reblogged: The Haunting Film of Mario Bava

 

Originally published on my former blog: Gypsyscarlett Weblog on April 30, 2012

Released in 1966 by Mario Bava, Kill, Baby, Kill, is a fantastic horror set in a Carpathian village.  Despite its ridiculous American title (the original being, Operazione paura) which conjures images of a c-grade slasher, the film is a surprising mix of an old-fashioned ghost story with dashes of surrealism. The film begins as a woman leaps to her death onto a spiked fence.  Then a child’s mocking laughter is heard as the opening credits roll. An outsider, Dr. Paul Eswai, is summoned to perform the autopsy.  He quickly befriends a young nurse, Monica Shuftan, who only recently arrived at the village, herself.   She reveals having been born there, but sent away when orphaned at two years.  “I came to visit my parents’ graves,” she tells him.

The two quickly learn that the villagers fear a ghost child named Melissa.   Legend goes that anyone who sees the malevolent spirit will kill themselves

The scientifically-minded doctor scoffs at the notion of a curse, while the more emotional, but sensible Monica realizes that science can’t explain the odd deaths which have plagued the village for twenty years. Along with the pile of bodies all found with coins in their hearts, is the mysterious presence of the black-robed Ruth.

     When a teen-aged girl claims to have seen the ghost, her petrified mother cries for her husband to seek help from the witch.  But when he opens the door to do so, she is already standing at the threshold.   “We know when someone is in harm’s way.”

When Paul arrives, he is aghast to witness what he considers Ruth’s arcane healing methods.  And further, he ignores her warnings to leave the village.   Instead, he continues to search for rational answers and save the ailing Nadienne. Meanwhile, Monica is plagued by a doll-filled nightmare that suggests there’s more to her past in connection with the village than even she is aware.. As the plot deepens, Monica, Paul, and Ruth find their way to the home of the Baroness Graps, the reclusive mother of the ghost child.  Two are seeking the truth.  One, is looking for retribution. Not as well known as Bava’s sublime, Black Sunday, this film is every bit as worth a view.   Interesting camera angles and dazzling colors create a highly atmospheric mood.   An intelligent script converts some of the genre’s even by then tired clichés.   Giacomo Rossi-Stuart displays solid acting as Paul, though he lacks the charisma necessary to elevate the role from merely the “good guy”. It is the women of this film that the camera loves.  Erika Blanc is effective as Monica, and even drab clothes can’t hide her charms.  The haunting Fabienne Dali (Ruth) steals every scene she’s in.  And of course, there’s always Melissa and her devoted mother…

Bohemian Gothic Tarot: Nine of Swords: Nightmares and Visions

“Even if she be not harmed, her heart may fail her in so much and so many horrors; and hereafter she may suffer–both in waking, from her nerves, and in sleep, from her dreams.” ― Bram Stoker, Dracula

“Thus fortified I might take my rest in peace. But dreams come through stone walls, light up dark rooms, or darken light ones, and their persons make their exists and their entrances as they please, and laugh at locksmiths.” ― Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla

As I continue my study of The Bohemian Gothic Tarot deck, it occured to me that it would make sense to discuss the cards in some chronological order.  However, since I’m not at all a linear thinker, that idea was quickly eschewed in favor of a more  instinctive bent. Hence, I’ll just be writing about whichever card strikes my fancy. And on this new moon, it is:

Nine of  Swords

keyowrds: Nightmares. Visions.  Terrors of the mind.   Delusions. Phobias and hysteria.   Fear of going mad.

Brings to my mind the works of Poe and Jackson. The artistic horrors of Bava and Argento.

Reflections on the card: While certainly most would consider this a negative card (and in many aspects it is), it also invokes in me a singular excitement. No doubt  because dreams and nightmares often fuel my own stories.

“I delight in what I fear,” Shirley Jackson once said.  Her Eleanor vance could have posed for this card.

We all have fears.  They can control us, or we can turn them into our own works of art.

Alexander Scriabin’s Black Mass (Piano Sonata no. 9)

Black Sabbath: A Drop of Water- a Tale of Terror

There are  films you see as a child, which although the name of it is long forgotten to you, fragments of scenes, the way it crawled under your skin, remain intact.   And years later, you are flicking the channels when you come across that seem bony hand, those same drops of water.   “This was that movie,” you say.

Directed by the sublime Mario Bava (Black Sunday, Kill Baby Kill), Black Sabbath was a  1963 Italian horror trilogy.  Its original title, I tre volte della paura ( The three Faces of Fear) consists of one,  “The Telephone” in which a woman named Rosy, beset by terrifying phone calls, fears the ex-pimp she helped put away, is out now,  seeking revenge.  Second, “The Wurdalak”, in which a woman loses her child to a vampire.   This story set in 19th century Russia is exceptionally haunting and beautifully filmed.   Yet it is perhaps the third one, that remains most memorable to any who saw it:

“A Drop of Water”

Everyone knows not to steal from the dead.   Except, evidently,  Victorian Nurse Helen Chester.  While dressing the body of a deceased patient, she slips a saphire ring off the corpse’s finger.  The deed done,  she knocks over a glass of water, its contents spilling onto the floor.   A fly attacks her face.

Pulling herself together, she continues her work.

Once finished with the assignment, she returns home to her apartment.  Ready to rewind and relax for the evening, her plans are hindered by the buzzing of flies, and the tip-tapping of water.   And then there is that face.  That face.  And those hands. . .

From youtube, in the Original Italian:  (don’t worry, you don’t need to speak the language to understand what is happening)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5URt0IDd84   (part one)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7WYuBHz2Jg    (part two)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHotHCMSEdc    (part three)