Another Mario Bava flick, this time it's a three-part horror anthology á la Roger Corman's *Tales of Terror*. The first vignette *The Telephone* is clearly the weakest part here, although also somewhat interesting for genre afficinados as it kinda forshadows the director's later giallo work. It doesn't succeed at building a lot of tension though as a possible plot twist is spoiled early on and the whole narrative construction doesn't quite add up.

It gets better from there on, though. The second part is more of a folktale-esque shapeshifting-vampire-or-whatever flick (if you've seen *Black Sunday*, you know the director likes to blur the distinctions of what kind of monster we're actually dealing with), which doesn't break any new ground for the genre but excells in atmosphere and its beautiful visual compositions where Bava pulls all the registers for a captivating experience.

The last episode is the most successful when it comes to genuine scares and creepy overall vibes, spinning a slightly lovecraftian supernatural yarn about a certain cursed object, those in posession of it being haunted by the spirits of those it has killed before. Apart from being the most bone-chilling of these tales, it also manages to come up with a number of smart and unexpected creative decisions along the way.