Watched the English cut of this produced by American International Pictures, which went in this order: “The Drop of Water”, “The Telephone” and finally “The Wurdulak.”
Bava’s 1963 anthology film had me in a bit of dread when I first started it without knowing what it was. The second Boris Karloff told me it was an anthology I went “oh brother,” because anthology films usually never fully deliver on their promise to be engaging horror stories. Nonetheless, I persisted because I had heard about Bava’s reputation. Bava pulls it off, for the most part.
“The Drop of Water” is great. A woman steals a ring from a dead woman and it haunts her. Plain, simple, effective, even if the dead woman might look a little less “creepy” 63 years later.
“The Telephone” is another great one. A woman keeps getting phone calls from a harassing male voice. The voice keeps calling, fully aware of what she is doing in that exact moment. Scream must have taken some influence from that.
“The Wurdulak” is, personally, the weak one of the three. Bava shoots on some great sets and outdoor locations, but the story feels slow and not as engrossing to me. It could easily just be me being tired, but seeing the child trust the Wurdulak and be kidnapped by the creature felt a bit predictable. Regardless, and to quote Jack Nicholson in Mars Attacks!, “two out of three ain’t bad.” Black Sabbath is the rare case of a good anthology film.
Watched the English cut of this produced by American International Pictures, which went in this order: “The Drop of Water”, “The Telephone” and finally “The Wurdulak.”
Bava’s 1963 anthology film had me in a bit of dread when I first started it without knowing what it was. The second Boris Karloff told me it was an anthology I went “oh brother,” because anthology films usually never fully deliver on their promise to be engaging horror stories. Nonetheless, I persisted because I had heard about Bava’s reputation. Bava pulls it off, for the most part.
“The Drop of Water” is great. A woman steals a ring from a dead woman and it haunts her. Plain, simple, effective, even if the dead woman might look a little less “creepy” 63 years later.
“The Telephone” is another great one. A woman keeps getting phone calls from a harassing male voice. The voice keeps calling, fully aware of what she is doing in that exact moment. Scream must have taken some influence from that.
“The Wurdulak” is, personally, the weak one of the three. Bava shoots on some great sets and outdoor locations, but the story feels slow and not as engrossing to me. It could easily just be me being tired, but seeing the child trust the Wurdulak and be kidnapped by the creature felt a bit predictable. Regardless, and to quote Jack Nicholson in Mars Attacks!, “two out of three ain’t bad.” Black Sabbath is the rare case of a good anthology film.
