6 donne per l'assassino (1964) Reviews

• killer fashion hater from Bava

  revrommer2011-10-02

  Bava of course is the ultimate auteur whose mysterious visual style alone makes pretty much any of his movies worth watching. Here however there is a bit of a tug-of-war between his desire to materialize victims' fears in delirious murder sequences (especially in the antique store), magically colored with his amazing lighting techniques, with rather pedestrian cops-and-robbers sequences that are a bit stilted and have a 1940s aura about them. Bava is undoubtedly at his best in pure horror, when he can leave the real world behind. Still, though, his mythological spaces in this film, a fashion salon, amazingly baroque apartments, create a dream-like anything can happen atmosphere. And he's not just being scenic. Bava has a keen eye for the aura of intimacy that women create about themselves and when that space is violated and especially when the murderer strikes, and then gets rough with their dead bodies, one feels the violation viscerally. Bava works so hard to decorate the aura of women with all the curtains, statues, dresses , mannequins (somehow commenting on the proceedings) and engaging close-ups, that when his victims are shown dead with their bras on, it seems more shocking than the hundreds of nude corpses in the slasher movies in years to come (he's often credited with creating the slasher, maybe formally, but not in tone). In fact, the best setpiece in the movie features a dead women in her bra with a suit of armor fallen on top of her, a bizarre tableaux with hint of necrophilia. In spite of his stylistics, Bava doesn't wander off plot, which turns out to be carefully revealed, and with a twist. Cameron Mitchell is quite good. Obviously, all of Bava should be watched, including this one.

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• BLOOD AND BLACK LACE gets an atmospheric and compelling direction from genre master Mario Bava

  ma-cortes2009-01-23

  The flick deals with a respected house of style (managed by Eva Bartok and Cameron Mitchell) where happens several bloody murders and gruesome executions . A diary seems to implicate about anybody fashion models are dieing . Then the diary disappearing originates a real massacre of the remaining fashion girls . An inspector (Thomas Reiner) investigates the strange killings with numerous suspects (the usual baddies Franco Ressel and Luciano Pigozzi or Alan Colins , Massimo Righi , among others). Bava's second great success (the first was ¨Black Sunday¨ or ¨Mask of Demon¨)is compellingly directed with startling visual content . This frightening movie is plenty of thrills, chills, high body-count and glimmer color in lurid pastel with phenomenal results . This is a classic slasher where the intrigue, tension, suspense appear threatening and lurking in every room, corridors and luxurious interior and exterior . This genuinely mysterious story is well photographed by Ubaldo Terzano and Mario Bava with magenta shades of ochre , translucently pale turquoises and deep orange-red . The movie belongs to Italian Giallo genre , Bava (¨Planet of vampires¨, ¨House of exorcism¨) along with Riccardo Freda (¨Secret of Dr. Hitchcock¨ , ¨Il Vampiri¨) are the fundamental creators . In fact , both of whom collaborated deeply among them , as Bava finished two Fedra's films ¨Il Vampiri¨ and ¨Caltiki¨ . These Giallo movies are characterized by overblown use of color in shining red blood , usual zooms and utilization of images-shock . Later on , there appears Dario Argento (¨Deep red¨, ¨Suspiria¨,¨Inferno¨), another essential filmmaker of classic Latino terror films . Rating : Good, this is one more imaginative slasher pictures in which the camera stalks in sinister style throughout a story with magnificent visual skills.

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• Landmark giallo film and a Bava highlight.

  Nightman852008-03-07

  Influential killer thriller from Italian horror master Mario Bava is a stylish genre landmark. A faceless murderer is killing models associated with a fashion house. Who is the killer and what is their deadly vendetta? Blood and Black Lace is one of the solid forerunners of the Italian giallo genre. It has all the classic elements of a classic giallo - a gloved killer, beautiful victims, a mystery plot, scandals etc. All of which is wrapped around Bava's lovely, colorful direction. The plot itself turns on a well written mystery that builds some good suspense and is dashed with an array of intense murder scenes. The jazzy, atmospheric music score is also a nice touch and the performances of the cast aren't bad. Over all, an entertaining early giallo and one of Bava's best contributions to Italian horror. A must see for giallo fans. *** out of ****

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• Where It Is Fashionable to Die...

  BaronBl00d2004-12-27

  An upper-crust European fashion salon is having a devil of a time keeping girls working for it in this unique, visually breath-taking Mario Bava film. One fashion model after another dies a horrible death: one strangled, another failing to accept the gauntlet too soon, one having her face pushed into a hot iron, and so on. After watching this film, there will be almost no doubt at all how much Mario Bava influenced modern directors - and no one more particularly than Dario Argento. Bava's use of color, his choice of murder victims, his mystery of cat with mouse and then dog chasing cat(police on trail of murderer) are all signature trademarks of Argento's work. Blood and Black Lace is perhaps the most stylish, stunning film I have seen in terms of how color is used in every frame. From the opening credits with a great rhythmic score, hues of every shade permeate the screen. Bava uses colors like no other director I have ever seen attempt to do so with the exception of Argento. Watch Suspiria by Argento and closely look at how he uses blues and reds and tell me Bava is not written all over it! Blood and Black Lace has all the colors and it is really like a moving canvas. Bava is the artist controlling lighting, shading, and depth perception. I know I am gushing, but this is one beautiful film. The story, at least for me, is a secondary matter. It is a good story. I knew who the murderer was fairly quickly, but Bava does throw in some red herrings that will at least have you second guessing yourself. The actors are all pretty good. Cameron Mitchell plays a guy running the salon with his wife, played VERY ably by the lovely Eva Bartok. I had trouble taking my eyes off her as well as the rest of the beautiful European models. Luciano Pigozzi has a small role. You might remember him as the Italian character actor with the Peter Lorre face and eyes. Blood and Black Lace is certainly one of Bava's best films. Not his best though - Black Sunday wins that hands down. But this film is definitely his greatest in terms of artistic merit. It is a visual masterpiece and Bava deserves so much more credit as an innovative, creative force in film than he receives.

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• Mario Bava's Masterpiece

  eibon092001-11-26

  Sei Donne Per L'Assassino/Blood and Black Lace(1964) introduced the body count concept to horror films. Influential concept which shaped style of Giallo films from 1970s-1980s and American Slasher subgenre of 1980s. Mario Bava filmed each murder sequence in their own distinct flavor. Blood and Black Lace(1964) is an example of making every death scene in a body count pic memorable. Years later, Mario Bava did another body count driven giallo in Reazione a Catena/Bay of Blood(1971) which surpasses this giallo in number of death moments. Mario Bava was an innovator in horror and general cinema whose visual style continues to influence. Blood & Black Lace(1964) offered audiences in early 1960s a candy coding spectacle of death and violence. A positive is the lack of a moral preaching which is a major weakness of the American Slasher film. Adult orienated horror film which thankfully lacks the basic elements of a Teenage Slasher film. Follows in steps of Grand Guignol, and theater of cruelty theater forms. Death moments are filmed in Grand Guignol style with physical intensity. Theater of Cruelty influence is based on film's preference of metaphysical and mise-en-scene forms over motives of character and psychology. The first murder which takes place during opening moments is an intense preview of things to come. Murder of Nicole includes colorful setting and stylish weapon. Peggy's death scene begins with build up sympathy for character. Forth murder sequence concludes with macabre modeling image. Tao Li's death beings in abrupt fashion and features erotic elements. The sixth and final murder sequence is the most tragic of them all. Greed is main reason behind murders in the story. The rich are unsympatheticly depicted by Bava as being decadent and selfish. Greed is a driving force for most of Bava's characters who barely care for anything else. I think of film as part of an informal trilogy which I call Greed trilogy. Greed trilogy consists of Sei Donne Per L'Assassino/Blood and Black Lace(1964), 5 Bambole per la Luna D'Agosto/5 Dolls for an August Moon(1970), and Reazione a Catena/Bay of Blood(1971). River of greed in Bava's films results only in death and tragedy. Mario Bava paints many scenes in gorgeous technicolor process. He exercises different colors in Blood and Black Lace(1964) with flamboyant vision. Colors of blue, black, green, purple, red, and yellow are used to represent different types of predictaments. Bava's expertise as cinematographer and painter is a plus in the film's look. Scene in antique shop is a lesson on how to film something in extravagant colors. There are few filmmakers out there with exception of Dario Argento and Martin Scorsese who are able to incorporate color into film with artistic flair like Mario Bava was able to do. Suspense in murder sequences is manufactured via extreme colors and physical intensity. Bava depicts an aura of paranoia and suspicion as a result of photographing scenes with extreme use of colors. He detaches himself from identifying with murderer by showing face in a white blank. In photographing sequences with visual flair, Mario Bava treats the viewer to a large helping of voluptuous desert. I consider film to be director's most sightly color photographed giallo. Blood & Black Lace(1964) stands out in giallo genre because of artistic touch and visceral flamboyance. On the surface, the Haute Couture Fashion House is a place of idealized beauty and social priviledge. Under the facade however, reveals a backdrop of aristocratic decay, blackmail, drugs, murder, and sex. Deception is a motif which frequents the art and cinema of Mario Bava. Bava presents aristocratic society in film as heartless and selfish. They live in their own isolated environment with concerns only for sensual pleasures, power, and wealth. Aristocrats in Blood and Black Lace(1964) and other Bava films appears to be patterned after Mussolini regime. Effect on Italian horror was slow but reached cinematic importance with emergence of Dario Argento's Bird with the Crystal Plumage in 1969. Sei Donne Per L'Assassino(1964) is considered to be the first full blown giallo in Italian cinema. Landmark film filled with elements which became staples of giallo and slasher cinema. Part of the film's brilliance is its flamboyant visual style and flair for the macabre. Director's other landmark horror picture in his career was influential Bay of Blood(1971). Blood & Black Lace(1964) blends in elements of giallo and noir with perfect fusion. There are interesting allusions to Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity(1944) during second half. Relationship between Massimo and Countess Christina shares comparisons with relationship between Walter and Mrs. Dietrichson in Double Indemnity(1944). Last scene is an updated take off of final moments in Whip and the Body(1963). Very good performances are given by Cameron Mitchell and Eva Bartok who play their parts well characterized by detachment and passion. Bava did a variation of fashion world in another giallo called Il Rosso Segno Della Follia/Hatchet for the Honeymoon(1969). Red Diary is a wonderful plot device used again in Bay of Blood(1971). Luciano Pigozzi earns the title of Italian Peter Lorre with Lorrish and sinister presence. Death of Peggy via hot stove was slightly cut especially in moment when face is pulled off to reveal it to be destroyed and steaming. Moment was cut due to being too graphic in its time and has never appeared in any print of Blood and Black Lace(1964). Heroes are almost non existent in Mario Bava's universe and Sei Donne Per L'Assassino(1964) is no exception. Tightly directed and nicely edited with wonderful trashy jazz film score by Carlos Rustichelli. What it lacks in gore is made up with physical and visual intensive drive.

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