Blood and Black Lace (1964)

A model at a haute couture fashion house is murdered by a man with a creepily hidden face. When her diary is discovered, the models who take it become the next target of the hidden killer.

Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace is an early example of the Italian Giallo genre of slasher thrillers, perhaps the first. They tend to focus more on atmosphere and imagery rather than story or character. And they seldom delve into the supernatural and thus fall partially outside of my definition of Horror.

There are plenty of suspects and a bit of a reveal at the end, but this isn’t a who-done-it. It’s a film for people who likes to see great cinematography, excellent sets, and pretty women brutally murdered. And it’s the sexualization of murder I cannot get on board with. Just not my thing. We don’t get to like the victims, don’t get to hate them. We just see them die. It's purely visual.

My problem with Blood and Black Lace, and Giallo in general, is that I feel like I am trying to watch a different film than the one on screen. I want there to be more story, better developed characters, smarter in general, and therefore disappointed. This is entirely a Me problem. With all that said, it wasn’t a hard film to watch. Enough action and detail to keep you interested, and it does look stunning. AMRU 3.

Black Sunday (1960)

or "La Maschera del Demonio" (The Mask of Satan).

Two doctors travelling to a medical conference take a shortcut through a forest and come upon the tomb of the evil witch Ava (Barbara Steele), put to death by her brother two hundred years before. She cursed the descendants of her brother prior to having a spikey mask nailed to her face then burned. Ouch.

One bumbling doctor breaks the cross that was keeping her in her coffin then bleeds on her causing her to come back to life. Duh, people! Evil Asa then raises her boy-toy from the grave (using a mystical technique called "telling him to"). The doctors meet Princess Katia (also Barbara Steele), a cursed descendant of Asa's brother, then they part company until hot living princess' dad is attacked by the boy-toy of the evil dead princess. Is there a bumbling doctor in the house? I mean, haunted castle?

Great sets, moody and atmospheric, and well paced, Black Sunday was Mario Bava's masterpiece. The cinematography was excellent. I should have seen it prior to the other three I watched, but there was a problem with the Netflix copy. They were hashing to the 1977 movie which at almost two and a half hours, was not going to be budgeted on my calendar any time soon (an hour and a half was doable - I'm a busy little boy). Once corrected, this became the last movie I saw before Halloween.

If any Bava fans I did offend with my prior lukewarm reviews, note this is not the glowingist of reviews. Dubbing muddles the acting and partially spoils my viewing experience. Still, it's a wonderfully looking movie with a decent story, and Barbara Steele was hot. AMRU 3.5.

"You will never escape my vengeance, or of Satan's! My revenge will seek you out, and with the blood of your sons, and of their sons, and their sons, I will continue to live forever! They will restore me to life you now rob from me!"

Black Sabbath (1963)

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Kill Baby, Kill (1966)

Inspector Kruger (Piero Lulli) orders the autopsy of an apparent suicide victim against the wishes of the townsfolk, who wants her body in the ground as soon as possible. Dr. Eswai (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart) is called in to perform the operation. Hot chick Monica (Erika Blanc), returning home after many years, serves as witness. Together they find gold coins inside the victim's heart. Strange indeed!

Well, apparently when the ghost of a little dead girl appear to people, they will die soon. The village witch (Fabienne Dali) and the Burgermeister (not Yul Brynner) do their best to save them. Story has it that years ago the little girl died and the horrible townsfolk didn't stop to help her. Doctor Eswai and hot Monica investigate.

I realize Mario Bava is a legend, and this is among his more respected movies, and that Hollywood insisted on tinkering with movies for the American release, and that acting performances are at best muted by the dubbing process, but I have to review what I see on the screen. And what I saw was rather lackluster. The story came across as convoluted and uninteresting. Sorry Bava fans.

Here's what was interesting. The creepy looking girl ghost was played by a creepy looking boy. There is no credit for him. The producers ran out of cash less than half way through so Bava and the cast finished it without being paid. The original title in Italy was "Operazione paura" which appears to translate to "Operation Fear". Not a very good title, so you can see why they went with the completely stupid Kill Baby, Kill.

This marks the third "Imperative, Noun, Imperative" film titles I've done, and I imagine it'll be a while before I do another (Scream, Blacula, Scream won't be watched anytime soon). Without giving too much away (there really is a lot more to the story), I have to admit the title is functional. AMRU 2.5.