Hatchet for a Honeymoon

Hatchet for a Honeymoon. Directed by Mario Bava. (1970).

I saw this once before long ago and remember liking it. It’s a title from Chas’ catalog so it’s a long overdue review. Here we go! 

The credits give off a Rankin Bass drenched in blood vibe. This is of course the master of the macabre Mario Bava. Tarantino once gave him a lifetime achievement award!

A meatclever murder happens on a speeding train as John (played by Stephen Forsyth) a self described psycho hates his current wife and killed 5 before her. Mildred his bride played by Laura Betti warns that she’ll never grant him a divorce! John is in the fashion business, so lots of models show up, however this dude is preoccupied with some mannequin hanky panky to care. The psychedelic score is pretty jarring and nail biting. 

Egg sucking psycho! (I wonder if this influenced Angel's (1983) mom fixated creep)

At a seance Mildred (Betti) has a very dramatic hysterical fit. These types of spectral events never work out in most situations unless it’s Patrick Swayze in Ghost (1990). Forsyth's character, the meatcleaving weirdo has a really snazzy garden with roses and flapping parrots. He has a creepy wedding murder fetish and claims a new victim played by Femi Benussi. They play lots of fuzz guitar during this scene. 

Goth enough for ya?

Frank puts on a wedding dress and lipstick as this point. I did doze off a little during this film but I was smoking some herb maaann.I used to not really care for Giallos but this one was very entertaining. The subgenre has become more appealing to me ever since I heard that Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats album Nell' Ora Blu. Bava fans or Giallo puddin' heads will most likely lose their minds over this flick.

Redemption and Kino put out a DVD and it's also streaming on Tubi.

BUY HERE

Mildred is so drama

Wild guess, Mommy issues?

The Whip and The Flesh

The Whip and The Flesh (Night of the Phantom, What!, Son of Satan) Directed By Mario Bava, Starring Christopher Lee (1963).

It's been a zillion years since I've seen a Bava or a Christopher Lee film for that matter but after recently picking up an 80's Fango that had an interview with the tall dark and gruesome Brit and having just finished reading the latest Monster! with a stellar article on The Dracula Hammer films by Troy Howarth, I figured it was mandatory to revisit this tale of classy S&M bathed in blueish darkness. Make sure you check out his books on Fulci, Bava and Italian Giallos on Amazon.

Whip was highly controversial at the time for its unabashed clout in depicting the incest relations of a sister and brother and the kinky relationship between Kurt (Lee) and Nevenka (Lavi). There will be no 50 Shades jokes in this review, there's enough of that tripe on the internet.

Don't give me any smart mouth

Everyone is edgy in the gothic castle because the evil Kurt has returned. Lee's dynamic voice is sadly snubbed out by some Italian dude overdubbing his voice, don't let that discourage you from enjoying the film however. According to Perverse Titillation by Danny Shipka, Lee felt so burned by poor dubbing that he wrote in his contract that he's to provide all dubbing for International films from then on. 

ladies love violence

There's all kinds of sordid family drama concerning Kurt's relatives that wouldn't be out of place on a telenovela. 

All the cryptic atmosphere is illuminated by a frost covered window, it's all so gothic and be sure to brace yourself for some slow plot development.

There are secret Young Frankenstein or Scooby Doo style passageways. The hallway even has rows of Knights in armor decor. Kurt must've done something so reprehensible for his father to ostracize him so vehemently, I guess they don't take kindly to misogyny even in the sexist 60s!

The constant howling of a mysterious wind is ever present, even on the beach. The characters dress in Victorian garb and look like walking thrift store knick knacks. Lee uses his whip in a sexual manor toward a girl who slightly resembles Barbara Steele Bava's usual ingenue, but it's actually Daliah Lavi (who was also dubbed). She gets turned on by the violence, a thoroughly taboo concept for the early 60s ( which is why this film was kept out of circulation for many years).

Anytime Lee didn't have to play the infamous bloodsucker I've read he was estastic (so he must've had a blast in this role). Although he had yet to appear in his second Dracula film, Prince of Darkness, so he wasn't that fatigued by the Bram Stoker figure just yet. 

A muffled ghostly voice calls Kurt's name and he accidentally gets stabbed by a jewel encrusted dagger. It actually kills him and during his funeral scene all the pallbearers where red hoods like a satanic cult. I know I've seen one of those guys in Lee's other great gothic horror film The Torture Chamber of Dr Sadism. He looks comfortable in a velvet coffin as he should, aye? The priest that conducts the funeral looks Latvian orthodox and its a random choice, it reminds me of that episode of Seinfeld, when George tries to join their sect. The slain father character looks like Herbert Lom.

Cue Seinfeld bass line

Nevenka hears phantom whip cracks in the distance and is sexually drawn to them.

She is the object of Lee's perverse obsession, he returns from the grave and whips her, but it could all be a figment of her masturbatory imagination. 

The undercurrent of perversity would later on spawn better Bava films in my opinion like Bay of Blood. Whip comes off like a soap opera with incest and S&M, but never really delivers that jolt of fear that you crave from a creepy castle type drama.

Here's my Robert Blake In Cold Blood impression

It's slightly tedious and too melodramatic for my liking. Night of the Phantom, one of the alternate titles for this film is also a terrific garage number by Larry & The Blue Notes on a few volumes of the legendary Back From The Grave compilations. I highly recommend all of those records and 9 & 10 just came out a few months ago. Order at Crypt Records.com. As for the film, it take patience of steel, I admire that it has all these odd kinky elements in a more conservative time period, but it just lags too much and the dubbing bogs it down. Make sure you are armed with lots of coffee and watch it during the day. Fandor has the uncut version available to stream. 

WATCH HERE    

Mmmmm BBQ'd corpse, fall off the bone good!

Monster Shark aka Devil Fish

 -Reviewed by Skunkape-

Directed by Lamberto Bava 1984

A quick personal note. Really I promise it'll be quick. I had just seen Demons for the first time and therefor was now familiar with the name of Lamberto Bava. The next summer I was on vacation with the folks in North Carolina bored out of my mind. I went to the local video store, then imagine the joy of seeing a Jaws rip off showcased in the VidMark Big Box, and it being directed by Lamberto Bava. The night was anything but pleasant. I've resented that viewing experience my entire life. I've finally had the courage to watch the film again but this time I watched the alternate version titled Monster Shark. It still sucks, but being the Michael Sopkiw megafan I've now become, it was a lot more fun and I already had low expectations.

If you like Deviled eggs you'll love Devil Fish!

The film starts with a chopper flying over the ocean, then it pulls a man with his legs chewed off out of the water. You know I'm really sick of these movie monsters being so wasteful! If you're a hungry monster, you could at least eat more than just the legs, that's a whole torso wasted. Don't these monsters know kids are starving in Ethiopia.

"You can't see from this angle that my butt's missing too."

 Monster Shark is Michael Sopkiw's third starring role. He plays Peter, a studly genius who makes radio and computer technology for a pair of marine biologists. He'll probably even fix your TV too! One of these scientists is a British beer drinking know it all and the other is a praying mantis.(she's really skinny) The thin but hot dolphin training love interest is a real dickens, Dr. Stella Dickens that is! We first meet her while she's training a dolphin named Donald, I wonder if the in the Italian version it's Donatello? Dr. Stella is played by french actress Valentine Monnier. She was Sopkiw's gal pal in 2019 After the Fall of New York and their chemistry on screen got her this role as well. 

Life Aquatic with Peter Zissou

"Every time I swim it's literally Skinny Dipping."

"This new Don Johnson album rocks!"

 Monster Shark maybe a Jaws rip off (as the fish's theme definitely suggests) but this shark squid mutant isn't scaring tourists away or shutting down any annual festivals. He's actual even more of a menace with his tentacles than his teeth but Tentacles is another title that was already taken. This sharktopus was man made. There's another troublemaker in this film besides the fish, Dr. Davis Barker, a money hungry scientist from West Ocean International (W.O.I.) created it as a weapon to sell to the highest bidder. Not only that but he's sleeping with the head of W.O.I.'s wife, Professor Donald West. To protect his investment Dr. Davis has hired thug named Miller and he's running around knocking off anyone whose digging for clues putting Peter, Stella, and the rest of the marine team in danger. They discover that the super fish can regenerate it's cells. Which means if they blow it up all it's pieces will make hundreds of little devil fish. Peter uses a device to recreate the fish's own sound in order to lure into shallow water. The Coast Guard and local police will be waiting for the devil fish with gasoline and blow torches. Will Dr. Davis's mob squad snuff out Peter and will the Police be able to burn the monster until not one regenerating cell is left? Who Cares!  :)

WOI vey

"I'm Dr. Davis Frankenfish"

"I can't find my swim trunks."

Next on the Sci-Fi Channel it's Sharktopus vs. Ravioli-Saurus

Devil Fish aka Monster Shark is a monster turd no doubt. I think the project may have been an excuse for Italy’s bad boys of film to take a trip to Florida.  When Italians go to Florida they have way too much fun hanging out at the beaches and they don’t spend enough time making good films. Two Italian/ South Florida movies are Ruggero Deodato’s Raiders of Atlantis (many will disagree with me that this film doesn't suck) and Alberto De Martino's Miami Golem, both great ideas with potential but guilty of sucking. Director Lamberto Bava has made some classics but directing this crap under the name John Old Jr. is one of his epic failures. The Assistant director is none other than hack master Bruno Mattei aka Gilbert Roussel. The Story is by Martin Dolman (Sergio Martino’s director aka for 2019 After the Fall of NY) , Lewis Coates (Lugi Cozzi’s director aka for Contamination and Dean Lewis.(Dean Lewis? A Mystery Italian?) The actual screenplay was penned by four different writers including Dardano “Zombie” Saccchetti. Composer Fabio Frizzi aka Antony Barrymore does the score, which isn’t horrible, it’s actual quite good but it just doesn’t really fit this film. Funny that he scored Blastfighter under the name Andrew Barrymore and in the credits for this one he’s Antony.  One Conspiracy theory is that Frizzi had a split personality and wanted to start a company run by two talented brothers that will score film’s known as the Super Barrymore Bros.  

Floridians are the Pollo of the Sea

 

Devil Fish the video game by Commodore 64

If you thought that I wasn’t going to mention the MST3K version of Devil Fish you thought wrong! It’s one of my favorite episodes and serves this movie right. The only major differences between the two are that scenes are arranged in a different order and there’s a fair amount of nudity in the uncut version. My only issue with the riffing is that Mike and the bots repeatably peg Sopkiw as a European when he was born in Connecticut, USA.

MOVIE SIGN!

4 /10 on the CULT-O-METER

Almost fun, for Sopkiw fanatics only

Stick with the MST3K version you know that’s 10 of out 10!


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Monster Shark or Devil Fish?

At Theater of Guts we call it
BeelzeTuna 

 

Demons

DEMONS Directed By Lamberto Bava Starring Urbano Barberini (1985)

Reviewed By Goat Scrote

                If a scary guy in a creepy-looking metal mask (infamous director Michele Soavi) ever offers you a free ticket to a movie, here's what you do. You go home and cuddle up on the couch with your favorite fuzzy, feathery, or scaly domesticated critter(s) and/or your sweetie(s). Have a bag of microwave popcorn or some corn chips, watch some b-grade garbage on the internet or whatever, and have a normal, boring, apocalypse-free night. Forget you ever got that ticket. Free movie tickets are nothing more than bait for demon traps. People are suckers for free stuff. The demons know this.

Suckers!

              "Demons" primarily takes place in a movie theater, and during the first part, the action in the movie they're watching mirrors what's happening in the theater. This set-up would have really lent itself to some William-Castle-style gimmickry in theaters. You could send some people in demon masks running through the aisles at key moments to get everyone in the proper mood.

Did I do that? (In Urkle voice)

                One of the visitors is scratched by a metal demon mask that's on display in the lobby. The same thing happens to someone in the movie-within-the-movie later on, which triggers a demonic transformation both on screen and in the theater. The wound starts pulsing and swelling and I smile in fond remembrance of pre-CGI horror. Latex bladder effects rule! The big pus-blast about 22 minutes in marks the real start of the party. Yes, it's true: Acne is spawned from the depths of Hell. 

                The trapped theatergoers don't need very long to figure out something is going terribly wrong, but when they batter down the doors to escape, they find a wall of concrete has mysteriously appeared. What the...? Things just sort of happen in this movie, and there's really no payoff for thinking too hard about it. The point is that they are now sealed in. They scatter through the theater in utter panic, looking for a way out, and one by one they get gruesomely torn up. The demon plague is spread from person to person through scratches and bites, so each new victim becomes possessed by a demon.

Nevermind the Clearasil get a priest!

                Some of the theatergoers decide that the film must be making all this happen, so they break into the projection booth to put a stop to it and find computerized projectors. Once again, a warning to the modern world! This digital projector craze is a soul-corrupting ploy to put demons in our cineplexes. I'm sure there's something about this in the Bible! Stopping the movie doesn't slow down the rampage, however.

                There's a hilarious visual pun at 43:30... a quartet of "punkers" outside the theater snorting cocaine out of a Coca Cola can. Ha! Okay, I thought it was funny, but I'm easily amused. Didn’t I see that in Return of the Living Dead, or am I high? I’m way too lazy to go look it up. (it didn't happen in the film. Ed.) Also, I am craving junk food. Anyway, the punkers, now on the run from the cops, find a back door into the theater and hide inside. Meanwhile, one of the demons sneaks out and scratches up the police. Containment has been lost! The demons are free, free to spread havoc and hellish misery across the face of the world, mwahahahahaha!

                Right about here I almost feel sorry for the demons. They were having so much fun in the theater, but boy, are they in for a disappointment when they see that we have pretty much already done their job for them in the outside world. Desolation? Mutilation? Despair? Senseless mob violence? Bloody mayhem? Plague? Rivers of boiling feces? Welcome to planet Earth, ya jerks. You’ll fit right in.

Howdy Folks, I'm Murray the "bacne" demon

                There are some cool bits and pieces of imagery, like the demon transformation at 30 minutes in and the glow-eyed demons climbing backlit stairs at 1:01:00. There's a pretty nifty scene at 1:07:45 when a full-sized demon climbs its way out of the back of one of the infected like she's a living doorway to Hell. The slimy, gooey, bloody old-school special effects are definitely part of the fun, with blasts of yellow and green pus, demon puke, stretchy latex, and plenty of fake blood.

Don't worry bro, I'll take down your insurance info later!

                There's a dirt bike and a samurai sword displayed in the lobby so that later the "hero" can drive through the theater chopping up demons with an 80s metal soundtrack blasting in the background. Our hero is not a very charismatic guy, but he gets to live the dream here... until he gets scratched and then crashes the bike. Oh well.

Perfect there's that chopper I ordered

                Then, with no warning, a helicopter comes crashing through the roof of the theater. This is by far my favorite moment. It makes absolutely no sense, and no explanation is ever offered. Just go with it! The two survivors use the helicopter as a weapon against their unholy enemies. And would you look at that, the chopper is also equipped with a grapnel hook gun and a winch. I’m sure if they’d kept looking they would have found a jet pack or a flamethrower, too. Anyway, hey, presto, they make it up to the roof the theater to face off with the original metal-faced ticket distributor, who is presumably the bozo responsible for this whole mess. The heroes do a reversal of the standard Italian-horror eye impalement kill, and this time it’s the bad guy getting a piece of rebar shoved through his brain. The good guys emerge victorious... only to discover that the city has already plunged into anarchy and chaos, with demons running loose all over. They're rescued by an extremely well-armed family in a jeep.

part machine part movie usher

                Now, even though we know the male lead was scratched by demon claws and we're expecting him to turn at any moment, it's the female lead who becomes a demon and has to be put down. Luckily this family seems able to take care of themselves. When the demon apocalypse arrives -- which should be any minute now, according to my sources -- we're all going to be wishing for those high-capacity assault rifle magazines, mark my words!

WATCH HERE

OR BUY ON DVD

Rabid Dogs

Rabid Dogs (Kidnapped) Directed By Mario Bava. Starring George Eastman (1974).

   This has got to be the meanest, most sadistic Mario Bava has ever gotten outside of a horror film. He never got to finish it originally and his son Lamberto Bava(Demons) took over, because the investor died in a car accident and the film wasn't released until a few years ago! That's the reason there are two version of Rabid Dogs (which most Bava fans, me included prefer). Kidnapped, which is the version currently streaming has alot of filler and a mystery women on the phone, who also shows up at the end tacking on another story and filling in some blanks. We really don't need this portion, but to stay true to his father's vision, Lamberto used notes from the original cut.
    Two robbers in clown masks rob and stab people with knives and machine guns. One of the criminals is a totally unhinged George Eastman (Luigi Fontefiori). One stupid character named Blade (Don Backy) gets pinned to a corner and in a desperate move, stabs a woman in the throat in a parking garage with a switchblade, raising their bounty from petty criminals to vicious killers. They highjack a seemingly innocent family man with a wife and sleeping kid in the back. The manner in which the killers happily torture, children and women reminds me of Tony Mustante and Martin Sheen in one of my favorite criminally underrated films The Incident.

   Their child needs to get to a hospital, which creates a mood in Rabid Dogs that's edgy and intense, brilliantly set in a tiny cramped vehicle.They are driving around at gunpoint with no air conditioning and their child will most likely die if he doesn't get medical attention. Blade (Don Becky) seems the most reluctant criminal of the crew and 32 (George Eastman) is blissfully psychotic and a major league pervert. The front seat criminal (played by Maurice Poli) seems the most rational or unusually calm.        

Calm and Rational aye?

    There are police and helicopters tailing their every move, In The Kidnapped version, but it seems that no one can help. The woman played by Lea Lander, tries to escape to get help, once they pull over. Instead as punishment for running away, she is beaten and forced at knifepoint to urinate in front of the perverted maniacs, they giggle like retarded children and get turned on by it! They incessantly humiliate the woman (who they call Greta Garbo) in the car. Blade gets sad and erratic once his friend 32 is shot by the front seat criminal. The ending is extremely nihilistic and once you've seen the surprise, it doesn't take anything away from repeated viewings of Rabid Dogs, a very influential film.       

   The score in this Netflix version is not as good as the original Stelvio Cipriani, with its driving harpsichord beat. I'm not sure why they used this musak sounding tripe for the restored film.

Piss Your Pants

  The spear going through two people having sex scene in Friday The 13th 2 was blatantly stolen from Bava (for Bay Of Blood reviewed here). This time, Bava used the "Piss Your Pants" scene from Last House On The Left (1972) and copies it for Rabid Dogs, which is fine by me, exploitation is a free for all operation! There are various versions of the film with a different score, opening scenes and closing scenes. I must favor the Rabid Dogs cut and the film is one of Bava's and George Eastman's best efforts. Highly Recommended! 

Crucial missing scene excised from Kidnapped

WATCH HERE

Black Sabbath

BLACK SABBATH Directed by Mario Bava. Starring Boris Karloff (1963)

 Boris Karloff hams it up as he introduces each of the stories in this Mario Bava anthology. I have yet to review any of my favorite Bava movies, and I think I probably should be putting those out there. This is not one of those, it's fairly middle-of-the-road, much like "Lisa and the Devil" and "House of Exorcism".

The Drop of Water
    Don't steal things from people who died during seances, or they will fuck your shit up. That's the moral of the story when a scary-faced corpse haunts the woman who took her ring. The segment is made around one moderately entertaining special effect, the fake corpse. In a brief denouement, the police find the victim-thief with her hands wrapped around her own neck, and we get a hint that the neighbor who found the body stole the ring... will the terrible cycle repeat? Pretty straightforward.

The Telephone
    Like just about everyone in a Mario Bava movie, Rosie has a pretty cool homestead and really stylin' clothes, or in this case underwear. Unfortunately she's also got a stalker who won't stop calling her and asking her to take her clothes off. Next he slips a note under her door, with a message that is written supernaturally while she watches -- apparently it's someone named Frank, who is dead. She calls in some backup... her only friend, the woman that she stole Frank from. This just seems like a bad idea, but what do I know.
    Frank shows up, looking quite alive, and strangles his first girlfriend. Rosie stabs him dead, but his voice informs her over the phone that he will be calling her every night, wherever she goes. Also pretty straightforward. A ghost stalker would really suck.

The Wurdalak
  Speaking of sucking (smooth, huh?) we next have the story of a type of vampire that must feed on what it loves. Karloff plays a grandfather who has returned from the grave and is acting really, really strange. Everyone in the family seems to know what is going on, but nobody seems to want to do something about it, or at least take some sensible precautions. They just let Karloff order them to do unhinged things like shoot the family dog. Then vampire-Karloff takes off with his grandson in the dead of night. Junior returns but in a very "Pet Semetary" kind of way... he's hungry, and he's come back for his mother. One by one, the whole family is consumed by the ones they love.
    This is by far the best segment in the movie. It has an interesting premise, there's a lot of drama, cool sets, plus Boris Karloff.
Reviewed By Goat Scrote!

I'm on the phone with my agent

Lisa & The Devil/ House Of Exorcism

A bunch of Mario Bava movies popped up on Netflix just in time for my favorite holiday. Sweet. A record of my pre-Halloween Mario-thon so far:

LISA AND THE DEVIL Directed by Mario Bava. Starring Telly Savalas and Elke Sommer (1974).
    I usually like the way Bava movies look. In this one the colors are intensely saturated. There's plenty of soft focus and fog. Bright primary colors are striking when they show up. Simple things like crumbling European alleyways, melted candles, and antique toys look truly beautiful. Mario Bava certainly had style. Eyes are a running theme throughout the movie. People spend a lot of time giving each other meaningful looks.
     The story is vague and a little dull. Lisa sees a fresco depicting the devil carrying off the dead. Shopping for antiques, she encounters a man (Telly Savalas) who looks just like the devil as depicted in the painting. Spooky events lead her to a palatial estate with a group of strangers... including the lollipop-sucking butler, who is also Telly Savalas. The place is home to a stern matron and her charming son, who immediately has the hots for Lisa.

Who Loves Ya Satan!

    Weird stuff goes on at the estate. Mysterious agendas, possible past lives, and murder are sprinkled throughout but it never really gels into much of anything except a really crap vacation for Lisa. There's a guy stalking her who keeps being dead then not dead and then dead and not dead again. Other times, he's a doll. Yes, it's a little confusing. We're not quite sure why anyone is doing... whatever it is they are doing.
    The devil sure seems to enjoy messing with Lisa's head. How much of this is real and how much is some illusion or hallucination? Over an hour in, I still don't really know what this movie is about. It all seems kind of random.
    Eventually, all the visitors to the estate get picked off except Lisa. It turns out the young man of the house is a bit of a psycho. And he seemed so nice! A fairly grody necro-drug-rape threesome ensues. It's not even close to "Nekromantik" weird or anything, but it's probably the only really disturbing part of the movie. There are some very stylish, surreal scenes that sneak up on you, like the victims all arrayed at the dinner table, or when Lisa wakes up to find herself in a bedroom overgrown with wild plants. Eventually she manages to get the hell out of there and hops a plane back home, but she can never escape the devil... the movie is over and I'm not totally sure what it was all supposed to mean. I mean, I get it... the devil is escorting souls to hell, just like in the fresco at the beginning... but it's a weak ending and it doesn't really explain why the events of the movie happened instead of some completely different series of bizarre events. Expression of profound Kafka-esque nihilism or just plain silly?

I for one am shock and appalled!

HOUSE OF EXORCISM
    When "Lisa and the Devil" flopped, Bava was pushed into reworking it into a rip-off of "The Exorcist". There's even a pea-soup vomit scene. "House of Exorcism" is a different movie made with the footage from "Lisa and the Devil" with the demon-possession bit filmed later and added in.
    In the new story, Lisa comes down with a serious case of possession while on vacation and ends up in a hospital. The doctors think she's just crazy, a priest thinks she has some sort of chronic inflammation of the soul. When she starts telekinetically flinging things around, it's clear who made the correct diagnosis. Most of the first movie gets recycled in a slightly condensed form as a series of extended flashbacks. Satan's got a serious potty mouth and the body of a contortionist, of course, but it never gets quite as raunchy as "The Exorcist". Some of the possessed dialogue is pretty funny:
    "Where did you come from?"
    "From a cunt, you jerk!"
    Ha!
    I had a lot more fun watching this one, partly because it's so much trashier and more lurid than "Lisa and the Devil". Adding the demon-possession storyline actually gives some structure to a previously rather shapeless plot. There's less lingering on images and more story to tell so things move along at a faster pace. The downside is that some of the most visually striking parts of the film aren't there. As goofy as the ending is in the original version, it's still probably a better ending than the extra-weak "exorcism" of the evil house that we finish up with here. On balance watch this one if you're going to watch either one, but there's better Mario Bava fare out there.
Reviewed by Goat Scrote
Both are available on Netflix

Get thee back Campbell's chunky pea soup!

Another doll beat me up on the Twilight Zone

Twitch of The Death Nerve

 

 Twitch of The Death Nerve (Bay of Blood, Carnage) Directed By Mario Bava. Starring Claudine Auger. (1971)

Lately I’ve been trying to see more Mario Bava films, Black Sunday has always been one of my favorites. After seeing the original Friday The 13^th on the big screen, it made a huge impact on me and was more effective then I remembered. It inspired me to check out its originator.

            The trailer for this film under one of its billion alternate titles: Carnage, is one of the best solarized, acid soaked music videos and highly recommended for repeated viewings (it’s on the Mad Ron’s Prevues From Hell DVD). When I sent video comps to friends in the days of videotape trading I would always include it.

            Sean Cunningham blatantly steals from Bava with similar murders, shot scenarios in later Friday sequels a scene where two people having sex are impaled by one long spear. Hooking up with Wes Craven he also borrowed from Bava’s brilliant Rabid Dogs with some forced humiliation (“Piss your Pants” scene).

            Where is that guy now anyway? While Bava remains an innovator of stylistic Technicolor murder who influenced numerous Italian horror directors. Bay Of Blood (or Twitch of the Death Nerve) has the basic storyline and irrelevant dialogue as any other later slasher film. It was however the first to inspire many later ones during the 80’s.

            From the first couple of minutes it’s got gore galore and rampant cruelty as a woman in a wheel chair is hung up and strangled. Mod looking teens frolic naked (shades of Friday the 13^th), and a faceless voyeuristic killer watches from behind the trees. There is a guy in an itchy sweater responsible for some mayhem on the island (he’s the obvious inspiration for the Mrs. Voorhees character). Almost every character is on edge and at each other’s throats! One of my favorite scriptwriters Dardano Sarchetti wrote the story concept and Carlo (E.T., Possession) Rambaldi assisted with the makeup. There’s a genius moment when a guy gets a machete plunged into his face and falls over, reminding me of the axe in the face death from Friday part 1. Highly Recommended and available on Youtube (link)

Shish kabobed

Mustache Squid Ride

Ring around the collar?