that is being prepared for burial only to find herself haunted after arriving home.

Black Sabbath follows the 1960s trend of Italian film productions being both a low budget horror and anthology film with an international cast. American International Pictures created their own English language dub of the film that removed scenes involving violence and changed certain editing and takes used in the film. This version also greatly changed the plot of "The Telephone" giving it a supernatural story and removing any potential lesbian or prostitution themes.

"The Telephone"
Rosy (Michele Mercier) is an attractive, high-priced Parisian call-girl who returns to her spacious basement apartment after an evening out when she immediately gets beset by a series of strange phone calls. The caller soon identifies himself as Frank, her ex-pimp who has recently escaped from prison. Rosy is terrified, for it was her testimony that landed the man in jail. Looking for solace, Rosy phones Mary (Lydia Alfonsi). The two women have been estranged for some time, but Rosy is certain that she is the only one who can help her. Mary agrees to come over that night. Seconds later, Frank calls again, promising that no matter whom she calls for protection, he will have his revenge. Unknown to Rosy, Mary is the caller impersonating Frank. Mary arrives at Rosy's apartment soon after and does her best to calm Rosy's nerves. She provides Mary with a large knife for protection before putting her to bed.

As Rosy sleeps, Mary gets up out of bed and pens a note of confession: she was the one making the strange phone calls when she learned of Frank's escape from prison. Knowing that Rosy would call on her for help, she explains that she felt it was her way of coming back into her life after their breakup. While she is busy writing, she fails to notice an intruder in the apartment. This intruder is revealed to be Frank who strangles Mary. The sound of the struggle awakens Rosy as Frank realizes he just murdered the wrong woman. Frank approaches Rosy's bed as Rosy seizes her knife and stabs Frank with it as he's beginning to strangle her. Rosy drops the knife and breaks down in hysteria.

"The Wurdalak"
In 19th Century Russia, Vladimir Durfe (Mark Damon) is a young nobleman who finds a beheaded corpse with a knife plunged into its heart. He withdraws the blade and later that night stops at a small rural cottage for shelter. Durfe is approached by Giorgio (Glauco Onorato) who explains that the knife belongs to his father, who has not been seen for five days. Giorgio offers a room to Durfe and introduces him to the rest of the family: his wife (Rika Dialina), their young son Ivan, Giorgio's younger brother Pietro (Massimo Righi), and sister Sdenka (Susy Andersen). They explain that they are waiting for the return of Gorca, who has gone to battle with the outlaw and dreaded wurdalak, a living cadaver who feeds on human blood, especially of close friends and family members. At the stroke of midnight, Gorca (Boris Karloff) returns to the cottage with a sour demeanor and unkempt appearance. After the family go to sleep, both Ivan and Pietro are attacked by Gorca who drains them of blood and flees the cottage. Giorgio stakes and beheads Pietro to prevent him from reviving as a Wurdalak, but he is prevented from doing so to Ivan when his wife threatens to commit suicide. Reluctantly, he agrees to bury the child without taking the necessary precautions.

That same night, their child appears outside and begs to be invited into the cottage. The mother runs to her son's aid, she is held back by Giorgio who he stabs to reach her son. On operning the door, she is greeted by Gorca. The old man bites and infects his daughter-in-law, who then does the same for her husband. Vladimir and Sdenka flee from the cottage and go on the run and hide out in the ruins of an abandoned cathedral as dawn breaks. Vladimir is optimistic that a long and happy life lies with them, but Sdenka is reluctant to relinquish her family ties. She believes that she is meant to stay with the family. Sdenka's fears about her family are confirmed when that evening, Gorcha and her siblings show up at the abandoned abbey. As Vladimir sleeps, Sdenka is lured into their arms where they corner her. Awakened by her screams, Vladimir leaves to find Sdenka, finding her lying motionless on her bed at home. Sdenka awakens and upon receiving Vladimir's embrace, she bites into his neck as her family watches from a window.

"The Drop of Water"
In Victorian London, England, Nurse Helen Chester (Jacqueline Pierreux) is called to a large house to prepare the corpse of an elderly medium for her burial. As she dresses the body, she notices an elaborate sapphire ring on its finger. Tempted by greed, Nurse Chester steals it. As she does, a glass tips over, and drops of water begin to splash on the floor and is then assailed by a fly. Chester finishes the job and returns home to her small East End flat. After returning home, Nurse Chester is assailed by strange events. The buzzing fly returns and continues to pester her. Then the lights in her apartment go out, and the sound of the dripping water continues with maddening regularity from various locations in the house. She later finds the woman's corpse lying on her bed and slowly floating towards her. The terrified woman begs for forgiveness as the body approaches her, but ultimately strangles herself. The next morning, the concierge (Harriet White Medin) discovers Nurse Chester's body and calls the police. The pathologist arrives on the scene to examine the body before it is taken away and notes that the only sign of violence is a small bruise on her left finger where her ring once was. As the doctor makes this observation, the concierge appears distressed and begins to hear the dripping of water.

Development
In 1958, American International Pictures founders James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff hired European talent agent Flavio Lucisano to look for Italian commercial films for them after the large success of the Italian feature Hercules. In February 1963, American International Pictures with the Italian film production company Galatea that they would contribute to a minimum of nine co-productions in the next eight years. Black Sabbath follows many production trends of Italian films of the era. These co-productions were influenced by the lack of large film stars in Italy. To avoid high costs or larger stars, producers created anthology films involving three or four short narratives that total running time was that of a regular feature film such as Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963). A second trend was to match an up-and-coming actor or a much older actor with a European ingenue actress such as Spy in Your Eye which had Pier Angeli and Dana Andrews. The third trend was the move towards making Westerns and horror films which were less expensive to produce than the previous sword and sandal films.

Pre-production
American International Pictures secured the rights to have American actors Mark Damon and Boris Karloff while the French co-production company Societé Cinématographique Lyre secured Michele Mercier and Jacqueline Pierreux who is credited under the pseudonym of Jacqueline Soussard. Mercier had previously worked with director Mario Bava on his film The Wonders of Aladdin (1961). Italian production company Galatea had Susy Andersen casted while retaining Mario Bava who had directed their production of Black Sunday. Bava is credited to writing the film's script along with Alberto Bevilacqua and Marcello Fondato. It was decided early on in production that Boris Karloff would not only star in one of the tales, but also act as the film's host as he had done in his recent television series Thriller. The film's cinematographer is credited as Ubaldo Terzano but the film also featured unaccredited cinematography from Bava.

Production
Black Sabbath was filmed in 1963. American International Production's involvement with the film allowed Salvatore Billitteri of the Titra Sound Corporation to be on set to supervise the film for dubbing on it's English-language release. As the film was going to be dubbed in different languages, actors could no longer phonetically pronounce their dialogue as it had to be done rhymtically to match various languages. Billitteri was also on set to give suggestions to Bava on how to make his film more appropriate for American audiences which was to decrease the amount of violence in the film. Bava was initially going to end the film on a shot of Jacqueline Pierreux's dead character. On the last day of filming, Billitteri suggested to not end the film on such a bleak image and suggested to Bava to change it. Bava changed the ending to Boris Karloff's character of Gorka on horseback who cautions the audience to watch out for vampires. The camera than pans back revealing he is on a stuffed horse revealing the studio set and simulated effects.

Post-production
By the 1960s, Italian horror films were more violent, sexualized and downbeat than the horror films created in the United States by American International Pictures who focused on a youth-oriented audience whereas horror in Europe was intended for adult audiences. American International Pictures made changes to all three stories and intro segments in the English-language version of the film. First, they re-arranged the order of the stories to start with "The Drop of Water", followed by "The Telephone" and then "The Wurdalak". Changes were then made the plots with the most extensively edited being "The Telephone". "The Telephone" removes any suggestion of a lesbian relationship between Rosy and Mary and references to prostitution. The character of Frank is also no longer a pimp but a ghost who leaves behind letters that magically appears as soon as the envelope they are contained in is opened by Rosy. A new character is introduced who known as "The Colonel" who is Suzy's neighbor in the film. "The Wurdalak" features alternative cuts of certain scenes and has violence trimmed from the Italian version. "The Drop of Water" features the least amount of changes from the Italian version. American International Pictures reshot the introduction by Boris Karloff in Los Angeles. It is unknown who directed these scenes.

American International Pictures completely changed the Roberto Nicolosi's soundtrack from the original film with a soundtrack from Les Baxter. Both the Italian and English language films have a different look. Bava supervised the Italian language version at Technicolor Roma under his own supervision while American International Pictures shipped their version to Pathé Color for processing. Mario Bava biographer Tim Lucas described the English language print as looking "warmer, but less nuanced, with flatter tonalities" and that the it "doesn't look bad" but staing that the Italian version "looks more vibrant, more flamboyantly nightmarish".

Release
The film opened in Rome in September 1963 under the title I tre volti della paura. American International Pictures released the English version of Black Sabbath in May 1964. The film opened in Paris in November 1965 under the title Les trois visages de la peur.

Image Entertainment released the film in both the English and Italian versions on DVD on August 1, 2000.

Reception
In a review for their online blog, Fangoria called it "an extremely effective and entertaining example of anthology horror done absolutely right." The Dissolve gave the film three and a half stars out of five, stating "There are small twists in all three stories, but for the most part, the segments suggest where they’re headed early" and that the dialouge in the film is "sparse, and doesn't shy away from any exploitable elements, from scantily clad women to bloody wounds and warped-faced ghouls. But even more terrifying is the movie’s atmosphere of doom [...] Black Sabbath is fraught with fatalism."

Reviewing the English-language version of the film, Time Out praised the film stating that "pictorially it's amazing, and even the script and dubbing are way above average." Time Out compared the film to anthology horror films made by the British production company Amicus noting that "If only Amicus...had taken heed they might have got some ideas as to what can be done with the format."