Kill Baby...Kill! AKA Operazione Paura AKA Curse of the Dead AKA Take My Breath Awaaaay

The deeper I throw myself into the Italian horror world, the more I become invested in Mario Bava. It's pretty easy to understand why I prefer Bava and by default Argento over Fulci. It's all a matter of personal taste and my hunger is screaming out for atmosphere and beauty-- things that I have a hard time finding in Mr. Fulci's later work. There seems to be a true sense of awe when I sit down and watch a Bava film. There's something so uncharacteristically beautiful about all of it that it makes me swoon with excitement. Maybe it's because Bava's films aren't dubbed and because the story actually makes sense for once, or that it just gets me so excited to recognize where some of my favorite horror movies get their inspiration from. It's a combination of all of these things but the biggest one is that these scenes are some of the most beautiful scenes I've ever laid eyes on.

As is custom with most Italian horror, Kill Baby..Kill! has a silly name, and about 20 different ones at that-- none particularly moving. The story however is pretty simple; villagers of an old and neglected town have been committing what appears to be suicide at an alarming rate. When a sexy

(I mean he's a little sexy right?) doctor comes to town he finds that the victims have all had gold coins inserted into their hearts. Soon he learns of a 20 year or so old curse that involves the ghost of a young girl who drives the villagers to kill themselves. Is it really a ghost or could there be something more sinister involved?

I just love ending synopsis' with silly questions! Well, as it turns out the film is substantially creepy. Paired with the incessant howling of the wind and what sounds like childlike giggles, is the claustrophobic landscape of this barren almost ghost-like town. Its narrow streets and shadowy houses are the bread and butter of creating a haunting atmosphere and yes, it works. All of this is the foundation for a story riddled with the ever creepy image of this little girl.

Let me tell you that Bava has a real talent for being able to mess with his viewers in terms of faces. We saw it of course with The Drop of Water in Black Sabbath and we see it again here with this little girl and with....dolls!

Yes, there are creepy dolls in this so brace yourself. Accompanied by the sweet tinkling of piano keys and giggles, this little girl not only has the power to scare us with her angelic glow of a face, but also with only a hand!

The thing is--as terrifying and creepy as those images are they are also stunning. Shadows, lighting, shades of green and red (not sure where they got those special light bulbs at the turn of the century but....*cough*) all make each shot of the little girl pretty breathtaking.

While the story line behind the villagers, the witchcraft and the coins in the heart is all very good, I find that what I am most attracted to in this film are the beautiful shots. Let me tell you about one of the most thrilling things I have ever witnessed. While ambling through the eerie villa of the Baroness, Paul (the sexy doctor) walks down a green tinted hallway, adorned with wait for it....arms as candle holders.

Yes. Yes! How cool is that? This picture of him walking down the hallway, with the green and the shadows and the arms is just fucking great. There's no other way to describe it. It's pure perfection in the eyes of me. Not only this hallway, but the entire villa is like one gigantic slice of Andre's dream come true. Cobwebs as thick as rope, creepy pictures of creepy children, dolls, SPIRAL STAIRCASES

it's all so fantastic. The villa in particular, with its hues of eerieness and its never ending hallways of course reminds of Suspiria which is perhaps why I take an even greater liking to it than the average person. Speaking of nightmarish--the scene where Paul is chasing after a man and he keeps entering a door and then entering the same exact room over and over and over and over again??? Gosh, I hate it when that happens. But, again shows that what Bava serves up over at ye olde villa de baroness is completely insane in the best, most beautiful way possible.

Aside from all that fantastic imagery, there is still a pretty captivating story. There's certainly a mystery when trying to decipher just why people are haunted by the little girl and what's more--who is really behind it. Sure, the part I mentioned above with Paul's chase scene is a little strange and almost out of context but it makes the appeal of the story and all the talk about curses and witchcraft much more alluring. The characters are kept to a minimum thank goodness, and nobody has the same hair color. I mean that's my main gripe with Fulci--I can't keep track of all these blonde women that kind of look the exact same OK? The scene involving the younger girl's brush with the ghost girl is interesting and her "exorcism" as the doctor calls it (I'm guessing a mistranslation) is both creepy and somehow unsettling.

My only big problem with the film is that the ancient curse stuff and the witchcraft aren't as well fleshed out as they maybe could have been. There seems to be a strong divide between the curse and the mystery behind the ghost girl and for some reason they do not seem to join up as the film nears its end.

I did however quite enjoy getting a first hand look at just how manipulating and convincing that little ghost girl can be.

NO NO NO!

Yes yes yes!

NOOOOO!

Yeeeees!

OK FINE.

And how about this little familiar interaction?

Wait a minute.....

Man of science....man of FAITH?

Isn't that creepy? Not only does sexy doctor Paul kind of resemble Jack Shepherd as an older gent, but hellooo he's a doctor. And this bald guy was also in a wheelchair! Ok just kidding, but I mean he's sitting down so close enough.

In short, if you have seen some Bava and not seen this one, do yourself a favor and get it immediately. It contains some of the most aesthetically pleasing shots I have seen and has atmosphere coming out of its...face. That's right its FACE.

Black Sabbath: Nightmares Ahead

When we last left off in my quest for more Bava in my life, I had just watched Blood and Black Lace and fallen in love. I concluded that Bava was the perfect man for me, although Dario Argento was the right man. And Lucio Fulci was just some guy on the side. So you see. I prefer beauty in my horror films, beauty before anything else and Bava completely encompasses this fact. Argento mixes beauty with blood and gore and Fulci is just gore. It would make a nice Venn diagram. So on this night, while feeling particularly in the mood for some beauty and stylized beauty at that, I decided to put in a movie that has been recommended to me countless times. I had no idea that this was a trilogy of three "chilling tales" hosted by none other than Boris Karloff.

This only escalated my excitement and to make things easier I've broken down all three tales in three very wonderful mini reviews. Don't thank me, thank Mario Bava.

Telephone is one of those rare occurrences where our expectations are often turned on their head and in this case more than once. Here we have a story that we've seen several times, a story where the phone seems to act as the epicenter of fear. From the more modern Scream, to When a Stranger Calls, and even perhaps Sorry, Wrong Number--we have always been taught that although seemingly harmless, those pesky telephones always have the ability to suddenly become harbinger's of doom....all it takes is one phone call.

Our story begins as they typically do with a phone call. A beautiful lass Rosy picks up the phone and gets no response. The phone continues to ring, soon providing us with the menacing voice of her presumed future attacker.

One thing you should probably know about Rosy which is also something that I missed, most likely due to being distracted as I ate my delicious Popsicle... but Rosy is a frickin' hooker ya'll! I know I didn't believe it either and I'm still confused where they mentioned that but yes she is a high class hooker or "call girl". Anyways, the night wears on, Rosy changes into a nightgown and the phone calls relentlessly continue on. But things get serious when the killer threatens murder!

She soon discovers a piece of paper under the door that says her former Pimp has escaped from prison! Yes, apparently the caller is Frank.

Panicked, Rosy calls her friend Mary who agrees to come over and console her. SUDDENLY. The killer calls again and asks why she called her friend Mary when Mary cannot protect her. Yes, it would appear the killer is closer than she thought. The camera slowly pans out revealing DUN DUN DUN Mary to be the "killer".

But rest assured, she doesn't want to kill Rosy, she wants her to welcome her back into her life. Because yes, they were once lesbian lovers. After an awkward sleep over, and some real sassy music ( I really thought things were going to you know, heat up or something) Mary writes a letter of apology and then someone ELSE comes in and like kills people. Maybe I should stop there I think I'm ruining too much....

Anyways. This was a quick dose of good old fashioned story telling. No it's not particularly horrifying but it is rather intriguing. What seems at first to be a typical tale of an ex-lover's return for revenge gets flipped---and then flipped again. I loved witnessing what has to be an inspiration to Scream-the killer soon identifying that fact that he can actually see our victim. I also enjoyed seeing Rosy literally sweat when she is put into fearful situations-

BUT she still remains beautiful of course. I was possibly disappointed when Mary turned out just to be bluffing but then instantly redeemed by the true murderer's presence. No the climax doesn't contain a spot of blood but who needs it when Rosy's apartment fills us with enough visual stimulation to last a life time. Honestly, I'm in the wrong business. Apparently if you are an up class hooker you can live in a replica of an Ancient Greek or Roman museum display! AND have sleepovers in beautiful nightgowns AND get a telephone that is black and red. Wow. I'm really missing out.

I once said that Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi had a really tough time of proving that they could get past their iconic roles. This little story however completely defies that notion as Boris Karloff is both fantastic and barely recognizable as the grandfather who pretends not to be a vampire. I barely recognized him! And he was great, creepy, and wore a cloak most likely lined with human hair.

Apparently Wurdalak means Vampire, or at least it better because then the story would make no sense. While horseback riding through the barren mountains of.....*Googles* RUSSIA, a strapping lad comes across....a stabbed and bloody sheet!

But that's no sheet, that's a person with their head cut off! He gallops off to a mysteriously foggy house where he enters uninvited and finds the outline of the same dagger found in the body residing on the wall.

He soon learns that this family has been anxiously awaiting for the arrival of their father, Gorcha, who has been gone 5 days fighting the evil criminal and apparently wurdalak, of the village. At midnight he returns looking....smelly and kind of like a vampire. But he talks and stuff so...they let him in.

Slowly but surely we start to notice something is wrong. Gorcha is hungry but not for meat. He demands that his favorite dog be killed. He also proves that he has slain the vampire.

And then uses this proof to make a lovely mailbox!

But IS Gorcha a vampire? Well fine, I'll tell you....YES he is. And he miraculously and quickly turns the rest of the family into one. It's all very nicely done. Perhaps the creepiest being the little boy, whom is killed by Gorcha, and because his mother cannot bear for him to be stabbed (once he's already dead) he comes back in the night and cries out for his mother in a soft weepy voice, "Mama! Mama! Let me in. I'm cold", the brute. She, blinded by her adoration stabs her husband who tries to prevent her and goes out to let her dead son back in. I'm really sick of people doing that. When will they learn? When?!

The vampire mythos is treated here with a certain curious respect. Nothing outwardly cries trademark, except the biting on the neck--

and yet we understand where everything is going. It's in fact, an interesting depiction of a vampire's willingness to live off of those he loves. In more recent times this has meant who the vampire truly sexually desires, but here it is taken to be a more familial kind of love- and that's pretty touching man. Although one can argue that Gorcha's love for his grandson is a bit suspect....

This without a doubt is the best story of the three, and I so enjoyed the seemingly throwback to Black Sunday--where beautiful colors and beautiful women in their apartments are replaced with beautiful shadows and the haunting atmosphere of the environment. I'm also a sucker for people that carry other people's heads in their purses. I was so excited when I realized that Gorcha had a head in his purse that I dropped the piece of pizza I was holding! It was worth it to see him fling that head across the room. Yes, it was worth it.

You may have heard that ghosts stories are my favorite. The same goes for the ghosts and spooks genre of horror. There's something about that creaky house that gets me each and every time. And I'll tell you, The Drop of Water is a very mean, very cruel kind of story...because it is TERRIFYING. I'm almost positive I'm going to have a nightmare tonight about the Countess's face OR that I'm going to come into my bedroom and she'll be on my bed and ugh. That is the true power of this story and I challenge anyone to a scary faces contests and this one will win. Every single time.

Nurse Helen gets summoned to ready the dead body of an elderly psychic woman. A woman who lived in a derelict house with a lot of cats. Upon arrival, the maid is a bit spooked and pleads that Nurse Helen hurry up in her work. When entering the bedroom of the Countess, we are first presented with her ghastly face.

Need a closer look?

Is that not the scariest face you've ever seen? I still say it's a contender for the scariest face ever with maybe only the demon Exorcist face to come close. So Helen begins her preparations, but not before stealing the beautiful ring the Countess has on her finger. Almost immediately strange things start to happen. A fly repeatedly lands on the dead woman's fingers, a glass of water is knocked over and begins to drip, and perhaps the most startling---after closing the Countess's eyes,

Helen goes to put on the shoes looks up and and....oh it's too terrible to say!!

Her eyes have opened once more!!

Back at her own apartment, Helen begins experiencing more things. The same fly lands on her finger, she hears the same rhythm of dripping water all over her apartment. Doors creak, windows are open, the lights go off and worst of all...the dead woman is lying on her BED!

I seriously was peeing my pants by this point. I knew that face would come back and when we see her on the bed and then RISING from the bed.

I'm all like...

Ahhhhh what the fuck?!

And then it just keeps getting worse. This woman is everywhere! On the rocking chair petting a cat.

Stretching her fingers around the wall, walking towards Helen ready to strangle her.

I honestly don't know how I persevered through those ending moments. This is a classic ghost story with a trickling of the guilt concept found in The Tell-Tale Heart. The sound of the water dripping is almost maddening. But also curious is how Helen never seems to associate the happenings with the presence of the ring. If the lady is coming at you, take off the ring and throw it at her for Christ's sake! The ending was that nice little twist that we all love, but honestly I was so scarred from the old lady being in the bed that I'm not sure I was conscious. It filled me with the same kind of traumatic fear one finds in the scene where Zelda appears in the bed in Pet Sematary. It's the most unfair kind of fear! Bollocks, I'm scared to go to bed tonight!

I leave you with some parting words from our dear friend Boris.

Hmmm I can only hope.

Blood and Black Lace: Red Goes Best With Blood

After watching several Fulci films and trying to figure out why I did not enjoy them, I have come to an immediate conclusion---Mario Bava. Bava is perhaps the main reason that I am so moved by the beautiful imagery of deep red blood. Sure, if you love Italian horror you have to also love the triumvirate that is, Bava, Argento and Fulci, but honestly I could probably leave Fulci out of my own personal equation. He doesn't sit well with me, and the best reason that I can think of is that his films do not carry the same beauty that Argento's and Bava's do. Fulci seems all about the gore factor and less about the exquisite intrigue of a beautiful murder or death opposed to a terrible murder involving blood with no aesthetic purpose. I haven't exhausted my Fulci reserves yet so yes I do have a few more films to see before I make my final conclusion--but let's just say, I'm not holding my breath. Blood and Black Lace however, is one of the most beautiful films that I have laid eyes on, and can certainly be seen as a direct inspiration for films like Deep Red and just about all of Giallo.

Blood and Black Lace is your typical murder mystery, raising the bar for future Giallos and even slasher movies. We have many characters, and a plethora of suspects- a gloved, masked and cloaked killer and a lot of beautiful women, models to be exact. One by one the models fall victim to the brutality of the killer, each somehow connected to an elusive diary which perhaps holds the key to the murderers identity. Who is the killer and who can we possibly trust when nearly everyone we become attached to, dies?

Mario Bava is one of very few directors that understands that red goes best with blood. Who knows maybe others are afraid that too much red is simply just too much-like a monochromatic outfit, but to me, nothing is more pleasing than seeing a scene completely washed in red. The bright red telephone,

the astoundingly superb red mannequins for example

are placed so carefully and perfectly within each scene that it causes me to pause and capture every single picture. Each death is like a piece of art and I'm not entirely sure if wanting to hang up each of these stills makes me creepy or cultured..

And then there's this; the most amazing bath tub drowning sequence known to mankind.

But honestly- see how the color red is present almost in every single one of those shots? Red not counting the blood I mean. It truly makes every scene so breathtaking and beautiful. And know you know I'm serious when I say that red really does go best with blood!

Sure like most Italian horror, the story is a bit dodgy and hard to follow- plus half the models look the same so it's hard to keep tabs on who is who--but much like my pal Argento, Bava's work here is more to be admired for the look and feel. Yes the dubbing and dialogue is atrocious and the ending motive seems a little rushed but the blood....THE BLOOD! How can you really beat it? It's pretty much as good to me as a delicious sandwich, which most of us know is hard to beat in my book.

One thing that definitely stood out for me when speaking of Argento, is that Blood and Black Laces ending didn't just wrap things up in a hurried mess of a conclusion. The motive is predictable but the fact that there's this whole other level at the ending- a final distrust, was actually pretty refreshing. I was also never really positive who the killer could be. Although I would mostly attribute this to the fact that there are just too many character's and red herrings for anyone to really figure it out. Let's just say I figured out half of it...

It may take me years to come to terms with my dislike for Fulci- but my love for Bava is slowly and steadily blooming. He is certainly the big daddy moose of beautiful Italian horror and may be the sole reason why I am so attracted to films like Suspiria and Deep Red. I guess Fulci can suck it, I'm on a Bava kick and I'm here to stay.