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, 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.… (more)