While we may pay tribute to Samuel Z. Arkoff, American film executive who, along with James H. Nicholson, founded American International Pictures and helped build the myth that would eventually be Roger Corman. And while Arkoff was also one of those responsible for bringing to American shores one of the great films by Italian horror maestro Mario Bava, it must be said that Arkoff was very much a Hollywood executive that didn't trust a director's work to stand on its own. For evidence, I give you...

Black Sabbath

Directed by: Mario Bava
Starring: Boris Karloff, Mark Damon, Michele Mercier, Jacqueline Pierraux

Most regular readers of this site may already be aware that there are two versions of Mario Bava's Black Sabbath. The one with which we are most familiar is the American International Pictures version. This is the version which, in time, I will review because (1) this roundtable is intended to be an homage to American International Pictures and the recently deceased Samuel Z. Arkoff and; (2) because this was the version I watched on AMC two weeks ago.
The other version is the original Italian release, which, according to the numerous sites dedicated to the worship of Italian horror in general and BAVA (say it in a reverent whisper for the best effect, please) specifically, is significantly different. What is painfully obvious from my knowledge of the film and the research I've done into it is that the Italian version is far and away the superior version of the film. It is, in either version, a great anthology of short horror, but as usual in American film industry, executives meddled and greatly blunted the full force of a classic film.
Why? One reason is that Boris Karloff, our friendly and humble narrator for the three features that make up Black Sabbath, was, on American shores, the only recognizable star and the executives figured they should shift the order of the movies so that the Karloff vehicle appeared last rather than second. The other reason is that American International did not think American audiences in 1964 would react well to a movie that contained an overt lesbian relationship. (Everybody say, Silly Executives.) So the only contemporary story in the movie got whacked into an incomprehensible mess worthy of an audience's most venal ridicule. As usual, movie executives got it wrong - again!
Black Sabbath followed on the heels of two very similar Vincent Price vehicles: Trilogy of Terror (1963), a collection of three Poe stories directed by Roger Corman, and Twice Told Tales (1962), an anthology of short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Black Sabbath, itself a horror anthology, two of which were written by Anton Checkov and Leo Tolstoy, gained critical acclaim in Europe and was bought by American International pictures for distribution in the United States.
In order they were:
The Telephone: Rosie, a high class call girl, is terrorized by phone calls from Frank, a pimp she ratted on a year ago and got him sent to prison. He claims to have escaped from prison and plans to kill her. What she does not know is that these calls are being made by her former lover, Mary, in order to get Rosie back into her life. What Mary does not realize is that Frank is, indeed, stalking Rosie.
The Wurdulak: Based on a Tolstoy short story, this one is a more conventional vampire movie with Boris Karloff in the title role. Karloff, who gives a great performance, plays the patriarch of a Russian peasant family who leaves one night to kill a notorious Wurdulak, a vampire that feeds on the blood of those it most loves. When he returns bearing the head of the monster, his family is not sure whether their father was completely victorious.
The Drop of Water: Based on a work by Anton Checkov, an intense piece of terror concerning a dead witch, a larcenous nurse, a valued emerald ring, a fly, and the incessant dripping of water.
Bava's original was organized deliberately to deliver a cumulative effect of mounting terror. I know this not because I've seen it, but because I knew it when I watched the American International version and I was aware of the order in which Bava intended for Black Sabbath to be seen.
American International did about everything it could to undermine the effectiveness of this movie. It took the movie's most powerful sequence, Drop of Water, and put it first, sliced up the Telephone into an entirely different movie and dropped it in the middle, and ended it on a lesser high with Karloff's piece. It is testament to Bava's strength as a filmmaker that despite American International's best effort, they could not destroy the movie entirely.
The one thing that stands out most in Black Sabbath is Bava's camera work. Atmospheric lighting, pulsing neon colors of red and blue, and this canned, sonorous blues music that segues beautifully into the sounds of a cat yowling make up the first extraordinary scenes of "Drop of Water." The transitions between scenes are also very thoughtfully laid out. From strictly a craftsman's standpoint, Black Sabbath is worth viewing. There is a shot in "The Drop of Water," that goes from the point of view of a fly that is really fantastic.
As for the stories, American International did relatively little to "The Drop of Water" and "The Wurdulak." The stories are intact and hold up well on their own. Karloff deserves special mention playing Gorka, the family patriarch in "The Wurdulak." As the family tries to discern if he has been infected with the evil, he walks a tightrope between being a loving family member with an undercurrent of sexual abuse. When he delivers the line, "What's the matter woman? Can't I fondle my own grandson?" it is a chilling, tense moment.
On "The Telephone" however, A.I.P. really dropped the ball. Easily the weakest of the three in terms of horror, editors tried to remove the overt lesbian story angle by making the segment a more conventional ghost/revenge story. What ends up happening is that Rosie, the victim, becomes yet another in a long line of women in horror movies making incomprehensibly bad decisions. Like the idiot victims in Friday the 13th who run away from the dropped butcher knife (Pick it up, you stupid bitch. STAB HIM! STAB HIM! What the ####
is wrong with you!! ….. --- uh, sorry.) this woman gets a phone call from a guy she helped put in prison and he tells her he's going to kill her. He then proceeds to tell her to stay dressed in that towel. She reacts just like any normal person would when threatened by someone who is obviously observing them. She stuffs a handkerchief in the keyhole and fixes herself a drink. When she meets a neighbor out walking his dog, she does not tell him her life may be in danger! She smiles and says nothing is wrong.
Well, you get the idea. There are a number of other incongruities that make this story extremely silly which is unfortunate because, in its original version, I don't think it was that bad.
Thank goodness that we now have DVDs that finally give audiences a chance to view this movie as Mario Bava created it. Though still pricey, the extras listed on the Bava DVD indicate that viewers have the option of viewing the butchered AIP version or the original Italian feature. Whatever your opinion of Italian horror fare, Bava should be given his due as one of the great horror filmmakers. He is certainly more consistent than Wes Craven or Tobe Hooper.
As for Samuel Z. Arkoff, though b-movie lovers everywhere owe him a debt of thanks for the investment he made in horror, biker, blaxploitation, and nearly everything else that make movies fun, his legacy is not perfect.

(Edited by Bergerjacques at 12:11 pm on Oct. 31, 2001)