The three faces of fear
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The three faces of fear |
| Original title | I tre volti della paura |
| Country of production |
Italy France |
| original language | Italian French English |
| Publishing year | 1963 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Mario Bava |
| script |
Alberto Bevilacqua Mario Bava Marcello Fondato |
| production |
Lionello Santi Alberto Barsanti |
| music | Roberto Nicolosi |
| camera |
Ubaldo Terzano Mario Bava |
| cut | Mario Serandrei |
| occupation | |
|
The telephone
The Wurdalak
The drop of water
| |
The Three Faces of Fear is an Italian-French horror film by Mario Bava made in 1963 , consisting of three independent episodes. Michèle Mercier (first episode “The Telephone”), Mark Damon and Boris Karloff (second episode “Der Wurdalak”) and Jacqueline Pierreux (third episode “The Droplet of Water”) star in the lead roles . The stories are based on literary sources by Guy de Maupassant , Alexei Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov .
action
The telephone
When French prostitute Rosy returns to her apartment one night, she receives a series of eerie phone calls. The man says he is Frank, her former pimp who escaped from prison, and that he wants to kill her. Rosy is scared to death because her testimony once put him under lock and key. The call girl is as desperate as she is perplexed, and so she calls her friend Mary in her need, hoping to get support from her. Both women have become very estranged recently, and yet Rosy believes that only Mary can help her. Finally, she agrees to Rosy's request to come and spend the night with her. And the phone rings again. This time Frank announces that whatever Rosy intends to do about it, he will stick to his plan of revenge. The voice says, “Prepare for death. You have to die in a few minutes! " Little does Rosy suspect that she is playing a perfidious game of Mary, who is obviously able to imitate Frank's voice perfectly.
When Mary appears in Rosy's apartment, she continues to play the good friend and tries to calm the whore down. So that she feels safe, Mary puts a large knife in Rosy's hand for the coming night, which she should put right next to her bed. While Rosy sleeps, Mary writes a confession in which she states that she staged this entire charade only to finally meet and reconcile with Rosy. While Mary is writing these lines, a stranger enters the apartment. It is Frank of all people who strangles Mary believing she is Rosy. He makes noises that make Rosy wake up. At that moment Frank realizes that he murdered the wrong woman. He goes to her bed, but Rosy has already got into position and stabs Frank. Then she drops the long knife and has a nervous breakdown.
The Wurdalak
Russia, in the 19th century. At the center of the story is the old farmer Gorca, who recently moved out to kill an undead creature that lives in the mountains and is supposed to feed on blood. In fact, Gorca succeeds in killing the “Wurdalak”, as the vampire is called here, and the old man makes his way home to the village community. The Wurdalak usually found his victims in their immediate surroundings, preferably in their own family and friends. The traveling, young nobleman Vladimir D'Urfe found the decapitated body - with a knife that was rammed into its heart. Vladimir takes the knife and finds accommodation in a poor hostel the following night. There he is approached by Giorgio, who claims that this knife belongs to his father, who had disappeared five days ago. Giorgio gives Vladimir a room for the coming night and introduces him to the rest of the family: his wife Marija, their son Ivan and Giorgio's younger brothers Pietro and sister Sdenka. They all await the return home from Gorca. Despite his triumph over the undead, he looks anything but friendly. Gorca looks grumpy and is extremely neglected. His sons Ivan and Pietro were the first to notice this change in personality.
Both are attacked in the middle of the night by the old man, who snatches little Ivan and escapes with him from the hut. Giorgio rushes after them and finds his son dead. He suspects that the spirit of Wurdalak passed into Gorca before the vampire was killed by the old man. In order to spare his dead son the fate of all the undead, he decides with a heavy heart to cut off Ivan's head and put a stake through his heart. But his wife Marija stands in his way with all her might and prevents the act, which she regards as profoundly barbaric. Ultimately, Ivan's undamaged body is buried. In the middle of the night you can hear the presumably resurrected Ivan at the door asking for admission. While Giorgio knows about the danger and does not want to let him in, Marija sees him only as her child. She stabs her husband to let Ivan in. But Gorca, who has become a vampire, stands in front of her and bites Marija. The survivors Wladimir and Sdenka flee the house and seek protection in a ruined church. When Vladimir falls asleep, Sdenka walks outside the sacred earth and sees her entire family before her - turned into vampires. When the nobleman wakes up again and goes looking for Sdenka, he finds her motionless on her bed at home. She wakes up, hugs Vladimir and finally bites him in the neck.
The drop of water
The third story has the same beginning as the first. In London in the 1910s: the phone rings and nurse Helen Chester is asked by the housemaid of a recently deceased medium to come to put on her death dress. The old lady is said to have died during a séance and her face has twisted into a sinister grimace. When Helen is changing clothes on the dead woman , she discovers a sapphire ring on her finger , which she immediately takes off and pockets. Given her nocturnal engagement, Helen finds that she has every right to take possession of the piece of jewelry. In doing so, she knocks over a glass filled with water. From then on the water kept dripping to the ground. Other strange events follow, for example a fly attacks Chester over and over again. Back at home, the fly doesn't leave Chester there either, who also hears the noises of dripping water all the time. At the same time the light goes out as if by magic.
When Helen Chester then also sees the dead woman lying on her bed, who finally opens her eyes, gets up and stumbles towards her, the nurse seems close to madness. She suspects that this uncanny encounter must have something to do with the stolen ring and asks the dead undead for forgiveness. Finally, Chester is overcome by madness and she strangles herself. Her body is discovered the following morning by the caretaker, who immediately notifies the police, but first removes the dead man's ring. The coroner examines the body, but cannot find anything suspicious. Just a small bruise on the finger where Chester had last worn the stolen ring. Finally, the caretaker appears at the place of death. She is very worried because she suddenly hears drops of water falling down ...
Production notes
The three episodes of The Three Faces of Fear were made in February and March 1963. The film premiered in Italy on August 17 or 23, 1963, depending on the source. In Germany, the strip started on August 21, 1964.
The film structures were designed by Riccardo Domenici and Giorgio Giovannini, the costumes by Tina Grani.
useful information
The heavy metal band Black Sabbath was named after the American distribution title of The Three Faces of Fear .
Reviews
"A massive attack on good taste."
"Acceptable horror episode film."
"... episodes are good, atmospheric."
"Scary film with approaches to atmospheric density and a handsome trick technique."
Individual evidence
- ↑ The three faces of fear in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed on October 31, 2018
Web links
- The Three Faces of fear in the Internet Movie Database (English)