Review: Kill, Baby…Kill

Doctor Giacomo Rossi-Stuart arrives in a small village on business and is greeted by a town full of superstitious, frightened villagers who believe they are cursed by the murderous ghost of a young girl. Erika Blanc plays one of the townsfolk.

 

In my estimation the finest film from director Mario Bava (“Black Sunday”, “Black Sabbath”, “Hatchet for the Honeymoon”), he co-wrote this ghostly mini-masterpiece from 1966 with Romano Migliorini (“The Inglorious Bastards” with Bo Svenson and Fred Williamson) and Roberto Natale (“Vengeance is My Forgiveness” with Tab Hunter and Erika Blanc). Fans of Hammer Horror and the Roger Corman cycle of Edgar Allen Poe films are advised to check this one out because this is of a similar vein, whilst having its own vibe and atmosphere. Oh the atmosphere! It’s thick and foreboding from start to finish, and the colour cinematography by Antonio Rinaldi (Bava’s underrated “Five Dolls for an August Moon”) and an uncredited Bava himself is to die for. Look at that shadowy, spiral staircase for one thing. Bava paints an entire village overcome with terror and superstition, and visually the village looks wonderfully decrepit. It seems covered in dust, cobwebs, crumbling stone – and it only gets more so as the film goes on. Talk about a city of the dead. I also have to mention the outstanding, creepy soundscape and the music score. Credited to composer Carlo Rustichelli (“God Forgives, I Don’t!”, Bava’s “Blood and Black Lace” and “The Whip and the Body”), it’s mostly comprised of stock music from other films but you wouldn’t really know it unless you’re a true cinephile and it works wonderfully well here. Seriously, the whole film sounds creepy as fuck.

 

The plot is twisted and messed up, too. I mean, it’s about the ghost of a dead girl cursing a town and causing all who see her image to bleed to death. Sure, we don’t see the bleeding given this was 1966, but still…that’s rather disturbing. Look out for the bizarro scene where our hero goes running through an estate and seems to run into his doppelganger. The final 20 minutes are particularly twisted and bizarre.

 

If there’s any flaw here it’s that lead actor Giacomo Rossi Stuart is a bit of a bronze statue, though Erika Blanc is a Barbara Steele mix of gorgeous and otherworldly, and Luciano Catenacci is rock-solid as the bald-headed Karl, the Burgomaster. It’s particularly interesting seeing Blanc play such an innocent here given her rather devilish performance in the later sexy camp classic “The Devil’s Nightmare”.

 

A weird but spellbinding, creepy, stunningly shot and scored film. It’s a masterpiece of mood and atmosphere, if not exactly character depth. Witchcraft, cursed townsfolk, foggy graveyards, and a fetching Erika Blanc – what more could you possibly want from a horror film? It might not be your thing, but this is very much my thing.

 

Rating: B+

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