Poster for Black Sabbath
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Year
1963
Country
Italy · France
Runtime
95 min
Director
Mario Bava
Updated
9 Aug 2026
Obscurity
known (24/100)
Also known as
The Three Faces of Fear · The Three Faces of Terror

Black Sabbath

Three stories, one Karloff. The Wurdulak segment is the best thing Bava shot.

Bava's horror anthology, three stories introduced by a gleeful Boris Karloff, and the film that gave a certain heavy metal band its name. The standout is The Wurdulak, in which Karloff plays a patriarch returning to his family as something no longer human, shot in Bava's saturated gothic colour.

It is one of the most beautiful horror films of its era, each segment a small masterclass in atmosphere. The American International recut is inferior; find the Italian version with Karloff's original framing.

Bava at the height of his powers as a stylist.

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