| Blood And Black Lace |
| Sadly I haven't been a big Mario Bava fan too long.For a long time I only thought Bay Of Blood (Antifetto)was his only movie of merit.Then I happened to pick up the dvd of Blood And Black Lace.Once I did that well then I had to pick up Black Sabbath, Black Sunday, Whip And The Body ,Kill Baby Kill (Curse Of The Living Dead)and Planet Of The Vampires. Guess you could say I'm hooked. Blood And Black Lace goes to show that murder can be pretty and colorful.This is the movie that is credited for kicking the Giallo genre into full swing. The plot is simple enough.A fashion model on her way to work at a fashion house is brutally beaten and strangled by a faceless killer.A man in black wearing a white or flesh colored scarf over his features.Some critics say the killer was faceless so you could project yourself there.Whatever.The guy is brutal. Another model later gets her face gorily bashed in via an armored glove with spikes in it.Ooh that smarts!A third is beaten brutally and has her face shoved into a hot wood stove. Actually the killings are rather restrained but must have freaked out the kids at the matinee back in 1964/1965. Inspector Silvestri fears a sex maniac is stalking the salon and has all of the male suspects incarcerated.But a fourth model is smothered and a fifth is drowned.The Inspector faces a dead end, yet he was so sure.... We are led to discover that the first murdered model kept a little red diary.With it she was blackmailing her co workers and her bosses.In the diary were sordid little details about the fashion house.Financial improprities,drug abuse,abortions and even murder were documented. Heck everyone would benefit from her death.But where is that diary and is that what the killer is really after?Or is there something even more sinister? Red herrings and sick twisted motives abound. The plot isn't the thing here.The look is.And that look is absolutely gorgeous.The use of colors and lighting is fantastic.The photography is stunning, which is a Bava trademark. Everything is so darn pretty you can almost overlook the sounds of the model's face sizzling on the stove. The color red just stands out:A telephone, a mannequin, a dress, lipstick and even the diary.The film just oozes red.This isn't about murder;it's all about color. The musical score is a sleazy jazz air by Carlos Rustichelli that will leave you humming it long after the movie is over. This movie looks and sounds gorgeous.Even if it is murder... |
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