Ehirerapp Waste of time

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Smoreni Zmaj The first one is great, although more falls under the thriller genre, the second is an average vampire story, and the ghost story at the end is lousy. On average ... mediocre. The original title of the film is in Italian, director is also Italian, actors are Italian, French and English, it's written everywhere that the film is Italian, but either I'm crazy or this film was filmed in English and synchronized to Italian, which is so irritating that it can not be described in words. The Italian language does not fit the genre and synchronization makes it completely ridiculous and totally kills the tension of the original story. Why they did this I have no idea, and if someone knows what the matter is, I would be grateful to hear the explanation.6/10

ElMaruecan82 "Black Sabbath" made many viewing experiences reemerge from memory: "Gremlins", "The Shining", "Night of the Living Dead", "Scream"… but certainly not "Pulp Fiction". Yet, from what I gathered, this is what inspired Tarantino for the three-part structure of his classic anthology. Well, if only for "Pulp Fiction", we can be glad for "Black Sabbath"' existence. And you know what, I also have the strangest connection with "Black Sabbath". First of all, I'm not really hot about calling it by its American name as for more than almost fifteen years, I referred to it as "The Three Faces of Fear", and I think I should stick to it, if only because it says exactly what the film is about, an episodic journey into horror, while "Black Sabbath" sounds just too distant and 'marketed' to appeal to me and I just love how promising the original title sounds.Now to the personal story; I said fifteen years, but actually, it's only yesterday that I saw the film for the first tim. The thing is that I missed it when it aired on TV but looking at the title and the year of release, 1963, I asked my father if he knew about it. "Are you kidding? This movie gave me nightmares as a kid!" He told me the story about the ring, the one that stuck in his mind, but not how it ended, he couldn't remember. And then something strange happened, which I'm not proud of, I used to tell friends about the film, saying how great it is, and using the 'ring' story as a teaser.I can't count how many times I told the ring story, and when asked about the ending, I said I couldn't spoil it because it was too terrific. Oh no, I'm not proud… and I'm glad that's the only case I can think of, of talking of something I didn't see. That and (what a conscience-relieving review) rating "The Dark Knight" without watching it, but I retracted my vote and to my defense, I was just upset that the film was responsible for "The Godfather" losing its top spot on IMDb Top 250. All right, my first lie has at least one consolation: I made people aware of this film's existence and yesterday, I could finally see if it deserved the publicity I gave to it, or at least the 'ring' story.First of all, are these three-part films captivating, especially when they are from the same director? I grew up with the "Amazing Stories" TV series and I love how the thirty-minute format allows each film to get the essential without wasting time on exposition stuff or pointless sequences, they're straight-to-the-point and imaginative in the same time. And God forbid you didn't like one segment; you know if it ends with the best one, it will be all worth it. And when I saw that the 'ring' was the last one, I wasn't the least surprised, and I just want to start by saying I was almost disappointed it didn't last longer, it was the best segment, which is saying a lot actually.The three plots are rather simple, you can get the idea with a simple sentence: a woman stalked by a mysterious phone caller, a patriarch back from a successful hunt against a zombie-like creature called Wurdulak but who might have become one, and a nurse stealing a ring from a dead woman with psychic abilities (the dead woman, not the nurse). There are plots that were not new in 1963, but what the film lacks in originality is compensated by Mario Bava's operatic and baroque recreation of traditional horror elements, to give you an idea, it's as if Fellini tried to imitate Hitchcock. And I thought the film would be in black and white, there are actually many use of bold and contrasting colors, tones of green, dark and red mishmash in over-decorated, and over- furnished houses, creating an awkward mix between the weird and the mundane. This is a film of explicitly vivid imagery, even in the casting: Michele Mercier, Suzy Andersen and Jacqueline Pierrieux are the female leads and they simply illuminate the screen with their terrified faces, whether to express anxiety, apprehension, resignation or sheer terror when death is coming at you. Bava's kaleidoscope of fear is so bizarrely appealing it instantly earns its place among the classic horror movies with the acting Legend to endorse it. Indeed, you can't praise the film without ignoring the contribution of Boris Karloff and his performance as the ill-fated Wurdalak Grandpa. I know the second part is seen as the weak link, but there's a scene when Karloff is home and we're not quite sure whether he's a monster or not. He keeps a shadow of sympathy floating above his apparently rude manners, so when he wants to fondle with his grandson, the awkwardness is so thick we can choke on it, and this is why the film is efficient, nothing is never obvious until it's too late. But there's more to praise in Karloff's work, and I think it says a great deal about the appeal of the film, from the way Boris the Terrible introduces the three stories, from his delightfully scary close-ups and the over-the-top ominousness of his voice, you can tell the actor has fun playing in this film. And that's exactly what the penultimate shot, what the dead woman's look, what many weird psychedelic visual effects suggest, Mario Bava had fun making this film, and the film is fun, and I'll never believe that there's not a fun side behind the appeal of horror movies."The Three Faces of Fear" is not perfect but it's got style, atmosphere and a sense of self- derision that I'm sure inspired Tarantino, more than the three-part structure. And now, I'm glad I'll finally be able to talk about the film and be genuinely enthusiastic about it.

Johan Louwet Since this is a horror anthology consisting of 3 short stories I see it as my duty to rate them all separately.The Telephone: OK no masterpiece by any means and it looked a bit silly at times. But it was nice and surprising that the mysterious caller was actually not who Rosy and probably the viewer too expected to be. In the end one can wonder what exactly was the deal between the two ladies. Was there maybe some love triangle at play or even lesbian subtext? Very enjoyable. 7/10 The Wurdalak: Well I do think the whole legend of this vampire like creature feasting on the blood of his beloved ones was more interesting than the story itself. As this was the longest story it was the main attraction of the movie but unfortunately it was pretty predictable, the characters rather flat and some events didn't really make sense to me. Nice location and creepy but it pales compared to the other 2 stories. 5/10 The drop of water: Well they say keep the best as last and that's exactly what they did here in my opinion. Despite not having character development and the story being very simple it's incredibly effective in creating a great eerie atmosphere. The fact it might not have been a ghost but a ring that causes paranormal things driving the wearer insane was pretty brilliant idea. I don't think it would have worked as full movie but for a short it was really awesome and I did love that it makes you pondering a bit what actually caused the evil. 9/10

Phil Hubbs Yes this is the film that the famous rock band took their name from after they saw how people enjoyed being frightened. An Italian horror movie with a low budget but an international cast, so a different flavour to the British horror anthologies. This film was also one of the first horror anthologies I do believe, before the likes of Amicus and Hammer got the idea.The stories are introduced by Boris Karloff who is simply standing in front of a dated psychedelic-esque background and giving a speech about all things creepy basically. The funny thing is he is dressed quite normally in a simple suit and is hammering on about vampires and spectres as if this were a Vincent Price movie. The stories you see aren't really in that classic vein though, these tales are actually much more grounded and genuinely creepy (well two are).The first short story revolves around a young French call-girl who starts getting terrorised by phone calls from her ex-pimp (spoiler alert). This pimp has just broken out of jail and is threatening her life because she was responsible for putting him away. The young girl calls her female friend around to help and comfort her, little does she know the threatening calls are from her friend who is simply trying to reunite with her. The friend figures this is the only way the young call-girl will allow her back into her life...pretty extreme way of making up isn't it! In the end the real pimp shows up and kills them both just as the friend was writing a note to explain what she has been doing.This first tale is quite poor I think, its in no way scary or remotely thrilling, especially when you discover the friend is behind it all. The thing is this revelation gave me a better idea, they should of made the pimp the one behind the calls as originally expected. Then in the end when the call-girl discovers this it would have been cool to also find out the pimp was killed in his prison escape attempt so all along the calls were coming from beyond the grave. The fact that the pimp merely turns up and kills both young women is a complete anticlimax, just a basic murder. Its very glossy though, it actually looks like a high production porn flick at times.Next up is a more kooky traditional tale of ghoulies in the night...well a spin on vampire lore actually. Set in 19th century Russia a young man stumbles across a small family in the wilderness who are battling against a breed of creature known as Wurdalak. These things are undead zombie types that feed on the blood of the living, especially relatives they once knew strangely enough. Karloff plays the father of this family that ventured out to kill a Wurdalak but has returned one himself, naturally the story plays out as a battle of survival for all the living. Definitely the best looking of the three stories, the sets and props are really sumptuous in this and could easily be part of a full length movie. Great atmosphere with the swirling mist and bleak locations but the actual tale is pretty daft really. Karloff is wonderful as the pale grizzled bearded undead nightstalker but end of the day he's merely playing an unkempt Dracula. Everything goes as you might predict admittedly but thinking back I just can't fault the production values on this one.The final act sees a woman stealing a fancy ring off another woman who has recently passed away. This sets off all manner of supernatural occurrences such as a mysterious dripping of water, a mysterious fly that won't leave her alone and eventually the dead woman's corpse actually appearing before her. Now this short vignette is the jewel in the crown for this movie, its actually incredibly spooky and very atmospheric with the dripping water echoing around the woman's house. It really does give you the chills...that is until the finale where the corpse appears and really does freak you the f*ck out! The dead body has this God awful twisted expression on her face which is enough to keep you up at night I kid you not, that on top of the whole 'Ring-esque' sequence where it moves towards the terrified woman. The final twist in the tale here is again predictable but oh so delicious.There is no way an American movie in that era would or could pull off something this scary, at the time this was hard core stuff, the Italians were bold and brave. The mix of half naked ladies, the image of call-girls (hookers), blood and the surprisingly scary final story gave this film a real edge rarely seen in British or American horror anthologies. What's more this entire production clearly has so much class, skill and polish, every segment looks great, sounds great and could work as an individual movie in its own right. The first is standard murder fare, the second is standard ghoulish fare and the third is possibly the inspiration for many modern horror movies ('The Ring'!)...but they are all done very stylishly making other examples look crap in comparison.Its such a shame Bava chose to end the movie by revealing Karloff astride a fake horse and with all the cameras and crew. The main camera pulls back to reveal the studio floor as Karloff finishes his spooky speech. Not too sure why he's in his Wurdalak character get up either. Can't deny its a fun little ending and very interesting to see how they did that effect, but at the same time I can't help but feel they kinda extinguish everything they managed to created and visualise so well prior to that.8/10