Get Off on the Goldfoot: Kicking off Summer with Vincent Price

While the calendar might denote a specific day that summer begins astrologically, I think most of us will agree that when June arrives, summer is upon us. Here at the Lair, it’s no different. It’s the time of year I break out the Bermuda shorts, drag out the lawn chair, slather up with coconut oil, and start soaking in the rays. It also means that my heart turns to the lighter side of genre fare. From the blood soaked beaches to the dense tropic jungles, you’ll find me turning up the heat all summer long. To start it off, I wanted to bring in the king of cool in a pair of sizzling films. When you think about beaches, surf, and sand, the name Vincent Price surely springs to mind right away. Well, perhaps not right away, but I think today I can bring it  a little closer with two films featuring Price commanding a phalanx of two pieces.

Black Sabbath (1963): Less Tony Iommi, More Boris Karloff

One hundred and twenty two years ago today, at 36 Forest Hill Road, Peckham Rye, London, England, William Henry Pratt was born. One hundred years ago, Pratt traveled to Canada to persue a career in acting and changed his name to Boris Karloff. Seventy eight years ago, Karloff donned Jack Pierce’s makeup and became the Frankenstein monster. Once upon a time in Italy, forty six years ago, Boris made a film with Mario Bava, and that brings us to today, the start of the Boris Karloff blogathon brought to you by Frankensteinia. There’s going to be a lot of Karloff talk right here at the Lair and on a ton of other great sites all the week, and I’m really excited to get to start with one of my favorite Karloff films.

Long before I knew anything about Mario Bava; I remember catching Black Sabbath playing on TBS sometime in the early eighties. The moody atmospheric film was completely different from anything I’d seen Karloff in before, and it completely captured my imagination. In many ways I can trace my fascination with Italian horror cinema back to seeing this film. When my interest into the genre was kindled some years later, it was partially because I found out Black Sabbath’s country of origin, and I immediately dropped a chunk of change on the two Anchor Bay Mario Bava boxed sets. They contain many great films, and I’ve talked about most of them at one time or another. Yet somehow I’d never talked about that mysterious first film that taught me about the varied career of Boris Karloff and the atmospheric films of Mario Bava.

Black Sabbath is an anthology film, and depending on if you see the American International Pictures release or the Italian film, the order and feeling of the stories varies quite a bit. While I am sure that the original version I saw was the AIP release, for the purposes of this review, I watched the Italian version. The film is made of three stories, and the Italian title of the film, I tre volti della paura, translates as The Three Faces of Fear. It was given the title Black Sabbath by AIP to capitalize on the success of Bava’s Black Sunday which they had also distributed in America. In the Italian version, the three stories are book ended by Boris Karloff’s monologs which were refilmed, re-cut, and reordered for the AIP version. Boris once lamented their omission from the US version of the film and reminisced about how much fun had had shooting them.

After Karloff introduces the film while bathed in a glow of red and blue light, the film begins with ‘The Telephone’. As the segment begins, high class call girl Rosy (Michele Mercier) is harassed by a series of calls where seemingly there is no one on the other end of the line. After a few calls, a strange man begins to harass her and vows to strangle her to death. The caller finally reveals himself to be Frank (Milo Quesada), her ex-pimp, who has escaped from jail, and Rosy seeks solace with her estranged lesbian lover Mary (Lydia Alfonsi) who she invites over. The rest of the tale unfolds with lies, deceit, and mistaken identity combining for an unseemly end for all three.

"The Telephone" is a moody, atmospheric mini-gialli that functions as a great introduction to the stylish world of Mario Bava’s film making. In some ways, I feel like this part of the film with its jazzy score, moody lighting, and beautiful women foretell of Bava’s stylish 1964 film Blood and Black Lace. This is segment is truely Hitchcockian, but coupled with the Italian bent for sleaze that makes everything better. It doesn’t hurt that both women are absolute beauties either. It’s a wonderfully filmed story that hints at the direction Bava’s work would take.

The next segment is “The Wuderlack“, based on the story La famille du Vourdalak (Family of the Vourdalak) by Leo Tolstoy. As in Tolstoy’s tale, a traveler ends up in a small village just as their father, Gorcha (Boris Karloff) has gone off to fight a criminal named Ailbeck. Before he left, he warned them that if he did not return in five days, he would become infected with the blood curse wuderlack (a.k.a vampirism). In exactly five days, Gorcha does return, but he is a haggard, changed man. The family must decide what to do with Gorcha before he gets a chance to do all of them in.

If the first face of fear was the human monster, the second is a decidedly supernatural menace. Not only is this period tale gorgeously filmed, but it really utilized the gravitas that Karloff could bring to the screen in a spooky role. Gorcha is a horrifying character, and the iconic image of him staring through the window at the traveler always sticks in my head. Lavish and exciting, this second tale really keeps the film moving along at a great pace, and it does not at all draw back form the atmospheric tone of Bava’s film even though its setting wildly deviates. The Wunderlack is a classily told tale of vampirism, and there’s a pretty interesting post about the source materials over HERE. Bava would never touch on the classical vampire again (only the futuristic kind in 1964’s Planet of the Vampires), but the style of this film with it’s gothic setting, colored lights, and heavy fog reminded me much of his 1972 film Baron Blood.

The final segment is called “The Drop of Water” again casts the face of fear in a supernatural light, but this time the menace is a spirit attached to a ring. When an elderly medium dies, Helen Chester (Jacqueline Pierreux), the nurse who has been charged with attending to the body, steals a ring from the old lady’s finger. As she does she knocks over a glass of water and a fly which has been drawn to the corpse buzzes around her head. Later that night, the lights at her home go out, there is the sound of dripping water, and Miss Chester receives an unexpected visitor.

“The Drop is Water” is also credited to a Russian author, this time Anton Chekov. I tried to track down some information on this story and came up empty so who knows where exactly Bava got this tale. “The Drop of Water” is the most macabre of the three tales with its ghastly ghost and Miss Chester’s terrifying fate. The ghost has an especially unnerving appearance, and its head was sculpted by Mario’s father Eugenio Bava. The majority of this segment focuses solely on Jacqueline Pierreux as Helen Chester, and her portrayal of a woman haunted by guilt and ghosts is very effective. While this segment has the most straightforward story of the three, I find it highly enjoyable. While there are many hints at Bava’s later work in this segment as well, the film that most often comes to mind during it is Susperia. Bava’s use of colored gels and atmospheric sequences undoubtedly had a profound influence on Argento’s films.

Only in the last moments of the film where Karloff bids us a farewell does Bava make a misstep. As Karloff still dressed as Gorka menacingly bids us to “Dream of me. We’ll become friends.” the camera rolls back and reveals the set, the cameras, and the special effects. While I can almost see this as an “it’s only a movie, folks” reassurance to those weak of heart, its tone becomes so vastly different in those last few seconds that I have a hard time reconciling it with the rest of the film. That being said, it’s not like ten seconds of footage at the end of the film could ruin the experience.

Black Sabbath is one of my favorite Italian films, Bava films, and anthology films. Its three segments are all very different, but with the stylish steady hand of Mario Bava guiding each of them, they feel like a cohesive experience. If you’re a fan of Bava, Karloff, or Italian cinema, this is a must watch, and I can’t recommend it enough. So check it out, and also check out Frankensteinia for a lot more about Karloff for today, his birthday, and all this week. This isn’t the last we’ve seen of Boris around here this week either, so until next time, Dream of me. We’ll become friends. Hmmm, that sounds creepy in an entirely different way when I type it out.

Bugg Rating

B.L.O.G Presents Lisa and the Devil (1973)

As Good Friday and Easter bear down on us, it’s a good time to remember that God could amount to nothing if it wasn’t for his arch nemesis The Devil. It is said that the Devil takes on many forms to tempt the hearts of men…and women, and this is most certainly true. For the Devil must have his due, and you loyal Lair-ers must have your B.L.O.G entry for this week. So I am devilishly proud to introduce tonight’s Beautiful Lady of Genre…..

German born Elke got her start in film after winning a beauty contest while on vacation in Italy. From there she starred in several Italian and German productions and eventually made a name for herself as a European sex symbol. It wasn’t long before Hollywood came knocking, and many non-genre fans will recognize Elke from her role in the Peter Sellers classic A Shot in the Dark. She continued to work in films both in Europe and America, and in 1972, she made her first film with the Italian horror maestro Mario Bava when she starred in Baron Blood. Off the success of that film, Bava enlisted Sommer for yet another, a moody an atmospheric work of suspense. What Bava did not know was that his own work would fall into the clutches of Old Scratch, but more on that later. For now let’s sit back and enjoy…..

Lisa and the Devil (1973) starring Elke Sommer, Telly Savalas, Alessio Orano, and Alda Valli. Directed by Mario Bava. 

While traveling across Spain with her friend, Lisa (Sommer) decides to tour a church where she sees a fresco showing Satan harvesting souls to take back to hell. She is soon distracted by music coming from an antique shop and splits off from the group to check it out. While browsing in the shop, she encounters a bald man with the same profile as the painting of Satan, who seems to be purchasing a mannequin of a mustached man. Her nerves frazzled, Lisa steps back out onto the Spanish streets only to become hopelessly lost. 

After encountering the bald man from the store on the streets and then a man who looked like the mannequin, Lisa finally finds safety when an affluent couple agrees to give her a ride. However their car breaks down in front of a large mansion, and they are forced to seek refuge there. Once inside they meet the strange blind Countess (Valli), her squirrelly son Max (Orano), and their butler, the bald man from the antique shop, Leandro (Savalas). Lisa soon finds herself caught up in the tangled history of the strange family, and Max begins to believe she is his long lost love come back to life. With each passing moment, Lisa’s stay becomes more dangerous, and it all may be the work of the Devil come to drag souls down to Hell. 

The Bugg Picture

Lisa and the Devil is a film which has a hellacious history of its own. Flopping in Italy at the time of its release and unable to find an American distributor, producer Alfredo Leone, who had given Bava money to make any project the director wished, began to convince Mario that they should do reshoots on the film. Bava finally acquiesced although he was dismayed by the graphic sexual and violent content that Leone wanted. It is said that Bava would do the setups for the scenes, and then leave the set letting Leone direct the footage. In the end with some 20 minutes of footage removed from the film and replaced with the new shots, the film was re-released as House of Exorcism in order to cash in on the success of The Exorcist. The film fared no better in this form and was quickly lambasted for being a blatant rip off. Sadly, the film that Bava made was not seen in the United States until years after his passing. In fact, for many years it was believed that the original film had been lost. 

That was not the case though, and though the magic of the DVD age we now have a magnificent transfer of the film which includes both the original and revamped versions. While I viewed both films, for the sake of brevity let’s just say that Alfredo Leone was a ham-fisted director, and the House of Exorcism is only enjoyable because of the wild abandon Ms. Sommer allows herself to go to during the possession scenes. Apart from that Lisa and the Devil, while not perfect, is a far superior film. 

What makes Lisa and the Devil a better film is that traditional earmark of Mario Bava’s work, the atmosphere. This film practically oozes a creepy vibe even during the early daytime shots of the Spanish streets. Once we are ensconced in the Countess’ creepy mansion with its gothic looks and strange unsettling décor, we are firmly into the world of suspense that Bava was creating. Working for the only time with cinematographer Cecilio Panigua (100 Rifles, The Hunting Party), the film maintains the style that fans of Bava’s work have become accustomed to, the incredible lighting and the play with light and shadow. What Panigua added to this mix is a wonderful sense of motion with the camera that moved just as slyly as the intricate plot. 

I think the reason many people are turned off by the film is that it is devilishly (pun intended) hard to follow. With no explanation of events or actions, the film leaves you guessing not only about the end, but one scene to the next. Each scene unfolds before the audience in a manner that leaves you as bewildered and confused as poor Lisa. There is very little that Mario Bava did unintentionally, and I truly believe this is done entirely on purpose. By the time the end rolls around, the dedicated viewer who has been hanging on every plot thread will find themselves rewarded by and ending that is both challenging and horrifying. 

As is usual with a complex script, without the correct actors it would be all for naught. Here Bava’s cast performs beautifully. Elke Sommer not only looks beautiful, but she also wonderfully transmits all the emotions that Lisa experiences. Paranoia, confusion, sadness, and abject terror all reflected in her performance so skillfully that it would do Ms. Sommer a disservice to dismiss her as simply a pretty face. Speaking of faces, Telly Savalas has to have one of the most recognizable mugs in show business. With a quiet menace, Savalas’ Leandro stalks each of his scenes, and in the hands of a less charismatic actor, the role could have felt overwrought and foolish. Instead, Savalas attracts the eye each time he is on screen, and not just because of his lollypop. That’s right a lollypop. It seems that in late 1972 Savalas had just quit smoking and was using a sucker to fend off the craving, and just as the sucker appeared in Kojak (which began filming the same year) it shows up here as a very strange touch. Alessio Orano and Alda Valli both fill their roles with enough vigor to sell their crazed dysfunctional family and add considerably to the unsettling tone of the film. 

I have almost no problems when it comes to this film, but I’m not sure that’s because I watched the far inferior House of Exorcism directly after. Either way, Lisa and the Devil is a very enjoyable film with an incredible history. While it is not among my personal top 5 Bava films (Twitch of a Death Nerve, The Girl Who Knew Too Much, Blood and Black Lace, Baron Blood, and Black Sunday), it does come up with a strong enough performance that it would not be far behind those titles. If you have a chance to see this one, try and watch both it and it’s chopped up counterpart. Truly a unique experience and one I do recommend. 

The Bugg Rating 

Sadly, because Lisa and the Devil was never properly released, it has to trailer. Instead I give you the trailer for it's bizarre twin House of Exorcism 

Terrifying Tuesday: Kill, Baby, Kill (1966)

I just can’t get enough vengeful daughters this week, but tonight’s female on the warpath leaves behind the science in favor of a more macabre solution to her issues. Also tonight we leave Spain behind and travel to Italy to visit an old friend. Sometimes, in the deluge of films to watch, I find myself unable to revisit some directors that I dearly love. For pure visual delight, Mario Bava always manages to dazzle. In tonight’s tale we are treated to another feast for the eyes when Bava plays with an array of dazzling color and set design.  

Kill, Baby, Kill [Italian: Operazione paura] (1966) starring Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Erika Blanc, Fabienne Dali, Valerio Valeri, and Giovanna Galletti. Directed by Mario Bava. 

Dr. Eswai (Rossi-Stuart), a coroner, is called to a remote Transylvanian village to assist Inspector Kruger in the investigation of a death of a young girl. The locals object to the meddling of the Coroner and try to obstruct him from tampering with the body. When he is finally able to perform the autopsy, he finds a coin has been placed in the girl’s heart. He learns of the local superstition from the nurse, Monica (Blanc), who has been sent to assist him. As a native of the area, she knows the villagers believe that only a gold coin in the heart will grant peace in the afterlife to a soul which has met a violent end. 

As the Doctor begins to investigate, he uncovers the tale of Melissa (Valeri), a young girl trampled to death at a village festival. The citizens of the town believe they are haunted by the vengeful spirit of the little girl, but Eswai scoffs at them. He believes they are haunted by their own guilt coupled with ignorant superstition. However when Inspector Krugar is found dead of a self inflicted gunshot, Eswai begins to question his own beliefs. With the help of local witch Ruth, the mystery of Melissa and her mother, Baroness Grafs (Galletti), slowly begins to come to light, and the good doctor and Monica are drawn to the Baroness’ castle where the truth will all be known. 

Film Facts

--Two weeks into filming, the producers ran out of money. Bava and the cast finished the film without any pay. 

--This was the first of his father’s films that Lambert Bava served as Assistant Director. 

--Carlo Rustic Elli, who handled the massive score, was a veteran composer with 156 credits to his name before Kill, Baby, Kill. He would go on to turn in music for Fulci’s 1973 film White Fang and Joe D’Amato’s fantasy film Ator, the Invincible among many others. 

--Piero Lulli appeared here as Inspector Kruger, but he had a long career that spanned across many genres. He ended his career in 1977 after his turn in the infamous Nazi Love Camp 27. 

The Bug Speaks

A triumph of style and depth, the screen is filled with a series of sumptuous delights for the eyes for nearly the whole of Kill, Baby, Kill’s 85 minute running time. From the moment we see daylight as the Doctor arrives in town, we are plunged into a world ruled by tones of black, blue, and green. Each scene seems to have been given a thorough working by the lightning department, and Bava, working a with frequent collaborator cinematographer Antonio Rinaldi, takes full advantage of each shot. The screen is alive with colors, and with the richly detailed sets, I believe they were also playing with perspective. 

I would love to say that this film is a feast for all the senses, but other than for sight, I don’t think it does much for the rest of the gang. Perhaps I’m wrong though, let’s check. Well, as far as smell, there’s the titles this film has repeatedly been saddled with. Kill, Baby, Kill conjures hipster notions and sounds a bit more like Russ Meyer fare. The original Italian title, Operazione paura, has a literal translation of Operation Fear. While the spy film was certainly in vogue by ‘66, this film decidedly does not fit that bill. The German Die Toten Augen des Dr. Dracula (The dead eyes of Dr. Dracula) is equally as baffling, and the list goes on with Don’t Walk in the Park and Curse of the Living Dead. The fact that this Gothic horror defies description boggles the mind, and probably is at fault for the lack of praise this film receives. 

To keep up the exploration of the senses (after all I’ve started it now), you will hear a good bit of Carlo Rustichelli’s score, and this is where the film begins to lose footing. The orchestral score is so pervasive that often it feels that Bava was leaning too heavily on the score to create tension though some rather bland, slowly paced scenes. Perhaps intended to strike the tone that many Hammer film scores achieve, it instead quickly becomes a nuisance. The feeling of the film suffers from this as well, but some of the acting touches such a nerve that it is wonderful to watch.

 While neither of the leads, the Doctor or Monika, provide much entertainment. (Although Erika Blanc is quite fetching.), Fabienne Dali’s witchy woman Ruth and her paramour Burgomeister Karl (Luciano Catenacci) provide the most inspired acting. Dali commands the screen every time she appears, and ultimately she supplants the erstwhile Doctor as the film’s true hero.  Luciano Catenacci gives a thrilling performance that will remain the best bug eyed frenzy I have seen from an actor this side of Peter Lorre. This is enhances by some of the scenes where Bava did some beautiful work with shadow on the Burgomeister’s bald head. 

Another character whose role is defined by the camera is Valerio Valeri as Melissa. Valeri is actually a little dark haired boy dressed up like a little blonde girl. Now that’s no kind of Sleepaway Camp-esque spoiler (Oops, I managed to spoil SC by denying a spoiler! Curses!), Bava met with many young girls for the part, but when he saw Valerio, Mario found his spectral little girl. Melissa’s slightly masculine features manage to add to the creepiness of her supernatural menace. Kill, Baby, Kill also might have served as inspiration for Stanley Kubrick in The Shining. The long hallway shots of the little blonde girl playing with a ball are very reminiscent of those in the Stephen King adaptation. 

In the end the question is what kind of taste did this film leave in my mouth. Well, after licking the DVD for some time, I decided a literal answer might not be what I was looking for. (If you want one, one word: Pears.) Instead I’ll say that Kill, Baby, Kill is again another triumph of Bava’s vision as a film maker. However the shaky story and slow pacing do detract from this film, but while these had their effect, my overall enjoyment factor of the film was quite high. Had it not been for the dazzling visuals (and I didn’t even get a chance to touch on the eerie dream sequences with the killer baby doll), I may have lost interest in the film. It really didn’t offer up much in the way of story. Fans of Bava’s will want to see this one for it’s stylistic qualities, and anyone interested in the obscure Hammer films will probably find much to like. 

Bug Rating 

Terrifying Tuesday: Schock (1977)

Suburbia is damn scary, and in the late nineteen seventies and early '80's, horror had come into it's own there. In the midst of the nuclear family we saw films like The Amityville Horror, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Poltergeist take advantage of the serenity of the tree lined streets of middle America. In 1977, Mario Bava made his last film, an exploration of fear set against the backdrop  suburban harmony. While the film was a departure from the metropolitan or gothic setting of many of his films, the rich color palette and delicate camera work still remained. Also in attendance were the tension, fear, and foreboding qualities which give Bava's films such a great atmosphere, but if you're not ready for them they could give you a nasty....

Schock (1977) starring Daria Nicolodi, John Steiner, David Colin Jr., and Ivan Rassimov. Directed by Mario Bava

Dora Baldini (Nicolodi), her second husband Bruno (Steiner), and son Marco (Colin Jr.) return to the house that Dora lived in with her first husband, Carlo. As they begin setting into the house, Marco begins to act strangely and asks many questions about the death of his father. Dora avoids telling Marco that his father committed suicide, but she does finally explain to him that his father is dead. When he sees Dora and Bruno exchange a kiss at a dinner party, he glares menacingly at his mother and even goes so far as to intone creepily, "Mother, I have to kill you."

Bruno does not take Marco's actions to heart, and he chalks them up to the antics of a seven year old. Yet Dora thinks there are other forces at work, and she begins to have strange and nightmarish visions. Marco's behavior goes to new extremes as he begins to sexualize Dora. Worried that his wife is having a breakdown, Bruno gives her a drug to help her sleep, but while she is dreaming Dora is menaced by visions of a razor cutting at her body. With each passing day Marco begins to exhibit more and more unnatural abilities, and even though Marco's doctor says the boy is fine, Dora begins to believe that the boy is becoming a conduit for the spirit of his dead father. 

Film Facts

--Shock (or Schock as the original title reads) was released in North America under the title Beyond the Door II. The film Beyond the Door (1974) was an Exorcist rip off by director Ovidio Assonitis. 

--This was the only Bava film released to theaters in North America with no cuts or additional footage. 

--At the time Daria Nicolodi was the girlfriend of director Dario Argento. 

--John Stiener was a favorite of director Tinto Brass, and he appeared in the films Paprika (1991), Caligula (1979) and Salon Kitty (1976).

The Bug Speaks

Let me start off by saying that some folks have Fulci, some have Argento, some have Deodato or D'Amato, but me, I got Bava. Ever since I discovered the works of Bava a few months back, I have been fascinated by the level of film making and the mastery of the screen he demonstrates. Even here in his last theatrical production, he still holds the same skills that made films like Black Sunday and Blood and Black Lace so thrilling. While many of the Italian directors make bloodier, scarier, more extreme films than Mario. Not a one of the could make the thick atmosphere of their films roll off the screen and make the air crackle with so much tension. This may be a hyperbolic statement, and I am fully prepared for people to take it as such. I just wanted to add in this paragraph as a disclaimer of sorts so you folks know where I'm coming from. 

From the very first scenes where we are introduced to the family's new house, the way the camera moves about the partially furnished rooms succeeds in making everything from a piano to modular shelving have a spooky feel. The house, while never looking like anything other than a normal middle class abode (except perhaps the ultra gloomy basement), becomes a main player in the tale. It feels as if the secrets that the house contains are seeping from the walls at every moment. 

The majority of the acting turned in is very well done. Nicolodi does a fine job as the idyllic, but troubled wife, whose decent into madness makes even the audience question what it is seeing. Her portrayal of fear in the effects laden shots make them come alive, and the look in her eyes is spot on perfect. John Steiner's turn as the comforting second husband Bruno seemed like a one note performance, but one of the movie's best thrills is how his character takes an important dramatic turn. The movie in a way depends on the acting of David Colin Jr., and it is always an unsure thing to leave so much of the narrative structure of a film in the hands of a 7 year old. However Colin's mix of innocence, malice, and murderous intent is a deft performance that many adult actors would find hard to match. There is also a brief role filled by Jungle Holocaust's Ivan Rassimov. While he gets fourth billing for an incredibly small role, it was interesting to see Ivan cleaned up and bathed for a change.

The real star of the film was of course Mario Bava. Filming this last effort in conjunction with his son Lamberto as Assistant Director, the elder's finely crafted visual style is on full display. The camera moves smoothly around rooms and picks up every shadow and color change the director intended. Each room seems to have a very specific identity and just as he once used shadows and light to convey ideas in his earlier films, Bava now had full mastery over the subtle nuances in color and how they affected the tone and quality of the composition. 

Also crucial to the feel of the film is the very strange score by a group called I Libra. The group, and the individuals that comprised it, never did any work outside of this film. The music they bring to the film has much in common with the popular scores of Argento's films by Goblin. Yet in a way are reminiscent of Tangerine Dream score for Legend. It gives the film a very modern feel without compromising the eeriness which made scores by musicians such as Frizzi or Nicholai so memorable. It is truly a soundscape which I wish to add to my collection, and I will feverishly be searching for a copy of the soundtrack. 

This is a film, like most all Bava, that I will certainly go back to from time to time. While it doesn't have the majesty of his classic films, it certainly proved that the old dog still had plenty of tricks right up until the end. With solid performances, a well paced story, and some genuine scares, this film is a must for any Bava fan and even a great watch for the uninitiated. 

Bug Rating

LBL Feature Presentation: Mario Bava's Black Sunday

It's the end of the month, and so that sadly brings us to the end of the Mario Bava feature. Don't fret though, there's so much more Bava I want to cover. After all there's still vikings, space vampires, sex comedies, spaghetti westerns, Vincent Price, and still more giallo waiting to be covered. So surely this is not the last we'll see of Mr. Bava here at the Lair. These four weeks have given me a greater appreciation for a director I knew precious little about other than the Boris Karloff anthology Black Sabbath. I have marveled at the skill of The Girl Who Knew Too Much, the mystery of Baron Blood, and the brutality of Twitch of the Death Nerve, but tonight we go back to the beginning and the classic that launched the career of this horror great. You might be thanking god it's Friday and worried about having a blue Monday, but before you get there you must survive....

Black Sunday (La maschera del demonio) (1960) starring Barbara Steel, Andrea Checchi, John Richardson, Ivo Garrani, and Auturo Dominici. Directed by Mario Bava.

In Moldavia in the early 1600's, it was not a good time to be a vampire/witch. Asa Vajda (Steel) is finding out the hard way. She gets tied to a stake, branded with a 'S' (for Satan), and that's just for starters. Once the mob really gets going they break out the steel spike lined Mask of the Devil and hammer it in place over her face. Then of course she gets burnt alive. However none of this happens until Asa has a chance to curse the man who has put her to this fate, her brother. She curses him and the line of his house for all eternity.


Two hundred years later, Doctors Kruvajan (Checchi) and Gorobec(Richardson) are passing through Moldavia on their way to a conference. They pay their carriage driver extra to take them on a shortcut though a haunted wood. The road is untraveled and full of holes which causes a wheel to break off the carriage. While the erstwhile driver is fixing it, Kruvajan and Gorobec take some time to explore the ruin of an old chapel. Deep inside they find the tomb of the legendary witch who is kept at bay by her iron mask and a cross resting above her. Kruvajan has a run in with a giant bat and in the process of killing it topples the cross off the tomb. The falling stone shatters the glass above the witch's head and the nosy Doctor removes the mask to reveal her hollow eyes. He also cuts himself on the glass and bleeds ever so slightly on Asa's horrific face.


On their way out of the ruin they meet up with Katia Vajda , the daughter of the local Prince and dead ringer for the slain witch. Gorobec is instantly smitten by her beauty, and he hopes to meet with her later. Little do they know that the blood so carelessly spilled on the witch has caused her to rise from the grave once again. She gains strength slowly until he can raise her servant Igor (Dominici) from his grave. She sets in motion a plan to regain everything she lost and the beautiful Katia becomes the key to it all.

Film Facts

--The film was purchased by American International Pictures for American distribution after it was screened in Italian for Forrest Ackerman. AIP paid $100,000 for the rights.

--It is loosely based on a story by Russian writer Nikolai Golgol's story "Viy".

--Barbara Steel was petrified of working with the Italian crew. She in fact refused to come to the set once after she had been told that Bava was using special film that could see though clothes.

--This was Mario Bava's first film of his own. He had previously worked uncredited on several features when the real directors had quit.

--Steel and Dominici were fitted with vampire fangs, but they looked so bad on film they were quickly discarded.

The Bug Speaks

Bava had been working on films since 1939 as a cinematographer. So by the time he had a chance to craft a film all to his own, he already knew his way around the camera. I've said it time and time again in these reviews, but seeing as this is the last Feature Presentation, I have to say it again. Light and Shadow. From the very first scenes of torture to the final frame of the film, the balance between light and shadow guides us through the atmosphere of this film.

Every single shot was constructed to frame the actors, their actions, and what they meant. If the same plot had been filmed by a man more inferior with his craft, it could have easily come out as a hokey mess. Instead Bava infuses the movie with an existential dread that seems to creep in from every dark corner and shadowed face.

We are not only drawn into this world of shadow, but revolted by it. Perhaps the unsung talent of Bava was his use of special effects. The scenes where the witch is reconstituting herself are just as powerful, if not more so, than the resurrection scenes in Hellraiser. That they have the same impact in black and white is a testament to his skill. It also bears mentioning that Bava went uncredited for his matte paintings. They gave the film the genuine quality that hearkened both to the source material and to the grand horror films of the 1930's.

And the horror, yes, the horror. From the moment blood gushes out as the mask is hammered onto Asa's face, it is clear what we are in for. Bava's use of gore coupled with sound effects that were perfectly placed heightened the tension and impact of the scenes. By the time the witches tomb explodes around her, the scene is both shocking and totally believable. Also of note is a body that gets burnt in a fire place. I am astonished by how well the effect came off, and sad that modern film makers seem to lack the skill to pull off something like that so effectively. Last but not least, Bava goes for the eye. I don't know what it is with Italian film makers and their need to put spikes through eyeballs, but I sure as hell always like it.

The performances in the movie are very strong as well with Steel being particularly good in the duel role. She managed to make the two women distinct without being over the top about it. All the other actors seem to acquit themselves well, and a special nod goes to Dominici for his solid and totally believable role are Igor. When Igor and Dr. Gorobec rumble I had no problems at all believing that the mustachioed baddie meant the noble doctor serious bodily harm.

This film is perhaps the foremost modern classic in Bava's oeuvre of film. It should stand the test of time to be revered not just among fans of genre cinema, but cinema as a whole. In his first film, Bava managed to put on screen not just a wonderful piece of work, but a treatise on the type of director he was. The visual appeal to his films made him a master storyteller. The plot and dialog no longer the only driving force in the film, but each ray of light, each sweep of the camera, each frame of footage, compelling the story onward.

Bug Rating

Thanks everyone who enjoyed the first round of Feature Presentation. Stick around next month as Santa comes to town and it looks like people have been very, very naughty.

The LBL Feature Presentation: The Films of Mario Bava

Heya, Moonies. Welcome to the end of the working week. It's been a long one for me folks, and it's about time I get to kick back with a fine film full of head choppin' goodness. If you work in the ruler of your own planet business like I do, there's just never enough time to do much head chopping yourself, and in this modern era, it's sadly frowned upon. That's why I watch movies though, and for some good old fashioned death it's always fun to take a little vacation on the...

Bay of Blood (Reazione a catena) (1971) starring Caludine Auger, Luigi Pistilli, Claudio Camaso, Laura Betti, and Chris Avram. Directed by Mario Bava.

The moonlight sparkles over the bay as Countess Donati in her wheelchair looks out the window. The house is dark and quiet, and as she leaves the room, a black gloved killer slips a noose around her neck and kicks her chair out from under her. The killer plants a suicide note and admires his work as she chokes and dies, but then he gets a knife in his back and his body is sunk into the bay. The police assume the suicide is on the level, but her husband has also disappeared.

So begins the struggle for ownership of the bay. Frank Ventura (Avram) is a real estate developer who can see potential for the bay to become a spot for tourists. Paulo,

an entomologist, and his wife, Anna (Betti), also live on the bay, and Paulo is dead set against nature being ruined for vacationers. Renata and Albert (Augar and Pistilli) are the Countess' daughter and son-in-law respectively, and they intend to see the old lady's wealth become their inheritance at all costs. Then there's Simon, part time groundskeeper, part time fisherman. He seems to just want to live off the bay, but his true identity could ruin everyone's plans.

When a group of teenagers show up for a fun time on the bay, all hell begins to break loose. The teens start to get picked off one by one with each death becoming more grisly than the last. As the sun sets it seems that no one is safe on the serene bay. This one night will decide the fate of all the residents and visitors, but will they see daylight before they are drowned in the secrets the water holds?

Film Facts

-- At the 1971 Avoriaz Film Festival where it premiered, Christopher Lee attend a screening of the film. He was so shocked by the level of violence that he left the theater in utter disgust.

-- The budget was so low on the film that the tracking shots were accomplished by putting the camera in a child's wagon.

-- Bay of Blood a.k.a Twitch of a Death Nerve, Last House on the Left II, Bloodbath, Bloodbath Bay of Death, Chain Reaction, Carnage, Before the Fact, Ecology of a Murder, Ecology of a Crime, New House on the Left. This film reportively has the most alternate titles of any film.

--This was Mario Bava's personal favorite of his films.

The Bug Speaks

Each week I've watched one of these films, and then kicked myself for not having seen them earlier. This week was no exception. Bay of Blood was a stunningly realized film which would go on to influence a whole generation of slasher movies. While there is no crazed and supernatural killer involved, the construction of the film around kill scenes surely lives on even

today. In fact two of the scenes from the this film (one where a couple is speared while getting it on and another where a guy takes a hatchet to the face) were basically plagiarized directly in Friday the 13th Part 2. I would say they were borrowed or inspired by, but in this case they seem lifted down to the angle of the shot and the lakeside setting.

I know I've said it every week, but my respect for Bava as a craftsman is growing with each film. This time out he was his own cinematographer out of budgetary constraints, but honestly I don't see who could have done a better job. This film did have a couple of rough edits (which could be from the transfer print I watched so I'll give him those) and some unnecessary zooming shots that felt a bit abrupt. However, the opening 10 minutes is such a gorgeously realized piece of film I can forgive basically any mistake this film makes. It's like the tracking shot in Goodfellas; once you see that you're just blown away by the film and surrender to the world. Unlike that film though, Bay begins with that level of film making, and it stays fairly steady throughout with Bava's use of light and shadow once again being one of his deftest tools.

The performances were all very strong in this film. (Except perhaps one or two of the teens. However they don't get to live long enough to be that bad.) Laura Betti shines at a pre-historic goth/Stevie Nicks fan as does Leopoldo Trieste as the genuinely creepy husband. Also I have to say as I always do that Luigi Pistilli can't be in enough movies. This time he plays against the despicable type that he usually got cast as and brings a special depth to his hen-pecked husband. I was in the need for a Luigi fix, and his performance really hit the spot.

The main detraction in the movie is the paper thin and highly confusing plot, but that's not what we're here for, we're here to see heads roll. And roll they do. Considering no one was really doing slasher fare at the time, the special effects by Carlo Rambaldi are executed so well that many do not come off so well in modern film. So the fact that the plot is convoluted and

murky doesn't really bother me with this one. If Bava could have brought the same level of storytelling that I have seen in his other pictures to this one then it would have been a solid gold classic. As it is, the flick is a bit tarnished around the edges.

This is one I highly recommend to any horror fan. Anyone who loves horror on any level needs to see this one to have a basis in the history of the modern slasher film. Bava took what he had learned from his giallos, added in a tweak of gore effects, and mixed them all up with incredible cinematics. What came out of it is a mix we still see in movies to this day. So check this one out, and come on back next week for the last week of Bava-fest where I will tackle his best known film, Black Sunday.

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