Black Sabbath

Mario Bava is considered the godfather of Italian horror, and his 1963 anthology film is one of the eeriest and most stylish of the genre—as well as the director's personal favorite. Black Sabbath opens with the ornate giallo thriller “The Telephone,” a nearly one-woman show played in a stylish apartment, with Michele Mercier as a call girl terrified by threatening phone calls. Next up is the gorgeous and haunting vampire tale “The Wurdalak,” with Boris Karloff as a demonic patriarch systematically sucking the life from his family—one person at a time. Rounding out the trio is the chilling ghost story “A Drop of Water,” a masterpiece of shiver-inducing imagery involving a nurse (Jacqueline Pierreux) haunted by the piercing eyes of a restless corpse from which she's taken a sapphire ring while preparing the body for burial. And just before sending viewers on their way, Bava tosses in a playful coda to remind everyone that it's only a movie. Black Sabbath was trimmed, toned down, rescored, and rearranged for its initial U.S. release, but was restored to its original Italian cut a decade ago and it is this superior version that Kino has remastered from a 35mm negative. As with the best horror pictures of its era, Black Sabbath underscores the fact that the most unsettling terrors are a matter of disturbing imagery and suggestion. Arriving on DVD and Blu-ray, extras include a gallery of Bava film trailers. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)[Blu-ray Review—July 14, 2015—Kino Lorber, 92 min., not rated, $24.95—Making its second appearance on Blu-ray, 1963's Black Sabbath features a fine transfer and a DTS-HD 2.0 soundtrack. Extras include audio commentary by film historian Tim Lucas, and trailers. Bottom line: although the Italian version of the film is better than this American edited cut, Bava fans will likely want to see this Blu-ray debut as well.]