1971 - A BAY OF BLOOD, Bava's murder classic

Mario Bava's A Bay of Blood kills a lot of actors in fact it's safe to say the entire cast. The film set a new standard for grisly killing and was obviously important to the modern slasher movie which if that group of filmmakers didn't downright plagiarize from it were certainly influenced by it.

The gory killing effects were courtesy of Carlo Rambaldi who later on would build the cute little E.T. creature for Steven Spielberg amongst others.  The story such that it is involves people getting knocked off at a home on a bay.  It all comes down to a will that would leave property to whoever is left alive in order to build a luxury resort. Oh and whatever you do don't have sex in this movie if will not have a happy conclusion,

 

If you are looking for a serious catharsis of violence in your life this is probably the film for you, after 84 minutes of people getting their heads chopped off or spears run through their bodies or axes dismembering body parts you probably won't have a violence impulse for a while, at least a week anyway.

 

A Bay of Blood is some kind of classic I guess.  Bava a talented cinematographer and director was obviously attracted to this genre and he clearly had a lot of influence on many filmmakers.  The ending is actually kind of sick but seems to work for the film.

1968 - DANGER DIABOLIK, an early comic book film

 Probably the last person in the world to be directing a comic book film would be Mario Bava a filmmaker usually associated with the horror genre.  Surprisingly Danger Diabolik turned out pretty well.

Diabolik, a master criminal created by two sisters, is a comic book character that started in 1962 and ran for approximately 900 volumes.  The rights to the character were purchased by Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis.  De Laurentiis produced this film along with another comic book movie Barbarella at the same time. After an abortive start which saw De Laurentiis firing the original director Seth Holt and the recasting of the female role originally played by Catherine Denevue of all people, director Mario Bava took charge.

As was the case with Bava, he brought his considerable visual skills to the film.  He was also a master of trick photography and was known as a director who could class up a film production without spending a lot of money, something that probably must have appealed to De Laurentiis.

 

John Phillip Law played the master criminal Diabolik who pulls off one spectacular robbery after another with the help of his very sexy mistress/assistant Eva Kant played by Marisa Mell.  The rest of the cast had actors like Michel Piccoli who I usually think of as working with directors like Bunuel and Goddard.  Thunderball villain,  Adolfo Celli playing the real bad bad guy of this film and English comedian Terry Thomas who has a small role as the Minister of Finance, who has to persuade people to pay their taxes after Diabolik blows up all the tax offices.

 

Considering how overblown the comic book to film franchise has become since the domination of Marvel studios, it's kind of a relief to see a film that actually knows when to play up the camp with colorful visuals and entertaining but not go so over the top on the action scenes. 

The film was written by Dino Maiuri, Brian Degas, Tudor Gates and Mario Bava.  The running time is 105 minutes.

1970 - FIVE DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON, more Mario Bava Eurotrash

 Mario Bava's film is a direct ripoff from Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians.  Stick a bunch of people on a remote island than have one of them bump them off the rest one at a time.   

This is not one of the better Bava films but it does have it's moments.  The hanging of the dead bodies in the walk in meat locker, the usual graphic and kind of sick killings and the general Eurotrash vibe throughout the film are worth a one time look

As with some of these later films Bava, the inspiration and lack of creativity seems extremely apparent.  Perhaps the lack of originality in the story just couldn't get Bava to work up much enthusiasm.   He had been making these mad killer movies for about 15 years.

On the positive side, the film is nice and short.

78 minutes, written by Mario di Nardo.

1963 - THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, early giallo film

The Girl Who Knew Too Much is a very early giallo film shot by Mario Bava who is one of the creators of this genre.  To refresh everyone's memory, giallo films feature lots of murders, blood, suspense and a little sex.  

As one of the first giallo films this one sticks to that formula.  Murders with people getting knives in their backs and a young blonde heroine who is constantly being stalked by a killer while everyone around her are dropping like flies sprayed with insect killer.

The film is photographed by the director Mario Bava in his full gothic look.  Nothing like a nice creepy film in black and white. 

86 minutes, written by Ennio De Concin, Sergio Corbucci, Eliana de Sabata, Mino Guerrini,  Franco Prosperi and Mario Bava.

1960 - BLACK SUNDAY, horror film from Mario Bava

Barbara Steele with the big anime eyes, is the star of this horror film that has something to do with witches and vampires being resurrected 200 years after they were entombed.  Steele got a reputation as a woman that Italian directors liked to tie up at the stake and then film some sort of soft core S&M whipping scene for their horror movies.  

Black Sunday does have good Gothic photography.  The director Mario Bava, frequently photographed his own films and was an expert at creating a creepy feeling in his films.   Bava also has a credit in the screenplay that is supposed based on a short story by Nikolai Gogol although there is probably not too much left of the story in this adaptation.  The story is a confusing mess.

As a director you get what you get with Bava, as much gruesome stuff as he could get away with even for 1960.  The photography and the creepy studio atmosphere are  good even if the cast and the story are just there for Bava to indulge himself with his usual excesses.

87 minutes, written by Mario Bava.

1970 - HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON, just in time for Christmas

Psycho killer time once again from Mario Bava.  This version is told from the point of view of the killer as he tries to figure out why he wants to kill.  But in the meantime while he works out his personal issues he slaughters brides to be and burns their bodies.

This is up to the usual high Bava standards, creepy killings and gorgeous gothic photography which Bava did himself

Bava has gone down this road before and Hatchet for the Honeymoon is very reminiscent of his horror classic Blood and Black Lace, particularly with the emphasis on killing beautiful models.

If this kind of film has to be made then I guess it's very well made but there is a "seen it all before" aspect to this film which it can't shake off.

105 minutes written by Santiago Moncada and Maro Bava.

1959 - CALTIKI THE IMMORTAL MONSTER, dubbed Italian science fiction with all the cliches.

Italian Blob like film with the usual outrageous pilfering from films like The Blob and The Quatermass Experiment and god knows what else they could steal from.  The director is someone named Riccardo Freda who apparently cared so little for the film he let his cinematographer Mario Bava shoot most of it. 

Caltiki is a bunch of goo that absorbs people and turns into a bigger bunch of goo.  Even for a 1950's horror film those darn Italians show the bodies getting eating away by the Caltiki goo which is still pretty disgusting even by today's standards.  One guy gets some of the goo on himself and slowly starts to decompose and go mad at the same time.  

It all kind of comes to a screaming halt when the Mexican military shows up and burns the Caltiki goo up with a bunch of flame throwers which is actually a pretty cool scene in the film. 

As with a lot of these Italian films Caliki The Immortal Monster has good stuff and bad stuff in it.  The good stuff is the photography which is very good and atmospheric and some of the scenes setting up the monster which are fairly well done.  The bad stuff includes a ridiculous monster that looks like a lumpy blanket that someone dumped sparkly stuff on and some pretty bad (but entertaining) models and miniatures.

 The film clearly had a small budget so what they accomplished with it is fairly impressive.  For the most part, 1950's science fiction films were never regarded very highly.  Caltiki The Immortal Monster is also short which helps a lot while watching it. 

76 minutes.

1963 - BLACK SABBATH, Italian horror trilogy from Mario Bava.

Apparently American International Pictures (AIP)  kind of made a mess of Bava's horror anthology.  They rearranged the order of these short films, cut some of the blood and trimmed a lesbian subplot.  AIP's grand old horror man Boris Karloff provided introductions for each of the stories which wasn't in the original version of the film and naturally they dubbed it for American audiences. 

The Drop of Water, the first film is a ghost story about a nurse who steals a ring off of a corpse she is preparing for burial.  The film is photographed with Bava's usual fascination with the colors green and blue.  Bava also adds an interesting soundtrack to the film.

The Telephone, is almost a short version of a giallo film.  A prostitute is harassed on the phone by her supposedly dead ex pimp.  This was apparently the film that AIP altered the most.  When film buffs talk about Bava being the father of the modern horror film, they are kind of referring to the "beautiful woman stalked by an unseen killer" genre.

The Wurdalak, is based on a story by Tolstoy of all people.  This was probably the best film of the three.  Boris Karloff plays the head of a Russian family.  He may or may not have been infected by vampirism and turned into a wurdalak, a vampire that only drinks the blood of family members.  Bava really goes for all the gothic atmosphere in this film and it's a very effective horror story. 

92 minutes.

1965 - PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES, not to bad Italian science fiction

Two spaceships land on a strange planet and (see above title) are at risk from the strange forces found on the planet.

Pretty good low budget science fiction from Mario Bava the Italian horror guy who has a serious following of film buffs.  Bava was usually known for his horror and giallo films and in many ways this is a horror film with science fiction stuff in it. 

Bava was known for making something out of nothing, he was a master at using trick photography to make sets look bigger than they were.  He has a thing for the color green which he uses to invoke a mood of eeriness.   You also know this must be a Bava film since it has lots of blood and beautiful Italian blondes in danger.

The people that made Alien were clearly influenced by this film, particularly in one scene where the space guys explore an abandoned alien spaceship.

An interesting story with a clever and tricky ending.

88 minutes

1964 - BLOOD AND BLACK LACE, giallo film is some sort of icky classic

Essentially a series of murders brilliantly staged by the director/co writer Mario Bava. 

The "who really cares" plot has something to do with a diary kept by a fashion model that will incriminate certain individuals.  The film is an excuse to murder some Italian fashion models in if I dare say the word "artistic" ways.  Blood and Black Lace also has a complex murder mystery plot that really adds nothing to the film.  The focus is completely on creative ways of sadistically killing beautiful women.

This film is not Son of Psycho, there is nothing of the careful character detail and psychological motivation that Hitchcock worked so hard to achieve.  Mario Bava was a very good cinematographer and he did a lot of the photography on the films he directed.  The film does look very good in a gaudy color kind of way.

I would love to say this film was influential on the horror/slasher genre, with films like the Friday the 13th series and the Halloween series, but I've never seen any of those films...

Blood and Black Lace walks a very fine and not subtle line between eroticism and sadism.  A very disturbing film.

88 murderous and intense minutes.

1963 - Mario Bava's WHIP AND THE BODY is an S&M love story featuring the color green

Mario Bava was a cult director in Italy specializing in Gothic horror films.

Whip and the Body features Christopher Lee as an evil guy involved in a sado masochist relationship with his brother's fiancee played by Dali Lavi. Their fun and games involve him whipping her into a sexual frenzy on the family castle beach front while saying things like "you always loved violence." When he turns up dead, the film moves into the supernatural area. Is he actually dead or has he come back as a ghost?

Bava was a photographer before he was a director so he loads the film up with lots of Gothic trappings, he particularly seems to enjoy using the color green to cast a mood of mystery throughout the many nighttime scenes, and the look of the film is kind of interesting in a garish kind of way. I guess you would call this kind of film lurid.

If you have a taste for a version of Wuthering Heights where Heathcliff beats the crap out of Cathy with a whip, this is the film for you.

85 minutes.