Movie Review: Black Sabbath

I'm genuinely surprised I've never seen this film. It's been on my list for so long.

A woman, Nurse Helen Chester, speaks very animatedly and loudly to someone on the telephone. An old woman by the fireplace of a palatial home with a lot of cats. The woman on the phone arrives at the home, she's a nurse and the woman with the cats is a maid. She's called for medical aid for her mistress. She takes the nurse upstairs, but doesn't go further than the doorway. The charge is dead.

The maid explains that no one wanted to be near the mistress because of the way she died, they believe spirits killed her. Nurse Chester goes to dress the body, stealing the ring off of her finger. A fly lands on the finger the ring had been on, the nurse smacks it off. The cup on the nightstand falls over and the nurse goes to clean it up and the dead medium's arm hits her in the head. She closes the medium's eyes, smacks the fly away only to find the medium's eyes open again. The cup of water drips water onto the silver platter on the floor and she picks it up before going home. At home, she puts the ring on and is antagonized by the fly ad dripping water. Multiple times she finds things dripping water, two faucets and an umbrella. She starts to become flustered, loosening her collar. She hears knocks and water dripping. She goes to investigate and finds a door swinging open, cat-like screeches echo loudly through the apartment. It's just an open window. Her power goes out and she's bombarded by the sounds of flies, water dripping, and screams. She screams and trips over her rug. She lights a candle and hears a strange sound coming from her bedroom. The elderly medium is lying in her bed, it sits up and when she runs out, the medium is sitting in her rocking chair, holding a cat. A serious of shoulder grabs and then the medium makes the good nurse strangle herself as she begs and pleads for her own life.

The authorities find a nightgown on her bed - the nightgown the medium had been wearing - and a bruise on her finger that could only have been made by a ring being torn off. The woman who'd found her acts very suspicious and as she stares at the nurse's distorted face, she hears the sound of flies buzzing.


A beautiful woman, Rosie, is in her apartment. She keeps getting phone calls, but no one's ever on the other end. She undresses down to her slip (something I'm sure was extremely risqué back in the day) and then she comes out of the bathroom in a towel - that looks like a toga - to answer the phone. A man tells her how she's always had a wonderful body and how great she looks in her towel. She lights up a cigarette and paces nervously before attempting to get into bed. The phone rings. She thinks twice about answering it, but does. The man tells her he likes her better with nothing on and he wants everything she has, but right now he just wants her to take off her clothing so he can embrace her with his eyes. She hears a sound outside and puts a handkerchief in the keyhole before turning out all the lights. She puts something under the couch and just sits, staring at the phone. She goes to put it back when it rings, frightened, she tosses the phone on the couch. He tells her that hiding her money and jewels was stupid. He wants them to be joined and soon they will be. Eyes peer through her window as she weeps. She hears footsteps, but it's just one of the other tenants and his dog. There is a note inside her door and she runs into the man with his dog. He asks her if there's something wrong. The letter is from a Frank and it explains it won't be long and there's avoiding it. Rosey calls Mary, who, according to Frank, loved him, but he left her for Rosey. Mary's a bit of a sociopath if you ask me, super creepy. My suspicions were right when Mary puts a knife under Rosey's pillow and puts tranquilizer in her tea - openly stating it's poison from Frank, it's tranquilizer. What? What? What? As Mary writes a letter to Rosey about her intentions and thinking she's crazy, a man takes up a pair of hose and strangles her. Hearing the commotion, Rosey wakes to find the man killing Mary. It's Frank. He start walking toward her, she takes up the knife Mary had put under her pillow. She stabs and kills him. His voice still comes from her telephone, telling her he'll keep talking to her every night.


I got a bit giddy when I recognized the man in the next story as Mark Damon - or better known as the dashingly handsome Duke Eduardo of Beauty and the Beast. Mark Damon is a Chicago native, which makes him even more awesome. In Black Sabbath, my childhood crush plays Count Vladimir Durfe in The Wurdalak. Count Vladimir has a knife that belonged to a man no one has seen in five days. He is invited into a house by the seemingly only family living in this little village. They explain that their father told them that if he hasn't come back in five days, they shouldn't let him in. Count Vladimir professes his feelings for Sdenka, the sister, and tells her that she's the reason he's not heeding her brothers' warnings. Five days pass and they still let creepy dad in. Father is grey and weird, ordering Giorgio to shoot the dog. Father is incredibly creepy, asking to fondle his grandson and pulling a severed head out of his bag and telling them to hang it on the door for all to see. Count Vladimir sees Gorca (the father) carrying Ivan (the grandson) into the woods. The other brother Pietro is dead, two puncture wounds on his neck. Giorgio finds Ivan dead and brings him back to the house where he needs to put a stake through his heart. Maria, Giorgio's wife threatens to kill herself if he does. Count Vladimir and Sdenka flee just before Ivan appears outside after being buried. Maria fights Giorgio when he tries to stop her from letting the child in. She stabs him with some shears and opens the door, Gorca is on the other side. Count Hotness - I mean, Vladimir and his lady love set up camp in the ruins of a castle... for reasons unknown. Gorca finds them and lures Sdenka outside where she's surrounded by her family members, all dead and wanting to know why she left them. Count Vladimir wakes up to find Sdenka gone. He searches frantically for her and finds her in her bed at the family's home. She tells him that she wants to have him forever and bites him.

The first two were really scary, but I couldn't get passed the fact that I regress into my 10-year-old self when I see Mark Damon so the whole time I was just drooling over him.

Moral of this movie: A trio of short films from 1964 can scare the crap out of you more than anything coming out in the 21st Century.