An aristocratic family are thrown into turmoil with the return of the banished black sheep Kurt (Christopher Lee, who doesn’t look like a ‘Kurt’ to me!), coming home to claim his birthright. His father disinherited him after he scandalously seduced a servant girl then abandoned her. His inheritance instead will go to the more straight-laced Tony Kendall, who is in an arranged marriage to Kurt’s former flame Daliah Lavi, but is in love with Ida Galli. Now Kurt is back for his inheritance and for Lavi. Lavi, for her part, is both mortified and sadomasochistically aroused by the abusive, intimidating Kurt. Things take an even more bizarre turn when Kurt is murdered by an unseen assailant, and Lavi gets strange visits from what she believes to be Kurt’s ghost haunting her.
One of the lesser-known (and nearly lost!) films of horror maestro Mario Bava, but this Gothic, lightly sadomasochistic romance is considered by many to be his best. I disagree with that assertion (I put ‘Kill, Baby…Kill’ at numero uno, ‘Black Sunday’ at number two, then this, and ‘Baron Blood’ a distant fourth), as there are only two characters here of any interest whatsoever, and the narrative isn’t among Bava’s strongest, and drowns in too much talk for my liking. I can’t say that, given the characters, I was all that wrapped up in the film’s narrative mystery.
But then, Bava is a visual stylist, and this film is pretty damn incredible on a visual level, and actually still pretty kinky for a film that’s now almost 50 years old. Bava’s use of primary colours is bold and fantastic, and there’d be no Dario Argento or Tim Burton without Bava (Roger Corman’s Poe cycle is also clearly akin to Bava, visually). I could argue that the Urbaldo Terzano cinematography is a bit too dark at times, but Bava, a former cinematographer himself, is a master of shadows and opulent colour, and makes it work.
My favourite moment would have to be the brilliantly suggestive scene where a window blows open and a vine thrashes away, with whipping sounds. And when there’s a thunderstorm in a Bava film, the man goes all-out, including an overdose of zooms (not a complaint, in my view). I loved the bit where a ‘Vertigo’ green hand comes towards the camera menacingly. We also get a remarkable shot of total darkness save for a small violet sliver showing Lavi’s fearful yet aroused eyes. Special mention must go to the occasional use of matte paintings for exterior shots- they are damn convincing! There’s also a great visual where the camera follows and darkly attired Lee from bottom to top, making him seem even taller than he is.
Lee, for his part, is all darkly evil handsomeness and plays his big death scene (not really a spoiler) with uber-gusto, while Lavi has a sad-eyed Soledad Miranda (‘Vampyros Lesbos’) quality to her that is fascinating.
OVERALL SUMMARY
This isn’t as groundbreaking as ‘Black Sunday’, or as visually dynamic and overpoweringly atmospheric as ‘Kill, Baby…Kill’ but it’s solid stuff and has a nice use of colour and atmosphere. I’d also recommend repeated viewings, as they really help one realise just how messed-up the Lavi character really is.
