I Tre volti della paura (1963)aka The Three Faces of Fear
aka Black Sabbath
Directed By:
Mario Bava & Salvatore Billitteri
Tagline:
This is the night of the nightmare...The day of the Undead.
Throughout this review I am going to refer to this film as Black Sabbath. It's easier to use than it's Italian title. This film is actually three films wrapped into one similar to the 1982 film 'Creepshow'. Obviously Black Sabbath came before Creepshow. It was just a reference. Settle down fan boys. Each of the three films is very different from the others. The best part is, Boris Karloff, my homie, introduces the tales individually. They are all very inspired and equally creepy. They consist of:
The Drop of Water- Nurse Helen Chester(Jacqueline Pierreux) is called to prepare the corpse of an old woman for her burial. While she is dressing the corpse, she notices a beautiful ring and takes it upon herself to borrow it permanently. Little does nurse Helen know, the old woman is a witch of sorts and places a curse on the nurse(that rhymes)! What unfolds once she gets back to her apartment will numb you, horrify you, and shatter any beliefs you have about sweet old ladies.
The Telephone- A beautiful, high-class woman, Rosy(Michele Mercier) comes home from a night on the town and comes home to find her telephone ringing! She answers it and there is no response. The phone rings again and once more there is no voice on the other end of the receiver. The third time is different. A voice tells her he is watching her and she abruptly hangs up. The phone rings again and again and again! Rosy starts to get scared and wonders who could be making these phone calls. Once it is revealed who is making the calls you will shiver, you will scream, and you will cry: IT'S ONLY A MOVIE!
The Wurdalak- A young nobleman on a long journey stumble across a headless corpse with a dagger stuck in the torso. He takes the knife, without asking, as a souvenir. He stumbles upon a small cottage belonging to the owner of the knife. The nobleman meets the residents of the cottage and immediately falls in love with the beautiful sister Sdenka(Susy Anderson). The nobleman is warned to leave at once for fear of their father coming back as a monster! Boris Karloff as the father puts on a genuinely creepy performance. Fear, love, and grandson fondling make this a short to be feared!
'Black Sabbath' is a very very fun movie. All three stories in this film are very eerie. The atmospheres Mr. Bava sets up are very creepy. I have to admit, for a 'short film', The Wurdalak is kind of long and drawn out. Overall I enjoyed this film very much. I don't know what it is but for some reason I find Susy Aderson to be so freaking sexy. Anyways, nothing earth shattering here. Definitely a great creepy Halloween film. 3.5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment