Burr’s character, reporter Steve Martin, narrates much of the film, often negating the need for direct dubbing of the Japanese actors through his expository lines. Godzilla, King of the Monsters! features newly-shot footage of American actor Raymond Burr inserted into the proceedings. It’s important to acknowledge what such versions have meant in a historical context, one that recognises how the act of changing a film in order for it to be seen overseas was, quite often, an act of faith in the film’s potential if not an unfortunate but necessary acceptance that there are things that different audiences won’t accept.Īs an example, the 1956 iteration of Toho’s Godzilla (1954), titled Godzilla, King of the Monsters! , has taken a great deal of criticism in recent years, and especially since 2004 – the year when the original, Japanese version was finally widely accessible to the public in the West. Ultimately, the version that a person prefers is a matter of personal taste, but with the aforementioned factors, a misunderstanding about the impetus for, the production, and the results of English-language versions has developed – one that often assumes malicious intent to harm the message of the original. But does that mean that these altered versions are always bad? Of course, when many English-language versions have been altered for their markets, one can assume that – even unintentionally – things will inevitably be lost. However, this deification of the “original” release versions has led to either outright abandonment of the English-language counterparts (ala the Criterion Collection’s recent Godzilla boxset), or a misguided assumption that the original versions are automatically better. The DVD (and by extension, blu-ray) era has been a godsend for fans of rare foreign cinema, finally enabling these films to be seen as they were originally presented. By all means, having a foreign film’s theatrical release version on home video, complete with subtitles, is a good thing. The exaltation of “uncut” or “original” versions has stirred an unspoken aversion to the English iterations which first saw these films exported overseas. It has grown, dare I say, in tandem with a greater accessibility to subtitled versions of older foreign films on home video. But what was different about this viewing? This time, I watched the altered English-language dub produced by the masters of exploitation cinema, American International Pictures (AIP) – who also co-financed the production as part of a multi-picture deal with Italian production company Galatea.Īs tastes have shifted over the years, something of a hostility towards altered, English-language versions of foreign films has developed. This time, as I sat down to watch it just past midnight, I sank into the irreplaceable timbre of Boris Karloff’s voice, and Mario Bava’s anthology horror finally clicked. When it came to Black Sabbath, there was just something that I couldn’t get into.Īnd yet, I type this having re-watched the film, and having changed my mind. I’d enjoyed Bava’s earlier classic, Black Sunday (1960), and though his work on 1959’s Caltiki, the Immortal Monster is disputed, that film is an underrated gem of both ‘50s science-fiction and Italian horror cinema. When I first watched Black Sabbath, I wasn’t all that impressed. In true ghost story fashion, the nurse is haunted as punishment. A Drop of Water rounds out the anthology, and focuses on a nurse who steals the ring of a dead woman. The second story, The Wurdulak, sees Boris Karloff play a man who returns to his family’s home after allegedly killing the titular creature: an undead ghoul who feeds on the blood of those it loves. The mysterious caller eventually reveals himself to be her former pimp, Frank, who has escaped from prison. In The Telephone, which is essentially a giallo thriller, a young woman, Rosy (Michelle Mercier), is repeatedly called on the telephone by a man who claims to be watching her. Mario Bava’s Black Sabbath ( I Tre Volti Della Paura – The Three Faces of Fear ) is a 1963 anthology horror film featuring three tales of terror.

Black sabbath movie