Shock (1977) Horror Ghost

Shock (1977) - aka "Beyond the Door II": The great Italian director Mario Bava's last film is a strange and ultimately sad film that mixes murder and ghosts and possession to give a unique take on a horror film. Bruno (John Steiner) and Dora Baldini (Daria Nicolodi)  move back into the house where Dora's first husband Carlo committed suicide seven years before by sailing out into the ocean never to be seen again. Coming with them is Dora's son Marco (David Colin Jr.) who is also seven years old so never met his father. Its a beautiful house but the boy seems more drawn to the creepy cellar early in the film. Bruno is supportive of Dora who is very nervous about moving back to the house. She had a nervous breakdown after Carlo's (Nicola Salerno) death and spent time in an asylum. So this is probably not the best place for her but she is making the best of it because Bruno has insisted. So early on you think this may be a story about learning what happened to Carlo and when strange things happen the viewer is left wondering if it is just Dora's mind slipping. We also learn that Bruno is an airline pilot so there will be times when just Dora and Marco at at the house.
  It does not take long for the ghostly shenanigans to start, as the couple make love in the living room we get a shot of Marco seemingly in a trance chanting "pigs, pigs, pigs". The couple never see this so when Bruno heads off for a couple days away at work We see that Dora and Marco get some creepy. Marco makes his swing in the yard move from inside the house and we see a creepy dead hand touching Dora in her sleep. It does not take long for things to start going bad between Mother and Son. At a dinner party the kid says to his mother "Mama, I have to kill you." which really puts Dora on notice. Then later she finds a razor blade between the keys of her piano and discovers that her son has stolen and shredded a pair of her panties, yes things are sort of weird. The film plays the line that maybe something is up with the kid, while also implying that Dora could be losing her mind.
  There are a couple of wonderfully frightful dream sequences in this film and each time the director does not let the viewer know that is what they are when they begin. There is also this mix of supernatural bleeding through from the dream world to the real world. The first has Dora threatened by a box cutter that is floating in the air, it cuts her nightgown and when she wakes screaming we see her nightgown is still cut. A great little piece of foreshadowing for the upcoming climax. Its this crossing of supernatural and reality that makes Dora's anxiety so believable. There is something going on and it definitely is not just in her head. Marco is surely possessed at times and seems to be trying to hurt his Mother, when he is in a trance furniture moves on its own, pictures fall from the walls and doors lock and unlock on their own.  Marco does this bigger thing where he pins Bruno's picture to his swing, and when he pushes it we have cuts to Bruno in his plane losing control of it. Only when Dora stops the swing does Bruno get control back in flight. This really is the start of the third act where all the crazy shit comes together for a big reveal.
  When the climax comes and it does with a hysteric spree, the plot twists and turns through screams bumps and hallucinations in a swirl of confusion. The answer to whether Carlo killed himself is answered as well as whether or not Dora did it. The last few scenes push us the tension so high the audience has to hold their breath to get to the end. It can't be said that this is a great movie, its not. What is it is a competent supernatural thriller with some cool tricks in the camera work, some unexpected plot twists and real ghosts.
Daria Nicolodi who was coupled with Dario Argento and the parents of Fiore and Asia Argento was co-writer of the script for Susperia (1977) an Argento classic. She claims that the story was inspired by real life experiences of her grandmother. "She went to study piano at an acclaimed music academy said Dora "And discovered that it was a front for the study of black magic."
  This was Bava's last film and a good part of it was directed by the assistant director his son Lamberto Bava, who went on to have a good career in film also. In genre he is responsible for directing a couple of my favorites Demons and Demons 2.
As I have done so far this year; I am doing as an experiment my Twitter account @Soresport is dedicated to following and being followed by people in and behind the scenes. Then I am also hoping some of them follow me back.  This film being older who knows if anyone associated is on twitter. I do fear that Twitter has become too much of a promotional tool for people in film to actually get those follow backs but hey its an experiment. I am now following over 100 people while the followers is only 15 so as you can see people in the biz do not follow just anyone back. :) 

Kill Baby ...Kill! (1966) Horror Ghost

Kill Baby ...Kill! (1966) - "Operazione paura" (original title), from Italian master Mario Bava it is a ghost tale set in the 1800s in the small fictional Italian village of Graps. I love Mario Bava as a film maker. He weaves a tale that takes the viewer winding down narrow passages where you loose your orientation and at times feel lost, but right before you are going to panic you see something familar and can relax. This tale starts with a curse, a village woman is distressed and crying but seems to be driven on by an unseen force. We hear a child's laughter as she weaves up a staircase and with blurred eyes views a wrought iron fence below her. Then she launches impaling herself on the fence dead. The music by Carlo Rustichelli is classic horror themed and since he had already been writing scores for film for twenty-seven years the sound scape is full and rich. Working with Bava before (the recently reviewed The Whip and the Body is an example) they seem to know what is needed and it is delivered with expertise. The story of the curse and how it is broken is then told accompanied with a great score and wonderful visuals by masters of film making.
     Dr Paul Eswai (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart) is summoned to perform an autopsy on the young victim. He arrives with a warning from his coach driver. "Have you ever seen the like?" the driver says pointing at the abandoned and dilapidated church as they arrive on the outskirts of the town. He will not drive into that town. "When a place is as bad as this its been cursed I tell you. And strangers should keep their distance if they know what's good for them." he says leaving him outside the village. Like in the later Bava directed Lisa and the Devil, Eswai like Lisa passes through an arch symbolically leaving the real world and moving into a world where magic and ghosts exist. He is the counter-force to it and brings his medical training and rational thought to a village steeped in fear of magic and the afterlife. There at the request of Inspector Kruger (Piero Lulli), Paul is the outsider who shouldn't but will inevitably interfere. 

 As the ghostly proceeding take place we learn that the towns people believe they are cursed by the ghost of a girl who died during a town festival. Chasing a ball into the street she was trampled by some horses. Bleeding to death she pulled herself to the church and reached for the bell rope but failed to have the strength to pull it and bled to death on that night while the drunk villagers never noticed her. So she haunts them driven on by the emotions of her grieving Mother the Baroness Graps (Giovanna Galletti) the girl drives villagers to kill themselves as punishment for their failure to save her. The driver of the story is Paul who as an outsider and man of science does not believe what he is hearing and his arch must be to come to grips with the supernatural events that are taking place around him. On this journey with him is recently returned former resident Monica Schuftan (Erika Blanc) Blanc in her seventies is still working to this day with 101 IMDB credits. Monica has a secret that she does not even know. It is a weird twist that may not really have been needed as it does not seem to change the outcome of the story. She has returned to the village after leaving as a child and is the love interest and damsel in distress for Paul.
  Also playing into the story is the village sorceress Ruth (Fabienne Dali), who tries to help (?) the villagers when they are afflicted by the ghost. Her secret alliance with a main character is so she can protect the burgomeister Karl (Luciano Catenacci), the love of her life from the haunting death. In the end though she must help stop the curse and is key in the climax to the film. 

  Paul and Monica slowly learn the whole story and Bava does a great job seeping the knowledge out in bits to keep a mystery to this film. As we learn more the stakes grow until Paul and Monica are pulled fully into the Supernatural world of ghosts and murder. Along the way are some really cool directorial choice as well as some clunky coincidences. Not a perfect film it does have some great moments though. One where trapped in the Villa Graps, Paul is trying to find Monica who has been separated from him. He sees a figure ahead of him and chases him into the next room. then the next, but the rooms start repeating as he closes in on the male figure ahead of him. When his catches him the figure turns and is the spitting image of Paul. Very cool stuff . The later Monica is fleeing the laughing ghost child Melissa, and she runs down long spiral stair case, beautifully lit with levels of different colors then too suddenly seems to be repeating sections of the endless stair. Running until she passes out to wake in the tomb of the dead girl. The lights and zoom of the camera do a great job of showing the craziness of her situation.

  Overall the film is a cool ghost story, a bit pedestrian in plot but executed with skill and vision. The print being streamed on Netflix is a bit shitty and at time feels very old. I guess it is old but I really would have liked to see a clearer version of this film. Certainly entertaining it is a period piece ghost story that still has legs after all these years. Bava knows how to create mood and make interesting shots out of the most ordinary of tales. So a healthy recommendation from this blog, keeping in mind that I am a fan of Mario Bava. A side note IMDB does not Lamberto Bava as assistant director in their credits, but he is listed in the movie credits. This would be some really early training for him at the age of twenty two.

Lisa and the Devil (1974) Horror Devil

Lisa and the Devil (1974) -"Lisa e il diavolo"
Having seen this film and the other cut of it The House of Exorcism I was excited to here that the fine folks at Deadlantern.com's The World Famous Splattercast were going to cover it. So excited in fact that I re-watched both version and listened to the audio commentary while doing so. Of course I had to avoid hearing the podcast until I finished this writing which for me is a task. I really wanted to listed but like to have formed my own opinions before being influence by the the fine commentary provided by the crew at deadLantern.  Lisa and the Devil had excellent commentary by Tim Lucas who wrote the book Mario Bava : All the Colors of the Dark as well as other genre books. Probably one of the more expensive coffee table books I have seen, and will not own. Again you want to watch the film prior to watching it with the commentary.  When sharing that commentary in this write up I will make the text whether quote or paraphrasing I will put the text in italics instead of making a separate citation each time. There was so much interesting commentary in this film that I would recommend you take a listen. Whether sharing the origins of the fresco that Lisa (Elke Sommer) looks at at the beginning of the film or the musical piece accompanying the music box or giving background on the actors, Lucas is knowledgeable and detailed adding to the depth of the film.
  Lisa is a tourist visiting an unnamed town, the first stop off the bus is a fresco of the devil carrying away souls. Bava had the fresco made for the film with the likeness of Telly Savalas who plays Leandro in this film as the devil character. It was also common for Bava to use the idea of an image of someone becoming real in his films. She is about to take a journey on the strange side and does not know it. Drawn by music in the distance she walks off on her own, finding her way to a small shop where the music,  Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto Dara Weiss is playing. It's a turning point as she is seen by Leandro (Telly Savalas) as he who she sees in flash to be the spitting image of the devil from the fresco. Frightened she hurriedly leaves the store and we can hear Leandro saying "How strange, how strange,  you'd think she'd seen the devil."
 Espartaco Santoni) and in a neat bit of editing he appears to be real. Again this calls back the image of the fresco with the devil carrying away the dead. Lisa is ready to be out of this scary situation and takes the directions from Leandro that should get her out of the back allies. Would you trust his directions? She seems a bit ensnared at this point. Coming up some stairs there is at least a view of the city but in front of her is a man coming her way. She sees it is Carlo the spitting image of the dummy Leandro was carrying. He thinks she is a woman called Elena and this makes her even more panicked. Bava has both a sister and a daughter named Elena and important name to him. When he touches her like he knows her her reaction is to push him away with dire consequences. Really this is a transition in the film where Lisa leave one world and enters another. She is a pawn in the devils diabolical plans and just does not know it yet. She is still looking for a way out but the possibly dead man at the bottom of the stairs means she is stuck. We see her shout for help and in the next instant she is still wandering in the dark. Has a lot of time passed so the sun has gone down, or is it a supernatural darkness? It really is never explained but can be an indication that she is in some kind of other worldly situation. There is a time shift that starts at the fall of carlo probably signified by the shot of his watch with its broken hands across each other. Have two time crossed and now we are in a dream world where normal rules do not apply?  Are the lights she sees her salvation or will they bring her more trouble?
   This is the beginning of a strange journey for Lisa, a surreal journey into darkness where reality seems warped. Outside the store it takes the form of a maze like city, of winding streets. She searches for the way back to the fresco but can't find it. She seeks help but can't find any. Her anxiety increases when she runs into Leandro again in a back ally square. He is carrying a dummy of Carlo (
  Here I go again writing a summary of the film instead of a review of it. It is so easy to be caught up in the details and there are so many details. I will try to be better, really I will. This first part of the film is a way of showing that the devil has ensnared Lisa. If I were to pick out reasons why it works I would say the sense of confusion that Lisa experiences is well relayed through the scenes of her wandering the narrow allies of the town and her fear captured with low angled camera shot. What I think does not work so well here is that there is really no reason for her to be caught up in the story. If you pay attention in the shop where she sees the music box you will see that the characters on the box are driven around in a circle by death. So much of this film is about death, so if we take the box as symbolic then maybe the film itself is a circle that repeats, but I am getting ahead of the film here.
When she runs into Carlo on the stairs and he recognizes her as someone else we can surmise that maybe at the beginning of the devil's cycle with these characters she does not remember who she is? Is she actually Elena? Is this Elena's private hell where she is transported into this place to feel the confusion of being lost? At any rate Lisa is a very underdeveloped character, we really don't know anything about her or the woman Elena she was mistaken for. A weakness of the film has to be that she never becomes a fully developed character and it is left for interpretation whether she actually is Elena. It may be that because Lisa is not real, she could never have depth, she is a shell that Elena is using to try to escape the devil's influence. Never does she do anything to improve or hinder her situation, she just has these events happen to her. Much like the dummy's of the characters in the film Lisa is a mannequin of the film itself she is moved place to place but it really is never of her own doing.
The second act has Lisa getting a ride in a car owned by a couple Frances (Eduardo Fajardo) and Sophia Lehar (Sylva Koscina). It is a cool scene where we see from the stares between the people in the car that Sophia is having an affair with the chauffeur George (Gabriele Tinti) and that Mr. Lehar knows of it. It is an added dynamic to what is going on in their world. The car is having problems with its hoses and sputtering and overheating. The four of them are forced to stop at a local villa so repairs can be made. This sets up the primary story of ghosts and love lost and death and rebirth. The house is owned by the blind Countess (Alida Valli) and she lives there with her son Max (Alessio Orano) with butler Leandro. Naturally they are offered the hospitality of the house and here is the rub. Lisa seeing Leandro, tries to hide in the background but is seen.  He presses her about whether she recognizes him. A telling statement of Very Little escapes me if you know what I mean." lends to the idea that he is the devil. So if all the players are in a hell world the story of the house is the horror they must relive. The story in the house is of Carlo is the husband of the Countess. Elena is engaged to Max and then has an affair with Carlo. Max being a psycho kills both Elena and Carlo for their act of betrayal. They are brought back together into this house to rediscover the horrors of their sins by the devil again and again. The betrayal of infidelity is represented not only in the back story of the occupants but in the relationship between George and the Lehers. Each time the outcome will be murder.  Another symbol of this manipulation could be the music box, a circular disc spins the six figures watched over by the death character, The Queen, King, Bride, Groom, Male outside and death representing the Countess, Max, Lehers George and Leandro they are driven in circles. There is actually a point in the movie where the group is being lead by Leandro through the grounds in the same order as the figures on the music box.
  Primarily it is Max who is seen as the psychopath of the film but he is not the only sinner here. When it all plays out we think Lisa finds a way to escape and comes out of what is now a ruined house. Years of decay showing the rubble signifying she is back in the real world. Little kids playing there call her a ghost and say that everyone knows the ruins are haunted. Lisa thinking that she has survived heads out of town, a second chance? The plane she is on seems deserted and the music lets us know that the ending will not be good for her. When she finds the rest of the cast, dead looking in the plane and runs for the cockpit we see that very little actually does escape Leandro as he turns the pilot of the plain. Ultimately the story is about the power of the spirit world to control the fate of us humans. We are the pawns in the games run by Gods or monsters and our actions condemn us but we in the end have little power in changing a fate that has been casts. Lisa when she falls against the plane wall appears to be another body dummy to be played with by the devil. As he said, very little escapes him.
  No there are a lot of things to like about this film, some interesting camera shots, like the POV of the car pulling up to the villa. Not from the point of view of the driver though but from Lisa in the passengers seat. The already mentioned low angle shots in the town. There are a number of reflection shots in a spilled bottle of wine or in any other reflective glass where the focus changes fore to background or visa versa.. On top of the camerawork by cinematographer Cecilio Paniagua is the just excellent soundtrack by Carlo Savina. Overall the pacing was relaxed but being a child of the seventies I have to say really not too slow. Its no Phase IV or Vanishing Point. Still for a younger audience the first part of this film will seem slow. Bava is one of my favorite directors and I was pleased to be able to see what he wanted to be his defining work, Still there are others I love more , The Girl Who Knew Too Much and the classic Black Sunday to name a couple. Having watched it I can listen to @rachiepants on the Splattercast podcast and see what she thought. I was equally displeased with the strange disjointed money grab this film became in the form of The House of Exorcism, a horrible trashing of this film for the sake of money.

The Whip and the Body (1963) Mystery

The Whip and the Body (1963) - Another film from the year I was born. In this Mario Bava directed mystery the sadistic son of a 19th century nobleman appears to rise from the grave to seek revenge on his family which has disowned him.Well written and executed this period piece is a refreshing side trip from all the biker movies I have been watching the last month and a half. Co-written by renown Ernesto Gastaldi, Ugo Guerra and Luciano Martino all prolific, experience writers and producers. Directed by Mario Bava on of the great Italian directors and performed by a cast including Christopher Lee, Daliah Lavi, Tony Kendall and Ida Galli it is one of the better mysteries I have seen in a while.
 The story goes that the eldest son Kurt Menliff (Christopher Lee) was sent away from the castle loosing his spot as heir to his father's title after cruelly killing the daughter of the castle's maid Giorgia (Harriet Medin). Details of the girl's death are never shown other than the knife she was killed with, but it is implied that it was a cruel death. So much so that Count Menliff (Gustavo De Nardo) disowned his son after he was implicated. His inheritance and title forfeited to his younger brother Christian (Tony Kendall). Kurt returns to the castle with Giorgia swearing vengence, the old count shaking in fear at his return and Christian now married to Kurt's former lover Nevenka (Daliah Lavi). Complicating the setting further is the revelation that Nevenka only has eyes for Kurt and there relationship includes violent whipping. This must have been somewhat shocking to audiences when this film came out. Kurt standing over the beautiful Nevenka whipping her repeatedly with a horse crop. Nevenka crying out but also showing a quivering anticipation, waiting in an aroused state for the next blow.
   The setup aside this film is both simple and wonderfully mysterious. The simple setting and the possible directions turned in a way I was not ready for. The fact that Christopher Lee was the star I figured we would be following him throughout the film. Not so! very early on he is murdered and we are left wondering who killed him. The red herring has to be Giorgia who made it obvious she would love to see him dead. Or how about the younger brother who married Nevenka only after his father required it. He loves his childhood sweetheart Katia (Ida Galli) who follows him around like a puppy dog. (also a suspect), or is it the count himself who out of fear only needs to remove his fear by removing the threat. Or did Nevenka herself do away with the man who both excites and harms her. Then when it seems Kurt starts being seen around the castle at night, it may be his death was faked by him and he has put a diabolical plot in motion to take back what was once his. Now when I was watching it before paying attention to who was in the cast. I saw Christopher Lee and was like" Wow they really got a Christopher Lee look alike for this film." but later I found out it was him but all of his lines were dubbed by someone who sounds nothing like Christopher Lee. Shocking!
  Becoming the featured cast member Nevenka leads us through the tale to its conclusion. I make a point never to share too much in a mystery review.In particular one like this which is intriguing all the way through. Bava sets a mood and carries it through the film masterfully. If there is a weakness in the film it is the score by Carlo Rustichelli, not because it is not wonderfully created but because he develops a theme and repeats it too often through the film. When all is said and done though this may be one of Bava's best films. It stands as a really wonderfully developed and acted mystery thriller. Maybe a ghost story if you want to stretch the meaning. So spend a bit of time and go rent this one. I found it on DVD at Netflix.

The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963)

The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963) "La ragazza che sapeva troppo" and released in the US as "The Evil Eye", is a Mario Bava film that is not quite a giallo but is definitely a nice mystery thriller. If the film was more serious it would more easily be considered a giallo but there is some light hearted more humorous scenes that move it away from that genre. It has some cautionary messages in it about drugs and reading murder mystery books that were a bit contrive. The film opens with the main character flying to Italy to stay with a family friend. Nora Davis (Leticia Roman) is just twenty years old and off to have her time abroad. She is a reader of murder mystery books but has sworn them off on the trip. The gimmick here is that our girl is about to take part in a murder mystery. Here love and knowledge of the books will be an asset as she weaves her way into the story. The second gimmick has to do with the gentleman sitting next to her. Trying to pick her up he offers her a cigarette and then his whole pack. It is amazing in the present to think that lighting up on an airplane was once very common place. The point of this entire interaction is somewhat strange until we see the two in line at customs. Four men come up to the man and arrest him. In his suitcase is what looks to be packets of cocaine and cigarette packs they say are laced with marijuana. It creates the opportunity for a quite tense scene. Nora standing next to him remembers that he gave her a pack of smokes. What is she going to do? She could be caught with illegal drugs in a foreign country. She smoothly lowers the pack and lets it fall to the floor. But as she moves away a cop picks the cigarettes up for her and returns them to her. This scene is then cut here, Why? There could be a very tense will she get through customs scenario but it seems it was all so at the end of the film she can question whether she was high and lost her sense of reality? Very flimsy if you ask me but here it is in 1963 and marijuana is being used as a prop in a film.
  The murder mystery comes pretty quickly we meet Mrs Windell (Chana Coubert) the old lady that Nora will be staying with. She is ill and being attended to by Dr. Marcello Bassi (John Saxon) who is worried about her heart. The old lady is reassuring to Nora saying she will get over her cold in a couple days and the two will have a wonderful time. Bassi on the other hand makes sure that Nora knows where the old lady's medication is and directions to the hospital he will be at. This is an ominous beginning and the storm outside confirms this. In the night Nora is called by distressed pleas by Mrs. Windell and she rushes in her attract black nightgown to her side. Panicking a bit she prepares the woman's medicine but unfortunately is too late. Mrs. Windell is dead and Nora is a nervous wreck. She throws her raincoat on and rushes out to get the doctor at the hospital. What were those directions again? Down the steps of the Trinita Dei Monti and turn right. On her way though her night goes from bad to worse.
  As she heads down the stairs of the famous church she is spied by a mugger who jumps out and pulls her purse from her. In the process her pushes her so that she falls and hits her head. Unconscious with blood in her hair she does not wake until she hears the scream. Dizzy and half awake she sees a woman stumble from the side of the stairs, she is in pain and falls, a knife in her back. A man follows her out into the light and Nora sees his face. He does not see her though, being more interesting in retrieving the victim. Nora passes out again as the rains start up again more strongly, washing away the blood and any trace that a murder had taken place. A man finds Nora in the morning and she is still very groggy. He feeds her some alcohol from a flask but then a cop starts up the stairs scaring the man away. Now the cop find Nora but smelling her breath thinks she must have fallen down drunk. This is why we don't let our daughters run around the globe on there own. When Nora wakes again she is in the hospital being treated as an alcoholic.
  This is the start of the murder mystery. No one believes her about seeing a murder. There is no evidence of one since the rain washed it away. The poor girl attends the funeral of her benefactor and probably would have gone home if not for what seems a chance meeting with Mrs Torrani (Valentina Cortese). Laura Craven Torrani is a socialite living in the apartment near where Nora saw the murder. She is very engaging with the girl and offers to let her stay in the apartment while she travels to Germany to be with her husband (Giovanni Di Benedetto). Was that a chance meeting, the photo on the piano of Mr. Torrani says not. He is the same man Nora saw drag the murder victim away, but she never sees the photo as it was removed by Laura before she left. So the setting is in place for the solving of the crime. The audience knows more than the protagonist and can sense she is in danger.
  Not to give the whole plot away since this is a film you should see, but it is Nora sifting through the clues like a detective in one of her murder mystery navels who finally will find the answers. While doing so there is the love interest of Dr. Bassi to help her on the way and in the end protect her. The serial killer aspect much like a murder mystery novel involves a killer who has been killing in alphabetical order, Gina Abbot, Maria Beccati, Emily Craven all have died over the years in a similar way. Now it is up to Nora davis to end the killing without becoming the next victim. All the while we see that she is being followed and watched by a man whose face we never see. Designed to make us believe that it is Mr. Torrani and add tension to the story. When Nora finally figures ouut the mystery the direct calls back the beginning of the film.
  Marcello and Nora are together looking over the sights of Italy talking about marriage. She reaches in her bag for a cigarette and remembers they are the same smokes given to her by the drug dealer. Could she have been smoking pot through the entire film? She wonders if this is the case and everything that happened was a pot induced dream. Hilarious. So it is a solid film with decent acting and a good twist. A bit dated but with lovely on location scenes in Rome. I definitely recommend this one for people who like murder mysteries.
Rating (6.7) 5.0 and up are recommended, some more recommended than others.