Mondo Esoterica - Mario Bava Film Reviews

Black Sunday (1960) proved to be very sucessful, particularly when distributed by AIP in the USA where, despite considerable re-editing, it even outperformed their own horror picture, Roger Corman's Fall of the House of Usher (1960). Although horror was popular, most of the the money in European cinema was in popular/exploitation films, and in the early 1960s the Peplum was big-money. With his track record in the genre, Bava was quickly snapped up to head Hercules in the Haunted World (1961), which despite the low budget and generic storyline, he managed to infuse with a distinctive, horror theme, and interestingly, the film marked the first continental European role for British actor Christopher Lee. Bava went on to shoot the exciting Viking movie Erik the Conqueror (1961), a slight twist on the peplum themes, inspired by the Hollywood picture The Vikings (1958) - again, he applied a distinct and powerful directoral style to the film (especially evident in the colourfully lit studio sets), and again it proved very popular. A more long lasting impact came with his Alfred Hitchcock riff The Girl Who Knew too Much (1962) - moving from historical epics to a modern-day urban setting, the film boasted a tense murder mystery storyline and is considered to be the first of the giallo films, a genre that would dominate Italian cinema in the early 1970s. A return to horror pictures came with Black Sabbath (1963), an anthology film starring early American horror icon Boris Karloff, followed by gothic psycological thriller The Whip and the Body (1963), working again with Christopher Lee in the villaneous lead role. This film, with its depiction of sadomasochism proved highly controversial on first release, although its impact on Bava's reputation at the time was limited as he was forced to use an Anglicised name (John M. Old) to pass the movie off as an English production.

The global sucess of his films meant that Bava was again given a free reign film project - the resulting Blood and Black Lace (1964) was another giallo-style film, and far more acomplished than the previous effort. The presence of a masked serial killer with mysterious identity and motives was to become a standard item in both the giallo and later American slasher films. However, despite this sucess, Bava was still forced to follow the populist money if he wanted steady work, and in 1964 the rising genre was the Spaghetti Western. Bava's unimpressive production, The Road to Fort Alamo (1964) shows the genre in its early days where, to pass the film off as an American Western, the lead actor had to be imported from America, and the director credited with an American name - in this case Ken Clarke and John M. Old. The next year, Bava proved that he still had the ability to add his distinctive flair to most films, with Planet of the Vampires (1965), a sci-fi horror film that had almost no budget, but benefited strongly from Bava's strong direction and special effects work. He unexpectedly returned to the Spaghetti Westerns with Savage Gringo (1966) after the film's producers removed director Antonio Román for working too slowly after just 2 days, and knowing Bava to be a solid director, brought him in to complete filming - which he did sucessfully, but again without much flair. His next film had an almost identical story, when he had to completely rewrite and reshoot the small scale Viking film Knives of the Avenger (1966) in only a few days, after the original production had run out of money - the end result was a very atypical Bava production, almost entirely shot on location, but is one of his most interesting films and marked his final work with American actor Cameron Mitchell - one of the few actors that the notoriously shy director befriended. A return to the horror genre followed, with the misleadingly titled Kill, Baby Kill (1966), one of Bava's most subtle horror films, and often considered to be his best. Unfortunately, Bava's career reached a nadir point at the end of the year when contractual obligations forced him to direct the mixed up comedy/action film Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (1966) with Vincent Price in a reluctant lead role. With flat direction and a terrible storyline, the film is recorded as the worst of Bava's career.

Fortunately Bava's next production was to be one of his most sucessful. Provided with a lavish $3 million budget (of which he only used $400,000) by producer Dino De Laurentiis and united for the only time with composer Ennio Morricone, Danger: Diabolik (1968) is very different to Bava's other best known productions, but considered by most fans to be among his best work and is still highly rated today as one of the best comic book adaptations. After a short break, Bava's Hatchet for the Honeymoon (1970) was another return to stalk and slash horror films, although this time from the viewpoint of the killer himself, and Five Dolls for an August Moon (1970) was a return to the standard giallo picture, although with a poor plot. Despite his earlier failures in the genre, Bava again returned to the Spaghetti Westerns with Roy Colt and Winchester Jack (1970), a genre-parody film it allowed more creativity for Bava to parody rather than simply follow the genre's conventions and proved to be his most sucessful Western, although it suffered under some rather poor slapstick comedy. Returning to form in his preferred genre, Bava directed Twitch of the Death Nerve (1971), a sexy, violent, comic thriller that would serve as a blueprint for the later American slasher films. More horror followed with a return to the genre that started his career - Baron Blood (1972) starring Joseph Cotten was a rather generic modern day, gothic style horror that performed surprisingly well in the USA. Although shot three years earlier, Bava's sucessful sex comedy Four Times That Night was finally released in 1972, the vivid depictions of nudity and sex unusual for the often conservative director.

The sucess of Baron Blood (1972) saw Bava once again offered a blank cheque, and complete creative control by a producer. As with his previous two "blank cheque" films, Lisa and the Devil (1973) was a powerful and unique film - however, it proved to be a very poor box-office draw, and the producer had many scenes reshot and edited to create an Exorcist (1973) clone, known as The House of Exorcism (1975), a film that Bava disowned and is considered to be the worst film to which he was attached. More production issues clouded Bava's next and penultimate film Rabid Dogs (1974). This tense and minimalist crime picture was left incomplete after the production company went bankrupt, and was ultimately only released in the late 1990s with remaining footage shot by Bava's son Lamberto. This double-bill of failures resulted in the director leaving the cinema business for several years. He eventually returned to direct his final film, Schock (1977), with the assistance of Lamberto - again, a horror themed film, the end result is considered by most fans to be largely unimpressive. Bava continued to do some minor work, including a highly regarded but little known TV movie Venus of Ille (1979), and some uncredited visual effects work on Dario Argento's Inferno (1980). Mario Bava died in April 1980.

Hercules in the Haunted World; Whip and the Body; Danger Diabolik

Often hailed as the Godfather of Italian Horror and Master of the Macabre, Mario Bava was never originally interested in becoming a director and once described his entire filmography as bullshit. Like fellow euro-cult directors Lucio Fulci and Jess Franco, Mario Bava presented some impressive and highly personal films, but was often forced to shoot some generic movies in the popular genres of the time that do little to show off his talents. Like his colleagues, Bava also suffered from cuts, edits and retitling of his films in foreign markets, that until the rise of DVD, kept many people from properly experiencing his films. Ultimately, whether he liked them or not, Mario Bava's films - particularly his personal horror pictures, show some powerful direction and camerawork and proved inspirational for later directors like Dario Argento who continue to release horror pictures today.

Baron Blood (1972) E-M-S German Region 2 DVD	Bava's last return to the gothic horror is let down by an unimpressive storyline and a lack of tension. Not recommended.
Black Sunday (1960) E-M-S German Region 2 DVD	Mario Bava's much hailed debut film is very impressively directed, with some nice details but suffers under a rather unimpressive script. Recommended to Classic Horror fans.
Danger: Diabolik (1968) USA Paramount Region 1 DVD	Bava's masterly direction brings a true comic-book air to this well directed and scored film. Recommended.
Erik the Conqueror (1961) German Colloseo Film Region 2 DVD	An exciting Viking adventure film, with excellent direction making up for an obviously low budget production and a hole-filled script. Recommended.
Giant of Marathon (1962) Retromedia Region 0 DVD	Epic battle scenes, a good storyline and strong direction make this historical epic Peplum among the very best. Recommended.
Knives of the Avenger (1963) German E-M-S Region 2 DVD	A rather usual film, with the emphasis more on storyline than action, but very well directed by Bava with some good acting. Highly recommended.
Hercules (1958) DVDY French Region 2 DVD	The original Peplum that holds up surprisingly well today despite a rather slow plot. Bava's cinematography is a highlight. Recommended.
Hercules in the Haunted World (1961) USA Image/Fantoma Region 1 DVD	A daft but well directed peplum with a top-notch euro-cult cast and some very nice sets. Recommended for an entertaining watch.
Hercules Unchained (1959) Concorde German Region 2 DVD	Hercules part 2 is pure Bava, with beautiful lighting and matt painting work, plus an enjoyable film. Recommended.
Terrore Nello Spazio (1965) 01 Distribution Italy Region 2 DVD	A true masterwork of low budget direction makes this horror/sci-fi film a must-see with a uniquely alien landscape. Highly Recommended
The Whip and the Body (1963) German E-M-S Region 2 DVD	Bava's second horror film is well directed but suffers an even worse script with a complete lack of character. Not recommended.

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