Tag Archives: Mario Bava

For most Diabolique readers, Mario Bava needs no introduction. An extraordinarily gifted director, screenwriter and special effects craftsman, Bava pioneered the giallo genre and was also instrumental in launching the modern slasher film. His inventive, darkly atmospheric, visually sumptuous works have influenced ...

Mario Bava’s career was largely symptomatic of, and shaped by, the Italian film industry. During the post-war years, studio emphasis was extremely commercially focused; the industry wasn’t interested in producing or promoting critically acclaimed work and instead capitalised on the ...

Kill, Baby… Kill! (aka Operazione paura/Operation Fear, 1966) is perhaps the most iconic and influential of Mario Bava’s films, which enjoys a newly remastered Arrow Films special edition release. The film marked a return to Gothic horror for the director, ...

Diabolique Magazine and Kino Lorber are giving away 4 copies of Mario Bava’s KILL, BABY…KILL! on Blu-ray™! Winners will be automatically selected from our mailing list. If you are not on our mailing list, just sign up for our Free ...

Mario Bava hadn’t been a big Western fan to begin with. He may have had two under his belt by the time he got to Roy Colt and Winchester Jack, his 1970 oddball horse opera, but it clearly wasn’t a ...

Written and directed by publicist Ted Geoghegan, We Are Still Here (2015) has been described as many things: a ghost story, a New England folk tale, and an homage to body horror – due to its bloody climax and casting of horror ...

Over 120 years ago early cinema pioneer Georges Méliès made Le Manoir du diable (1896), an ambitious film considered now by many to be the first example of cinematic horror because of its Gothic themes, even if the genre of ...

Caltiki – il mostro immortale (Caltiki – The Immortal Monster, 1959) is known among cult circles for its dual directorial influence; though officially recognized as a film by Riccardo Freda, cinematographer Mario Bava filled Freda’s sizeable shoes when he left ...

In a scene from Mario Bava’s seminal 1964 film Blood and Black Lace (Sei donne per l’assassino) we witness a fashion model, Nicole (Ariana Gorini), as she is pursued through a cluttered antique store and then sadistically murdered with a ...

Catching writer/director Brian De Palma’s controversial slasher shocker Dressed to Kill on opening weekend in late July 1980 – with several subsequent viewings during its initial run – was an important milestone in my younger moviegoing days. It was certainly a ...