Black Sabbath

This film served as inspiration for the naming of the exceptionally influential doom metal band Black Sabbath. Questioned individually, no two members of the band tell the story quite the same way. The most consistently repeated details are that Geezer or Tony walked past a theatre in 1968 and saw the large crowds lining up to see this film. Black Sabbath, known as Earth at the time, were playing small clubs around Birmingham. When comparing the size of the crowds waiting in line to see this film to attendance at their shows, they came to the conclusion that music that frightens people would sell more tickets. Writing and jamming sessions eventually resulted in a song called Black Sabbath that was such a great change in direction (whilst still retaining their roots in blues, jazz, and soul) that they kept the name for the band and wrote all of their music from that point onward in a similar style.

The narration of this film's English-dubbed version claims that "The Wurdulak" was written by Tolstoy and that "The Drop of Water" was written by Chekhov. The first claim is misleading; "The Wurdulak" was not written by Leo Tolstoy, the famous author of "War and Peace", but by minor novelist Alexei Tolstoy. The second claim is completely untrue; Anton Chekhov never wrote a short story titled "The Drop of Water" or any story with a plot resembling that of the so-named segment of this film.

As documented by Tim Lucas (in Video Watchdog #5), the order of the segments was rearranged by AIP for the English-language release. The original ordering was: "The Telephone," "The Wurdalak," and "The Drop of Water." In addition, "The Telephone" was re-dubbed and slightly re-cut by Bava at AIP's request to create a supernatural angle and disguise the lesbian overtones of the story.

Featured in Hatchet for the Honeymoon (1970)