Tag: Mario Bava

Blood and Black Lace (1964)

I rewatched Signor Bava’s genre-defining Blood and Black Lace tonight, this being the film that’s generally agreed to be the starting point of the giallo film… not going to re-review, cos I did that once already on my old film blog, but I will provide some stills from the Arrow blu-ray I have. I have the comparatively disappointing old VCI DVD of it, and this was a much needed upgrade; this is one of the most visually stunning films of its era in whatever genre, with some goddamn extraordinary colours and lighting work. Click to expand to 1920×1080 (I haven’t shrunk any of these down from the blu).

 

A baby of blood?

Well HERE’s something I wasn’t expecting to discover at this time of night, nor indeed at any hour. I’m not even remotely surprised, of course, that the Italians would have a crack at a King Kong knockoff, and presumably before Dino De Laurentiis’ impending remake had even finished production; the latter didn’t open until just before Xmas ’76, and this thing was being promised for just two months later. (I presume, of course, the remake was what motivated this rather than the original).

But that Mario Bava was the prospective director? THAT confuses me. I mean, I don’t suppose there’s any inherent reason why Bava couldn’t have made such a thing, but I just can’t envisage him stooping to such a blatant ripoff of this sort… I know his career was tanking after the recent debacles with Lisa and the Devil/House of Exorcism and Rabid Dogs, but even so. At any rate, Baby Kong was not, in fact, ready at the end of February 1977, nor at any other time. I don’t know whether to find that sad or not.