I’ve never seen Mario Bava’s 1963 Black Sabbath, save for a YouTube clip of the bizarre end sequence – in which Boris Karloff rides off on a horse through the trees, only for the camera to pull back and reveal him to be on a prop horse in the studio, with the ‘trees’ created by assistants running in circles with bunches of sticks.

Its a bold, fourth wall breaking ending, for sure! I’ve no idea if the rest of the movie comes close in terms of inventiveness, but what a title! 

I bought this US one-sheet as part of a larger lot, and it was one of a number which came with a large sticker attached. I wasn’t familiar with this “A” certification, so it took some online sleuthing. Turns out, this was a classification used in cinemas on US army bases. 

Having worked out where the poster came from, I next had to work out how to remove the sticker. My wife’s clothes steamer worked a treat to remove it, then after drying a bit of gentle rubbing with a little soapy water got rid of the glue residue. I’m quite proud of my very basic ‘restoration’ efforts on this one!