GOREGIRL'S DUNGEON

Mario Bava is one of my all-time favourite directors. Closest to my heart are Bava’s 60s films as they were my earliest exposure to Italian cinema. I have a long running feature here I call ‘favourite five series’.  I had long intended to include the talented and influential Mario Bava. So, when Gill over at https://weegiemidget.wordpress.com  told me they were doing an Italian blogathon I knew exactly what my contribution would be. Mario Bava got his start in the Italian film industry in cinematography like his father Eugenio before him. IMDB has him credited as cinematographer on 79 films. He went uncredited as director on six films including Riccardo Freda’s I Vampiri and Jacques Tourneur’s The Giant of Marathon before he would finally get his chance to direct a full length feature of his own.  In 1960 Mario Bava directs his first feature film Black Sunday. Bava would direct 38 more films. Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is credited as the catalyst that would start the Giallo boom in Italy. But Bava released a Giallo six years previous in 1964; Blood and Black Lace. Unfortunately, the film was not well received when it was released. Sometimes timing is everything. My father saw the potential of VCR’s. He could see one in every home. He started a business selling Panasonic VCRs and big screen televisions but he was only able to sell a few to local bars. About three years later just about everyone we knew had a VCR or  Betamax and home video stores were popping up on every corner. There is plenty of love these days for Bava’s Blood and Black Lace. His 1971 film Bay of Blood has been credited with influencing the slasher sub-genre that would explode in the 1980s. Mario Bava’s creative talent knew no bounds. The man was a film making machine! Not only an immensely talented cinematographer,  director and writer he also knew his way around the special effects department. While he did venture into the sword and sandal, western, and action and crime genre he is most immortalized as the master of the macabre. It was not easy narrowing down my picks to five selections. I love his films Shock, Lisa and the Devil, Hatchet for the Honeymoon, Five Dolls for an August Moon, Planet of the Vampires, The Whip and the Body, Danger: Diabolik and The Girl who Knew Too Much . But the film I most regret leaving off this list is Black Sabbath. To me it is a perfect anthology with all three segments being absolute masterpieces.

BLACK SUNDAY (1960) 

Javutich and his lady Princess Asa Vajda are sentenced to death by Asa’s brother. Asa puts a curse on her brother’s descendants before the Mask of Satan is hammered onto her face. The mask of Satan is a mask with a whole lot of long sharp nails inside of it. Two centuries later a clumsy doctor stumbles upon Aja’s crypt and accidentally knocks over the huge crucifix breaking the coffin’s glass. He goes on to remove Aja’s mask cutting himself in the process dripping some blood on Aja’s corpse. This of course brings Aja back from the dead setting in motion her curse of revenge on her brother’s descendants.

Princess Asa Vajda contacts Igor Javutich telepathically, and he rises from the dead, removing his mask of Satan. 

Katia removes her crucifix.

The Gothic horror film to beat all Gothic horror films! This was one of the first Italian horror films I ever seen; not that I knew it was Italian at the time because the copy I watched was dubbed. Absolutely gorgeous and dripping with atmosphere. Filmed in beautiful black and white with a spellbinding performance from Barbara Steele.  The image in the films opening where the executioner strikes one mighty blow to hammer the mask of Satan onto Barbara Steele’s lovely face stayed with me for many years to come. One of the horror films I’ve watched the most over the years; an absolute masterpiece.

KILL, BABY… KILL! (1966)

A doctor is sent to a small village to do an autopsy on a woman who has died under mysterious circumstances. A medical student is on hand to witness the procedure. Locals believe that the ghost of the little girl, Melissa Graps, the daughter of Baroness Graps haunts the Village and if you are unfortunate enough to see her, you become cursed and soon die. The doctor, a man of science does not believe in superstition; but he will. 

Dr. Paul Eswai and Inspector Kruger find some local men, burying the woman who is scheduled for an autopsy. 

The doctor is assisted by Monica Schufftan a visiting medical student. 

Ruth, the village witch performs a ritual on the innkeeper’s daughter she hopes will save her from the curse.

You don’t want a visit from this little girl.

Monica has a nightmare about Melissa Graps and awakens to find this doll at the end of her bed. 

Monica runs out into the street and finds the doctor.

The poor innkeeper’s daughter is visited once again by the ghostly little girl.

Meanwhile at the Villa Graps…

Beautiful aesthetics, great sets and set pieces and excellent performances. A haunting supernatural tale; an absolutely gorgeous Italian Gothic horror film.

RABID DOGS aka KIDNAPPED (1974)

Four men, rob a pharmaceutical company getting away with a large sum of money. The police are quickly dispatched, and one of the men is killed. They end up in an underground parking garage, where they find two women getting into their car. One of the women is stabbed and the other is taken as a hostage. They dump the now flagged vehicle commandeering another of a man with a sick child in the backseat. What will become of the men and their unfortunate hostages? 

The commandeered driver Riccado played by Riccardo Cucciolla.

This violent crime thriller really was a departure for Bava in terms of subject matter and style. I have to say it’s his most bare bones and stripped down film visually. Where this film excels for me is in the content. This film goes hard beginning to end. The chemistry between the characters works extremely well in my opinion. The trio of criminals particularly. The dynamic between the three is extremely watchable. There is an almost childlike friendship between Thirty-two and Blade. There is one scene where they humiliate their hostage Maria that even after multiple viewings of this film makes me feel uneasy. Part of the reason for that is the glee they share regarding this humiliation. Rabid Dogs really was perfectly cast with superb performances from everyone. The film’s finale is perfection. There is a long sordid history about the making of this film and its subsequent releases at the Brussels international film Festival, and home video. I highly recommend googling it if you want to know more.

A BAY OF BLOOD (1971)

A wheelchair bound Countess Donati is killed by her husband Filippo who moments later is killed by an unseen assailant. This starts a chain of plotting and murdering that reveals a lineup of greedy and downright unsavoury characters. 

I showed this to a friend a few years ago who said it was like an Agatha Christie film on meth. I get where she was coming from with that. In your typical Giallo or slasher there is generally one killer. A Bay of Blood has a huge body count with multiple assailants. There are some really original deaths to admire; no wonder it inspired so many slasher films that followed. The Bay’s remote location really is a perfect setting for a massacre. After Black Sunday, this is my most re-watched Mario Bava film. It’s a straight up kill fest and that’s what makes it one of my favourites.

BLOOD AND BLACK LACE (1964)

Isabella, a model employed by Christian Haute Couture is killed on the property by a masked assailant. Isabella kept a diary of everyone’s dirty little secrets. Everyone wants to get their hands on this derisive little document, and someone among them is willing to kill for it. 

One of Mario Bava’s most beautiful and creatively shot films. The colors, the camera work, the sets and set pieces the groovy sixties wardrobe! Even the opening title credits are a thing of beauty. Creative death sequences, a fabulous reveal and a satisfying finale. My third most watched Bava film. Simply stunning.