KILL, BABY… KILL!
(director/writer: Mario Bava; screenwriters: Romano Migliorini, Roberto Natale; cinematographer: Antonio Rinaldi; editor: Romamana Fortina; music: Carlo Rustiichelli; cast: Erika Blanc (Monica), Giacomo Rossi Stuart (Dr. Paul Eswai), Mirella Pamphili (Irena), Giovanna Galletti (Baroness Graps), Piero Lulli (Inspector Kruger), Luciano Catenacci (Kari the Bürgomeister), Franca Dominici (Martha), Micaela Esdra (Nadienne), Fabienne Dali (Ruth), Giana Vivaldi (Baroness Graps), Giuseppe Addobbati (Innkeeper), Valeria Valeri (Melissa Graps); Runtime: 96; MPAA Rating: PG; producers: Nando Pisani, Luciano Catenacci; Amazon Video/Universal; 1966-Italy-in Italian with English subtitles)
“A creepy Gothic ghost story.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Mario Bava (“The Evil Eye”/”Baron Blood”) is the renown Italian director of giallo films. This brooding atmospheric low-budget horror pic was shot in 12 days. It’s a creepy Gothic ghost story written by Bava, Romano Migliorini and Roberto Natale, and is based on their story.
It’s set in the early 1900s when the coroner Dr. Paul Eswai (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart) arrives on the request of Inspector Kruger (Piero Lulli) to perform an autopsy on a woman who mysteriously bled to death in the isolated European village of Karmingen. The village is being terrorized by the ghost of a young girl (Valerio Valeri, played by a boy) who seeks revenge on the small town who never helped her when in 1887, as an eight-year-old, she was trampled to death by horses at a town festival. Dr. Eswai’s asked to determine if this was a murder or an accidental death.
Dr. Eswai is assisted by the medical student Monica (Erika Blanc) in trying to know the ghost girl’s secrets. The villagers are protected by the witch (Fabienne Dali).
The autopsy reveals a coin is buried in the vic’s heart, and her death is tied to the strange visions of the little girl ghost.
Bava was not paid when the budget money ran out, and the actors were only partially paid.
Some consider this Bava’s best pic, others are not so generous. I found it a curious film, but not his best–as its climax was not that scary.
REVIEWED ON 10/27/2024 GRADE: B-
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