Coming Attractions - Die, Monster, Die! (1965) / Planet of the Vampires (1965)

Press Book Collection - Black Sabbath (1963)

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Planet of the Vampires (1965)

Dir: MARIO BAVA
Country: ITALY/SPAIN

AKA:
Terrore Nello Spazio
Planet of Blood
The Demon Planet
The Haunted Planet
The Planet of Terror

Perhaps more than any other work in Mario Bava’s diverse and fascinating filmography, his 1965 science-fiction/horror effort Planet of the Vampires best illustrates the Italian’s unerring ability to utilise the limited resources at his disposal in a positive fashion. Planet of the Vampires, like the majority of Bava’s pictures, was a threadbare production made on a poverty row budget. It did however have the benefit of Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson as executive producers, and a subsequent guarantee of US distribution through their company AIP. The source material was a short story by Renato Pestriniero entitled One Night of 21 Hours, a story which remains as obscure as the man himself. If anyone knows anything more about Mr. Pestriniero please feel free to leave a comment. This was subsequently adapted for the screen by Mario Bava, Alberto Bevilacqua, Callisto Cosulich, Antonio Roman, and Rafael J. Salvia. A consequence of being in partnership with AIP however was the necessity of an English language version; herein lies one of the great tragedies to afflict Planet of the Vampires. The English version was handled by Danish novelist/screenwriter/director Ib Melchior (The Angry Red Planet [1959], The Time Travellers [1964], Robinson Crusoe on Mars [1964]) and Louis M. Heyward (writer of such masterpieces as Pajama Party [1964], The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini [1966] and Dr. Goldfoot and the ‘S’ Bomb [1966]). My assessment of their contribution to Planet of the Vampires is thus; watch the original Italian language version!

Mario Bava - Title Screens

The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963)

Dir: MARIO BAVA
Country: ITALY

AKA:
La ragazza che sapeva troppo
The Evil Eye

Although certain plot elements of imported murder mysteries had been absorbed into Italian cinema (see Visconti’s Ossessione [1943]) Mario Bava’s The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963) was the first to foreground them in a self-conscious manner. The protagonist Nora Davis (Letícia Román) is a voracious reader of murder mysteries, she clearly enjoys losing herself in the fantasy world, and craves a mystery in the real world that mirrors the exciting events on the written page. The instant she arrives in Rome from America to visit a bedridden aunt events are in motion over which she has no control. An early encounter in the airport with a drug smuggler is quickly followed by the death of her aunt, and this is soon followed by a mugging, and most importantly of all a murder to which she is a witness. These plot events and contrivances would be laughable were it not for the darkly humorous streak that runs through the film, and the filmmakers less than serious approach to the subject matter. In addition Bava and his collaborators choose too include a third person narrator who comments on Nora’s predicament and gives expression to her thoughts. Rather than weaken the narrative, this serves to tie the film very strongly to the literary source, and it becomes another self referential device along with on screen references to Mickey Spillane and Agatha Christie.

A Bay of Blood (1971)

Dir: MARIO BAVA
Country: ITALY

AKA:
Reazione a catena
Twitch of the Death Nerve
Blood Bath
Carnage
The Last House on the Left Part II

This multi-titled picture from Italy’s greatest visual stylist Mario Bava (it was even passed off as a sequel to the inferior Last House on the Left [1972]) has achieved an influence in the horror genre far out of proportion to its modest means of production. It provided a blueprint for less talented filmmakers like Wes Craven, John Carpenter and Sean S. Cunningham, so indirectly we have Mario Bava to blame for the cinematic excrement inflicted on the world by these amateurish filmmakers. Its status as the slasher film in embryonic form often detracts from the fact that A Bay of Blood is a ruthlessly efficient giallo that owes its own debt of gratitude to the Agatha Christie novel And Then There Were None (1939). It also emerges as a withering satire in its own right, refreshingly bereft of the self-conscious post-modern prattling of odious and arrogant films like Scream (1996). It takes a rare talent indeed to not only put in place a plot structure with obvious potential for imitation, but also to send up such a plot structure. This is by no means a one man show and although their names have largely been written out of slasher history Bava’s collaborators on the screenplay Fillipo Ottoni and Giuseppe Zaccariello deserve a mention. Indeed these three men wouldn’t have had a screenplay to work on were it not for the original story by Franco Barberi and Dardano Sacchetti. I’ve been critical of Sacchetti in the past, but the man has an undoubted gift for creating complex plots that somehow hold together and a myriad of distinctive sequences and scenarios. Its just he has the same aptitude for writing dialogue as a deaf mute.

Kill, Baby...Kill! (1966)

Dir: MARIO BAVA
Country: ITALY

aka:
Operazione Paura
Curse of the Dead
Operation Fear
Curse of the Living Dead

This sumptuous and extravagant slice of supernatural period gothic horror is among Italian filmmaker Mario Bava’s greatest achievements. The dreadfully titled Kill, Baby…Kill! was Bava’s third descent into the phantasmagorical and supernatural realm of the gothic following his debut Black Sunday (aka Mask of Satan, 1960) and ‘The Wurdalak’ segment of his portmanteau Black Sabbath (1963). His proficiency in conjuring an appropriate visual treatment for this period was illustrated amply in those earlier efforts, but in Kill, Baby…Kill! Bava and regular photographic collaborator Antonio Rinaldi take this a step further, bathing a mysterious and isolated rural Italian village in a weird and highly effective palette of colours. The film opens in media res with a distinctive and inexplicable suicide, and the briefest of appearances of a child who will haunt the film. This is typical of the brand of restricted narration employed by Romano Migliorini, Roberto Natale and Mario Bava in their screenplay. This enigmatic and inscrutable quality is maintained throughout. This of course is a complimentary way of saying that the film doesn’t make a lot of sense and has a slapdash approach to story and plot construction - Bava like many Italian directors prefers to tell his stories in visual terms, and few in the industry pulled it off with such style.

Mario Bava Poster Gallery

In the 1960’s Mario Bava defined the look, tone, and atmosphere of Italian horror. Bava almost single-handedly popularised the genre and spearheaded a rich cycle of gothic horrors that attempted to imitate the luxurious art direction of Hammer, but with an attitude to screen violence far in excess of anything Hammer were allowed to do thanks to a squeamish censor. Bava brought with him a visual sensibility honed throughout the 1950’s due to his work as a cinematographer. Bava possessed a unique eye for atmospheric visuals, often creating beautifully composed scenes in which light and dark became critical players in the unfolding drama. The result was both a visual uniformity (Bava films are unmistakable) and a splendour that belied the low budgets he was forced to work with. In addition to his gothic horrors - Black Sunday (1960 - featuring Barbara Steele), Black Sabbath (1963 - featuring Boris Karloff) and his masterpiece Kill, Baby…Kill! (1966) he also directed westerns - The Road to Fort Alamo (1964) and Roy Colt and Winchester Jack (1970), science-fiction - Planet of the Vampires (1965), spoof spy adventures - Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (1966) and Danger: Diabolik (1968) and historical adventures - Erik the Conqueror (1961) and Knives of the Avenger (1966). But arguably his most important contribution to popular Italian cinema was the first exploratory steps he took in the establishment of the giallo. The conceptual brilliance and ravishing colours of Blood and Black Lace (1964) became a defining generic statement and was never really improved upon or added too by the legion of filmmakers who followed in Bava’s wake. Later examples such as 5 Dolls for an August Moon (1970), and Hatchet for the Honeymoon (1970) were derisory and feeble efforts only saved by Bava’s cinematography. Perhaps his most influential film was A Bay of Blood (1971) whose set piece ‘body count’ structure would be imitated by countless slasher films for years to come. Bava’s decision to remain in Italy may have compromised a major international career, but this choice has been vindicated a thousand times over by the uniqueness and brilliance of many of his films. Without further ado The Celluloid Highway is proud to present the filmography of Mario Bava in poster form!

Black Sunday aka Mask of Satan (1960) -  US Poster