Tag Archives: Mario Bava

When watching a giallo, the audience member wants one of two things--either to vicariously live through the upper class excess the characters experience on screen, or to see these rich fools die horrible deaths for the base, solipsistic, grotesque lifestyles they lead.

*This article contains spoilers* There is something downright uncanny about Mario Bava’s masterpiece of 1963, The Whip and The Body. It is deeply ingrained in the gothic storytelling tradition, while feeling completely refreshing at the same time. Bava’s filmography is ...

“Come closer, please. I have something to tell you. Ladies and gentlemen, I am Boris Karloff. Allow me to introduce three brief tales of terror and the supernatural. I hope you didn’t come to the movies alone. As you will ...

Although a great film, Riccardo Freda and Mario Bava’s attempt to reignite the horror genre in Italy, I vampiri (US: The Devil’s Commandment), failed miserably at the box office when released in 1957. By all accounts this was largely due ...

“Cinema is the mightiest weapon” was the statement of intent behind Mussolini’s inauguration of the Cinecittà studio complex in 1937. And a mighty weapon it did indeed become for Italy, although thankfully not in the service of Il Duce’s fascistic ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...