Black Sabbath (1963)
Black Sabbath (AKA I tre volti della paura) is a 1963 horror anthology film directed by Mario Bava. Although an Italian production, the film was co-financed by American International Pictures and as such was conceived to appeal to US audiences. Hence, the English dialogue edit of the film which was released in America differs significantly to the original Italian version. Despite the presence of the legendary Boris Karloff and the popularity of both anthology and gothic horror at the time,the film was only a modest success at the US box office and did not do well in Italy. However, in more recent years there has been a critical reappraisal of Black Sabbath, especially the Italian dialogue version. Many aspects of the film which are standard genre tropes today, were in fact novel at the time. Also despite the production mainly being studio bound, the film oozes style and has a striking visual aesthetic.
The Tower of London (1939)
The Tower of London is an interesting film, in that it is clearly a historical drama but in spite of this, it was marketed as a horror movie. This is mainly due to the presence of Boris Karloff who plays a club footed executioner. Universal studios were keen to focus upon his role and ensured he featured prominently on the theatrical posters, wielding an axe in a menacing fashion. The film does feature several ghoulish scenes set in the dungeons beneath the Tower of London but essentially this is just a competent retelling of Shakespeare’s Richard III. However, rather than adapt the bards prose, this film offers a more of a historically accurate narrative, as Richard of Gloucester claims the throne of England in 1483 by eliminating all other heirs. The movie embellishes the political intrigue by having Richard remove a figurine from a dollhouse resembling the throne room, every time he kills an enemy.