Mario Bava (1914–1980)

Very atmospheric three part horror film featuring Boris Karloff both as host and actor in the middle segment. Not bad, but neither is it as good as your average episode of Night Gallery. The first story, about a woman alone in an apartment being terrorized by a caller who says she will be dead by morning has some nice unspoken undertones, but is a little too near. It does have the advantage of being the best photographed of the three stories, however. The second tale, featuring Karloff, show more takes place in Russia and is pretty horrific and dark, but it does feature a pre-Lost in Space Mark Damon as a traveler who stumbles across a body with a knife in its heart, which leads to a family plagued by a sort of Russian vampire and a too-hasty love story. It is all sort of inevitable, but not badly done. The last story, which boils down to, "Don't steal from the dead," is the most effective, perhaps because it is the shortest and has the most gruesome element--a pretty fearful corpse. So, not much of a recommendation from me here; don't go out of your way to see it. I watched on Kanopy, a service provided by my library, which has lots of these Italian horror movies available. show less

Honestly what the hell is going on here? Basically nothing happens for the first half of the film, then some things do happen, and it's all in nice Technicolor, but none of it is all that interesting--except for one murder involving a car, which was so silly that it was memorable. Sommer can't save it--her costumes are terrible. And Savalas as a devil sucking on a lollipop? The only thing serious here seems to be the cinematography.

Purim

This astonishing motion picture titled Black Sunday or The Demon's Mask , House of Fright , Revenge of the Vampire or Mask of Satan was competently directed by horror maestro Mario Bava from a story by Gogol set in 1630, involving the nasty witch named Asa (Barbara Steele). As a resurrected witch who was burned to death at a small medieval town , she seeks revenge on her pursuers . It is full of thrills , chills , surprises and creepy atmosphere . It contains exquisitely realised show more expressionit frames of sexual suggestion and cruelty that shocked spectators in the early Sixties. Gorgeous , brilliant and foggy cinematography in black and white by Mario Bava himself. Adding a thrilling and mysterious musical score by Les Baxter. show less