As an anthology of supernatural horror tales, each directed by Mario Bava and introduced by Boris Karloff, 'Black Sabbath' is a film with a lot of promise. Depending on whether one watches the Italian or English version, the tales play in a different order, but the first tale in the Italian version involves a woman terrorised by a voice on the phone. With little in the way of overt horror, this is the creepiest segment in the anthology; the tale also includes some lesbian undertones that are nicely left hanging (it is left up to us to decipher why the caller on the phone wants revenge). The second tale has Boris Karloff as a patriarch who may or may not have turned into some sort of vampire after staying in the mountains for too long. Karloff has a lot of fun with the role and the cries of the child near the end are spine-tingling, but the segment is sluggishly paced and often drags, taking up nearly half of the movie's duration. The final tale involves a woman who steals a ring from the barely cold corpse of relative, only to be (predictably) terrorised by her ghost. It is not the strongest note to end on. Karloff has a great final address to the audience though with a memorable pull-back shot that innovatively breaks the fourth wall. Overall, this is a tricky film to recommend. The two bookend tales have a lot in common (terror inside one's own home) but the middle episode is vexingly dissimilar and the story quality varies throughout. Bava does keep things very visually alive though with active camera-work and great sets, and as mentioned, Karloff has a ball whenever on screen.
Review of Black Sabbath
