BLACK SABBATH (1963) and DARK SHADOWS

[Gothick]

Fans, last weekend I viewed the 1963 classic BLACK SABBATH.  This was the US release edit of the film directed by Mario Bava (released in Italy under a title that translates to something like THREE FACES OF TERROR). 

The movie presents three stories, each presented by Boris Karloff, who takes an important role in the final tale, "The Wurdalak," based on a story by Count Alexei Tolstoy.

"The Wurdalak" is based on old Slavic vampire lore and includes the idea that the vampire is driven to take the blood of those he loved best in life.  Ring a bell?

The second tale in the set, "The Telephone," seemed as if it might have been the springboard for the infamous "Grayson solo" episode in 1967 in which a terrorized Julia struggles to get through a night alone at Collinwood.  A memorable clip from that episode is available here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRvqLoXYRC0

A little known fact that was mentioned at one of the festivals, by Jonathan Frid himself if I recall correctly, is that Frid did the voice for "Dave" on the phone in this show.

G.

[Patti Feinberg]

I haven't seen, "Black Sabbath" in more than 15 years, but, I've seen it at least 15 times.

I always thought the first (it is a triology) story was the best.

Patti

[Philippe Cordier]

I'm familiar with "Black Sunday," which I like very much, but not "Black Sabbath." After reading this and doing some online reading about the movie, I decided to see if a DVD is available ... after sorting through a dizzying array of DVD versions, some in Italian, some in English, apparently with different dialogue, different sound effects, different editing, and different music scores, I finally settled on the MGM DVR Collection, which is supposed to be the American version, and available as a Region 1 DVD (I don't have Blu=Ray or a region-free DVD player). Apparently two of the three stories are wrongly ascribed to great writers (Guy de Maupassant and I forget the other one). The one authorship that is accurate is intriguing enough: I hadn't heard of Alexi Tolstoy but find he was a cousin of the more famous Leo and also a writer. Oddly, in the amazon description, one of the characters is named "Angelique" but that name nowhere appears in the imdb listing of characters/cast.

[Cousin_Barnabas]

A little known fact that was mentioned at one of the festivals, by Jonathan Frid himself if I recall correctly, is that Frid did the voice for "Dave" on the phone in this show.

I always thought that sounded like Frid!  In fact, whenever I hear Barnabas saying "Julia" in my head, I think of this particular clip!  I'm glad to know I am not crazy.

Frid is quite talented.  He did a great job imitating the enunciation of the second (third) Dave Woodard.

[B.Collins]

this one i can't remember if i saw it or not, but i have seen black sunday, but the version i saw wasn't black sunday it was the longer version that has a total different title and AIP had nothing to do with it. with the american version that's called Black Sunday it's a different cut that Samuel Arkoff messed with cause some of the footage at the time i don't think was allowed in the US at the time.

either way the longer version was a great version, i have no desire to see the shorter version and the lesser work in my opinion. check out the differences on what's cut and what's in the longer cut and watch that version and trust me you will believe me.