Massimo Morlacchi and Cristiana are the director and the owner, respectively, of a fashion house where a number of employees and several fashion models work. To cover up a crime that had occurred in the past, which one of the girls is on to, they kill her in such a way as to make her look like a victim of a sexual assault. When one of the other girls finds the victim’s diary, the secret is out, and the two killers feel constrained to kill and kill again.
Mario Bava (Sanremo, 1914 - Roma, 1980) dropped out of school quite early and started writing subtitles for the Italian versions of American films. Right away he began to work with leading directors, thanks to his natural talent for creating special effects and lighting design, which he had learned from his father Eugenio Bava, cinematographer, set designer and sculptor in the early days of Italian film. In 1939, Mario Bava began working with Roberto Rossellini as cinematographer on two of his short films: Il tacchino prepotente and La vispa Teresa. After the war, he worked on The Taming of Dorothy (1949) by Mario Soldati, Guardie e ladri (1951) by Steno and Mario Monicelli, La famiglia Passaguai (1951) by Aldo Fabrizi, Viale della speranza (1952) by Dino Risi, and The Devil's Commandment(1957) and Caltiki - The Immortal Monster(1959) by Riccardo Freda.
In 1946 he made his directorial debut with a short film, L'orecchio. Only fourteen years later would he direct his first feature, Black Sunday, starring Barbara Steele and considered the first Italian gothic horror film. He went on to make Hercules at the Center of the Earth, part-peplum, part-horror flick, starring Christopher Lee, and The Evil Eye (1962), an early example of an Italian thriller. In 1963 he made the episodic film Black Sabbath, and in the following year, Blood and Black Lace. In 1964 he also tried his hand at making a spaghetti western, The Road to Fort Alamo. He would make another one, Roy Colt and Winchester Jack, a parody, in 1970.
In 1965 Bava turned his attention
to science fiction and directed Planet of
the Vampires. In 1966 he made Dr.
Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs, starring Franco Franchi and Ciccio Ingrassia.
A number of other films followed before he came out with A Bay of Blood in 1971; this picture would launch the so-called
slasher genre. In 1972, Bava’s film Lisa
and the Devil premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. His 1974 film Rabid Dogs, considered by many a
masterpiece, was never released, since production company went bankrupt; it
would only appear on DVD in 1995 with a different Italian title, Semaforo rosso. In 1980, Bava designed
some of the special effects for Dario Argento's Inferno. Bava died suddenly on April 27, 1980, while working on
another science fiction film, "Star Express."
PROGRAM
12/12/2014 h 23:30: PalaNoir 1
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