LISA AND THE DEVIL (1973)

 Even though I'm a big fan of director Mario Bava and star Telly Savalas this has never been one of my favorites. I think it's because it comes down a little too much on the artsy-fartsy side of things and a lot less on the side of actually having any kind of engaging plot. It all looks good, of course, and Telly is good as the devil but if I ever feel the need to re-watch this I will probably go with the super-exploitative, EXORCIST-rip-off, re-edited version know as HOUSE OF EXORCISM but I know that's not a popular choice amongst the majority of horror fans. 

 Interestingly Bava wanted to get Bette Davis to play the blind countess role here but ended up with Alida Valli, which just kept reminding me of SUSPIRIA and how much better that movie is to this. 

KILL, BABY... KILL! (1966)

Caught this one at a drive-in theater recently as part of a zombie movie marathon. This isn't actually a zombie movie of any sort, the killer is the ghost of a little girl who goes around making people commit suicide by staring at them spookily. The reason it got lumped in with zombie flicks is because of it's alternate American re-release title of  CURSE OF THE LIVING DEAD as part of the ORGY OF THE LIVING DEAD triple feature. The version they showed, strangely enough, didn't have any title on it though so I'm not sure how edited or not it was.
 While this is not my favorite Bava film, even his lesser stuff is done so well filmed that's it's hard to dismiss it completely. Erika Blanc shows up in an unusually not very sexy role. There's a good witch vs. bad witch-sort of ending. Some of the plot points, perhaps due to the editing of the version I viewed, doesn't make a whole lot of sense but then again ghost movies are not usually my thing anyway. If they are more your style this one might be more of a thrill. AKA DON'T WALK IN THE PARK, CURSE OF THE DEAD and OPERATION FEAR




                                                             Italian poster:

Japanese poster:

British poster:

Played with that movie with the invisible dinosaur monster!:

and on the famous ORGY OF THE LIVING DEAD triple feature!:

5 DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON (1970)

 A Mario Bava film that I had not seen until now. Probably because I've read so many lukewarm reviews of this one I was in no rush to check it out. That shows how you really can't trust the general consensus about films because the majority of people are sheep-like robots that follow whatever viewpoint is the safest. But I digress. Needless to say I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Probably one of the most stylish Bava flicks out there. A jazzy score with a big rock finale add a lot to what's a fairly basic plot done up with an abundance of style. It's basically a forerunner to his BAY OF BLOOD except that it's not as much of a slasher movie experience since all the murders take place offscreen and falls on the more standard mystery side of things. Edwige Fenech looks amazing and would go on to be in a bunch more giallos after this. So don't believe the standard review and give this a look if you haven't yet. AKA ISLAND OF TERROR

In Pakistan they just shortened the title to MOON AND DOLLS:

RABID DOGS (1974)

 So this is the last movie Mario Bava directed and it really doesn't feel like a Bava movie for the most part. It's probably the grittiest and most realistic of his films with none of the colorful flourishes that he was most famously known for. The story concerns a group of savage killers(including the huge man-monster Luigi Montefiori aka George Eastman aka The Grim Reaper) who are trying to get away from the law and grab a few hostages along the way to torture and kill. Most of the action takes place inside of a car which really negates any of the fancy camerawork which was another Bava trademark. Besides lacking what you might expect of the master of Italian thrillers this is still one of my favorites of his films. There's a scene that's reminiscent of LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT where a girl is forced to piss in front of her tormenters and a generally sleazy tension-filled atmosphere throughout the whole thing. The ending also throws a nice curve-ball that wraps it up in a fitting manner.
 This movie was never totally completed by Bava before his death and wasn't released until 1996 when it was finished by Mario's son Lamberto and released in a different version with newly shot scenes under the title KIDNAPPED. I've never seen this version but from what I hear it's not as good as the original. The original cut, RABID DOGS, came out the following year.

HERCULES IN THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (1961)

 More commonly known as HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD, this version has a tacked-on title and some horrible music with some warbling woman to start things out. Mario Bava is the director and it's pretty fitting since Hercules, played by Reg Park, travels to the underworld of Hades to get some magical fruit or something and while there encounters a few monsters including a stone-monster that looks like Tobonga from FROM HELL IT CAME and some, what I think are, zombies or maybe skeleton ghosts of some sort. Bava uses some interesting colors here, which is something he would become pretty famous for later on in his horror flicks. Christopher Lee plays the man bad-guy and gets to wrestle(get tossed around by) Herc in the big climactic battle which is pretty wacky to see. Pretty standard swords n' sandals flick mostly of interest to Bava fans who want to see his earlier work. AKA HERCULES VS. THE VAMPIRES(I don't recall any vampires?), THE VAMPIRES VS. HERCULES(maybe those zombies were vampires?), WITH HERCULES TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH and HERCULES AT THE CENTER OF THE EARTH.



A Hercules double-feature! Bring the kids:

BLOOD AND BLACK LACE (1964)

  THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH was technically Mario Bava's first giallo but this one from the following year does things a lot better. For one thing this is in color which Bava famously uses to his advantage. Lots of bright reds help tell the tale of a white-masked maniac who tortures and kills folks. It's as if Alfred Hitchcock attempted to make a slasher movie. You get a ladies face burned, a clawed out face and other homicidal slashings which were probably pretty shocking in '64. While I can't say this tops BAY OF BLOOD as my favorite Bava it's a good watch and certainly laid down a blueprint for guys like Argento to follow.

Get your emotions lacerated!:

BARON BLOOD (1972)

 This is not my favorite Mario Bava film but it's still an OK flick from the first master of Italian horror. It's a pretty straightforward horror flick about an evil fella who was fond of torturing and murdering folks until a posse of townsfolk kill him viciously. So of course, this being a Bava movie, one of the evil Baron's descendents bring him back from the dead as a murdering zombie-looking monster. There's also some witches and witchery involved. A lot of stuff happens that doesn't make much sense but it's all filmed really well and looks pretty great. AKA BARON VAMPIRE and THE TORTURE CHAMBER OF BARON BLOOD.




Punk rock!:

HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON (1970)

 Mario Bava takes the giallo and twists it around to bring us this tale of a homicidal(or as he refers to himself: a paranoiac) designer of wedding dresses. It has all the style and trappings of a giallo except that we're told right up front who the killer is. The only real mystery is why he became a psycho in the first place and also when will he get caught. There's also some "ghost"-like shenanigans with a victim showing up to haunt our meat-cleaver wielding star but don't worry this isn't a typical stupid ghost story and I'm pretty sure this is all just symbolic of his growing lunacy. While it's not the best Bava flick or the goriest thing he ever did(released in the U.S. with a PG-rating) it's still worth checking out for the stylishness, groovy soundtrack and wanton bride-hacking.

BAY OF BLOOD (1971)

 While you could argue that the modern-day slasher movie started way back with the original PSYCHO, I think you could most clearly draw the line from this classic Mario Bava giallo to all the stalk-and-slash flicks of the 80's. There are even a few killings in this movie that are directly lifted by the FRIDAY THE 13th series and as much as I love stupid-teens-getting-snuffed-movies this one exists on  a much higher level. Being a giallo the mystery aspects are important and handled well. Even after you think you know exactly what is going on more twists are injected to keep you guessing. There's no skimping on the splatter either which is a plus and the body count includes almost every character at some point and some of those are at very unexpected moments. There's also some nudity thrown in, squid kissing and an amusing surprise ending to wrap it all up. A great movie and a great example of what a really well done slasher flick could be if done by someone who cares about what they are creating. AKA TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE, CARNAGE and THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT PART II(this title makes no sense at all)

BLACK SABBATH (1963)

 The great Mario Bava goes the horror anthology route here and gets Boris Karloff to introduce each story. Needless to say this is an immaculately-shot, beautiful-looking film as pretty much all of Bava's films are. The three stories are all pretty simple as they usually are in this sort of thing. The first one is about a woman being terrorized by phone calls from a psycho and it has a very giallo-esque kind of feeling to it. In fact it's considered by many to be the first actual giallo to be shot in color. The second story features Karloff and is about Wurdalaks which is basically just another name for vampires and it plays out with not too many surprises. The final story is my favorite and concerns a nurse who steals a ring from a dead patient and either goes insane or is stalked by the dead woman or maybe both. The thing that puts this one over so much for me is the general atmosphere of the story and  the makeup used on this old dead lady. That is some spooky-looking stuff there. This is the order if you're watching the original Italian version. If you go with the AIP English-dubbed release they switch the stories around and you get the ring story first followed by the phone call one and finally The Wurdalak. Personally I think it works way better the original way. There's also some different wrap-around segments in English where you get to hear Karloff's actual voice not dubbed into Italian which is really the only plus of watching it this way. Original title= THE THREE FACES OF FEAR

THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1963)

 Probably more interesting as a historical footnote than an entertaining film, this is the movie most film experts point to as having started the giallo sub-genre of Italian films. Since this is the first and it's the early 60's we don't get a lot of the staples of the later more slasher-movie type of films. There's nothing at all graphic here and it's really a more straightforward mystery/thriller than a horror film. It also feels a whole lot like director Mario Bava is more interested in imitating Alfred Hitchcock's style than mastering his own which he would go on to do with his more gothic flicks made around this same time. It is an interesting starting point though and worth a watch. Probably more fun for fans of Hitchcock suspense tales or anyone that wants to see a young John Saxon in action. This was retitled THE EVIL EYE by AIP in America and they tried to play up a supernatural angle which doesn't really exist in the film.

THE MASK OF THE DEMON (1960)

Probably better known under its BLACK SUNDAY alternate title, this old time Italian horror/witchcraft tale is notable for the amazingly attractive presence of its anime eyed star Miss Barbara Steele. Also notable for having some great shots by horror master director Mario Bava. Besides these things it is a pretty ordinary 60's Italian flick with people being punished for being witches(which includes getting a heavy metal "Mask Of Satan" hammered onto their faces in addition to the more typical burnings at the stake) and then coming back seeking revenge for being executed. Last time I saw this was at the beginning of an all-night horror marathon which, I must say, made for a pretty slow start to the evening. Director Riccardo Freda made a few similar 60's Italian horror flicks around this same time also which are worth checking out if you dig this one.

Also known as THE MASK OF SATAN:

SHOCK (1977)

Daria Nicolodi vs. a bunch of inanimate objects? Mario Bava's last movie is a pretty big letdown from the Italian master of the gothic horror film. This one's basically a pretty stupid, mostly boring haunted house/possession movie which then turns out to not even be what it seems to be. The twists aren't unexpected at all. My main problem is the annoying little jackass kid in this. Is every little boy in Italy an irritating little pansy? If you watch enough of these Italian horror flicks you would definitely think so. In this one he's even kind of the hero of the story. A hero who no one will root for due to his grating performance. Hard to believe this was the same director as DANGER: DIABOLIK or BLACK SABBATH. It seems closer to one of the crappier Lucio Fulci films like MANHATTAN BABY or THE PSYCHIC or something like that. A.K.A.- BEYOND THE DOOR II (I've never seen BEYOND THE DOOR but after watching this I don't really know if I need to)

A nifty double feature with that killer alien on Earth movie!: