Behind the Couch

Devil's Advocates is a book series devoted to exploring the classics of horror cinema. Contributors to Devil's Advocates come from the worlds of academia, journalism and fiction, but all have one thing in common: a passion for the horror film and for sharing that passion. Each instalment delves into a specific horror film, exploring everything from its conception to its impact on genre cinema and wider popular culture. Titles thus far include Let the Right One In by Anne Billson, Witchfinder General by Ian Cooper, SAW by Benjamin Poole, The Descent by James Marriott and Carrie by Neil Mitchell. Despite its reputation as one of the greatest and most influential of all horror films, there is surprisingly little literature dedicated to Mario Bava’s Black Sunday (1960), and Martyn Conterio's contribution to the Devil’s Advocates series is the first single book devoted to it. Head over to Exquisite Terror to read my review . 

Mario Bava with Jacqueline Pierreux ( Black Sabbath ) The undisputed Master of Italian horror cinema, Mario Bava, would have turned 98 years old today. Sadly, Mr Bava passed away in 1980 at the age of 65, but he left behind an astonishing body of work. Specialising in darkly beautiful Gothic Horror, Bava also dabbled in genres as eclectic as sword and sandal peplums, science fiction ( Planet of the Vampires ), comic book adaptations, psychological thrillers and is generally heralded as the filmmaker responsible for kick starting the giallo (later popularised by Dario Argento), with his morbidly exquisite films The Girl Who Knew Too Much and Blood and Black Lace . He also had a tremendous influence on the contemporary slasher movie, with his wickedly humorous whodunit, Bay of Blood . Taking the body-count template of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None , Bava created a staggeringly violent, though elegantly lensed shocker that would have an overwhelming impact on the likes ...

The latest instalment of Audiodrome: Music in Film is now up over at Paracinema.net . This month I check out Carlo Rustichelli’s rather swanky and often spooky score for Mario Bava’s ravishing giallo blueprint, Blood & Black Lace (1964). Infused with the sultry rhythms of the tango, Rustichelli’s music highlights the more sensual aspects of Bava’s lurid film about a sadistic killer preying upon the models of an elite fashion house. Skip on over to Paracinema to read it and listen to a track. While you’re there, why not think about ordering yourself a copy of the brand new issue of Paracinema Magazine. With articles such as When Life Gives You Razor Blades: Bloody Vengeance in Hobo with a Shotgun by Christine Makepeace; Revenge is a Dish Best Served Raw and Wriggling: Park Chan-Wook’s Vengeance Trilogy by Samm Deighan; Going Back Home: Post-Vietnam Masculinity in Rolling Thunder by Adam Blomquist and Chainsawing Well is the Best Revenge: Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2‘s Tex...

1965 Dir. Mario Bava AKA Terror en el Espacio Two interplanetary ships on an exploratory expedition into deepest, darkest, unchartedest space receive a distress signal from Aura, an unexplored and seemingly deserted planet. When the ships are pulled into its gravitational pull and crash land on the ominous surface, the surviving crew members gradually fall victim to the disembodied inhabitants of this strange world, who begin to possess their minds when they sleep. They also possess the bodies of the dead and use the animated corpses to stalk and kill the remaining survivors in an attempt to get off the planet which is about to go postal... Based on Renato Pestriniero's short story “One Night of 21 Hours”, Planet of the Vampires is a bit of a misnomer – the alien entities that possess the bodies and minds of the crew are more like ‘body-snatchers’ than blood-thirsty vampires. That’s by-the-by though; the title is as wonderfully garish as the film itself. In short – it’s ...

1964 Dir. Mario Bava AKA Sei donne per l'assassino Fashion House of Death A young model is murdered by a mysterious masked figure in a raging storm outside the chic fashion house where she worked. When her boyfriend is suspected of the killing, her diary - which contains incriminating evidence linking her to the killer and several colleagues - mysteriously vanishes. The masked killer begins violently murdering the models at the house in an attempt to find the diary and keep their identity a secret. Surely someone will be able to stop them before its too late and the fashion house of models becomes a terror house of blood! Blood and Black Lace really cemented the conventions of the giallo with its overwhelmingly stylish and chic design and it’s opulent depictions of various characters falling victim to a black gloved, sharp-implement wielding sadistic lunatic. Essentially just a really stylish ‘body count’ movie, Blood and Black Lace really marks the first time that Bava ...

1963 Dir. Mario Bava Nora Davis (Letícia Román), a young American visiting her ailing aunt in Rome, witnesses a vicious murder in a deserted piazza after dark. She cannot convince anyone that what she saw was not a dream. She eventually discovers a box of newspaper clippings about a series of gruesome killings in the local area dubbed the ‘Alphabet Murders’. Fearing she is next on the killer's list, she decides to try and track down the malicious culprit with the help of the dashing Dr. Bassi (John Saxon). Can they find the killer before they too become victims? Mario Bava was a director who not only wielded a great mastery over gothic horror traditions in films such as Black Sunday , Kill Baby Kill and Black Sabbath , he also cut a formidable swathe through the contemporary thriller genre too. With films such as Bay of Blood , Blood and Black Lace and The Girl Who Knew Too Much - a work generally considered to be the first ever giallo film - Bava placed his edgy stories f...

1977 Dir. Mario Bava AKA Beyond the Door II, Transfert-Suspence-Hypnos, Shock Dora (Daria Nicolodi), her son Marco (David Colin Jnr) and her new husband Bruno (John Steiner) return to live in her old family home – the site of her first husband’s supposed suicide. Recovering from a nervous breakdown, Dora’s already fragile state of mind is pushed further towards the brink of sanity by strange occurrences in the house and the increasingly sinister behaviour of her young son. Dora begins to suspect that her former husband has returned from the dead to continue abusing her as he did in life. Is this the case, or has Dora just slipped quietly into madness? Schock was director Mario Bava’s last film. Co-written by his son Lamberto and Dario Argento’s regular co-writer Dardano Sacchetti, certain segments of the film were also directed by Lamberto as Mario was in poor health. The writers tread a fine line throughout the film and the story is enshrouded in ambiguity and suggestion. ...

1970 Dir. Mario Bava Three couples are invited to spend the weekend at the secluded private island retreat of their friend, wealthy industrialist George Stark (Teodoro Corrà). One of the men, a research scientist, has perfected a secret formula for an industrial resin and the others are all keen to acquire the rights for it as it promises to be lucrative. Tempers flare as they vie to obtain the formula. Meanwhile their wives kick back and entertain themselves. The group soon realises that someone is prepared to kill to get the secret formula, and they find themselves trapped on the island with a murderer in their midst! Gosh – that’s a lot to take in. Truth be told though, as soon as you begin to watch 5 Dolls for an August Moon , it becomes apparent that none of the above plot summary really matters – all that stuff about a secret formula is just a rouse to get these volatile characters in one secluded location so they can all be bumped off, one by one nonetheless, in what amoun...

1974 Dir. Mickey Lion (Mario Bava) When she separates from her tour group to look around an old antiques shop, Lisa (Elke Sommer) encounters a man (Telly Savalas) who bears a striking resemblance to a depiction of the Devil she saw in a fresco. Making her way back to the town square, Lisa is suddenly struck down by a mysterious and somewhat disturbing ailment that causes her to spasm uncontrollably and to spout obscenities. She is visited in hospital by a Priest (Robert Alda) who surmises that she is possessed by the Devil and sets about trying to exorcise her. During the exorcism she reveals to him how she came to be in this unsavoury situation… Due to the success of Bava’s prior film Baron Blood , he was given ‘carte blanche’ by his producer Alfredo Leone to write and direct another film. Bava had apparently waited his whole career for such artistic freedom and the resulting film, Lisa & the Devil is amongst his most accomplished, beautifully surreal and engaging films. D...

1972 Dir. Mario Bava When she separates from her tour group to look around an old antiques shop, Lisa (Elke Sommer) encounters a man (Telly Savalas) who bears a striking resemblance to a depiction of the Devil she saw in a fresco in the town square. Becoming lost in the myriad streets, she eventually hitches a ride with a bickering couple and their driver. When their car breaks down outside a mysterious villa, they are invited to stay by its occupant – Max, a nervous young man who lives there with his overbearing mother (Alida Valli) and their butler Leandro (Savalas again). Lisa's resemblance to Max’s former lover seems to stir something sinister within the house and someone begins murdering the guests. Lisa soon begins to lose hope as she navigates her way through what can only be described as a waking nightmare, peopled with bodies and mannequins… Due to the success of Bava’s prior film Baron Blood , he was given ‘carte blanche’ by his producer Alfredo Leone to write and d...

1972 Dir. Mario Bava Headstrong student Peter Kleist (Antonio Cantafora) travels to his ancestral home Castle Kreuzenstein in Austria to take a break from his studies. Peter has become obsessed with Baron Otton von Kleist, a distant relative whom the locals nicknamed Baron Blood due to his masochistic and murderous tendencies. Our foolhardy student sets about resurrecting his ancestor by reciting an incantation on an ancient scroll and before long the Baron is up to his old tricks, wrecking bloody havoc and slaughtering anyone who stands in his way… Can Peter and art restoration expert Eva (Elke Sommer) put a stop to his murderous rampage before its too late? Baron Blood was filmed after Bava’s stylish and grisly slasher opus Bay of Blood and was one of the director’s last films. It delivers what one might expect of a Bava film (or perhaps any Italian horror film) from this period – stylish camerawork, uneven pacing, evocative score, light plotting and dazzling atmospherics. Wh...

1963 Dir. Mario Bava AKA The Three Faces of Fear (I tre volti della paura) Mario Bava’s Gothic horror anthology consists of three different tales of horror, each with their own unique tone and style, but all containing that inimitable Bava touch. Each of the films unfolds as an exercise in style, tension and atmosphere, bolstered by intriguing stories that carefully unfold to reveal a deadly sting in the tale. As a whole, Black Sabbath is most satisfying, and none of the segments outstay their welcome. What makes it all even more appealing is the introduction of the film by none other than Boris Karloff himself, waxing lyrical on the mechanics of fear, the uncanny, things that go bump in the night and a treatise on what makes a film scary and why. Each segment is introduced by a title card and contains its own share of nightmare-inducing moments; all beautifully captured by Bava’s ever prowling camera, and rendered dreamlike in the vivid lighting. First up is the giallo-esqu...