Blood and Black Lace DVD: Review By brianroche

"Blood and Black Lace" isn't better than "Psycho". That's the only bad thing I can say about it.

The great Mario Bava, who by the early 60s was most famous for the black and white classic "Black Sunday", directed "Blood and Black Lace". The movie's actual Italian title translates as "Six Women For the Murderer". It was the first 'giallo', an Italian subgenre combining horror and mystery and as many stunning and scantily clad women as possible. Specifically, "Blood and Black Lace" was the first horror movie to revolve around the creatively, violently staged deaths of its characters (okay, its female characters), a formula that has dominated the horror film ever since. But it does so with a cinematic elegance unheard of in this most cynical of genres. "Black Lace" also shows an understanding of the dark side of human nature that's sad and resigned, not cruel and judgmental. It knows its characters and why they do bad things, and why bad things happen to them. It doesn't treat them like human pinatas in a gore-a-thon.

The film opens outside of a Christiane Haute Couture, a fashion house run by Cristiana Como (Eva Bartok) and Max Morlacchi (Cameron Mitchell). A model named Isabelle (Francesca Ungaro) runs outside in the rain to meet someone, and is attacked and killed by a figure in a black trenchcoat, hat and white cloth mask. When Isabelle's body is discovered, everyone at the fashion house is a suspect - they all have personal secrets that could be motives. Pretty soon another of the models is murdered. Then another, and another, until six bodies give way to the unmasking of the killer in black.

That's pretty much all the plot the movie has, and all Bava needed to create a visually stunning framework for suspense. Bava loved shooting in color, and every scene in "Blood and Black Lace" has some object that's a deep rich, almost bloody, red. He also uses lots of unmotivated gels, so the frame is awash in surreal color. He uses many slow tracking shots, reportedly achieved with a child's wagon due to the low budgetary conditions in which Bava preferred to work.

Each of the murders is staged differently - including one that is cut to in mid-murder (I can't believe that's never been ripped off in other horror films). And while each woman is killed in a different manner, you get the impression it's because the masked killer was just using what was on hand, and not so Bava could be sadistic. The murderer's body language is also compelling - this is a real person however insane, prone to frustration, indecision, and clumsiness, not some boogeyman.

Non-murder scenes are staged brilliantly as well. In one sequence, Bava's camera travels slowly across a darkened room until it reaches a dead body, which is pulled out of frame by unseen hands. At another point in the film, Isabella's diary is thought to contain keys to the murderer's identity. In a thrilling montage, the diary (bound in red, the color of passion) is placed in one of the model's purses (black, the color of death) for safekeeping, and all the characters stare at it. Bava cuts back and forth between the characters and the diary, projecting their own concerns (and ours) onto a simple black purse.

For a movie which kills off almost all of its women characters, it sure does like them a whole lot. The movie opens with a great title sequence in which all the film's characters are introduced one at a time looking straight into the camera, arranged almost like mannequins. None of the characters are very deep, but they're well cast and well played, particularly the models. Their appearance and body language tells you a lot about them as people. Which is good, since they don't get to read their own lines. As was the custom for international films like "Black Lace", the actors are from all over the world, everyone speaks their own language and it's dubbed according to where it will be shown. For the English dub, almost all of the male voices are dubbed by one man, Paul Friese, most famous as the voice of Boris Badenoff on "Rocky & Bullwinkle".

Music is unusually important in horror films, and Carlo Rusticelli's "Blood and Black Lace" score does not disappoint. He composed a main theme, then varied it throughout the movie, playing it at different tempos with different instruments depending on the setting and the point in the film. Rusticelli somehow achieves a tune that works for a tango just as well as a funeral.

Mario Bava was a unique talent, able to make genuinely stylish and high quality movies on low budgets. Most of his films were released to DVD a few years ago, and "Blood and Black Lace" benefits from arguably the most packed special edition of all the Bava DVDs.

The copious extras are:

* Commentary by Tim Lucas. Lucas is editor of Video Watchdog and the leading authority on Bava's work. His Bava biography has been much delayed, and we may be seeing it later this year. His talk over "Black Lace" has got to be on the all time desert-island top five DVD audio commentaries. He runs through this film's history, Bava's career history, most of the actor's biographies, and several other bits in a literate but relaxed way. A lot of research went into this track, and Lucas sounds like he did it himself - indeed, the behind-the-scenes info bits you've read above in this review all came from Lucas' commentary. Critic tracks seem to be less popular, but for those who like them or those who like any good commentary, Lucas makes this disc worth tracking down all by himself.

* Biographies. Padding on any disc, these are especially useless. They literally consist of only the individual's name, their job title, their date of birth, and for those who've earned it, their date of death. No partial filmography, no nothin'.

* American Trailer. Extremely faded and has a female narrator at the beginning, which for some reason changes to a male narrator to finish it off. My favorite line in the trailer: "This holocaust of lies . . . in bleeding color!"

* French and Italian Trailers. Much better than the American Trailer, in better condition, and identical to one another, except for nation-appropriate titles and voice over.

* Bonus Bava Trailers. In bad shape, for "Erik the Conqueror", a sword and sandle number with "Black Lace"'s Cameron Mitchell; and "Whip and the Body" an equally excellent Bava entry with Christopher Lee, the luminous Daliah Lavi, and a riding crop.

* French Version Main Titles. Same as the title sequence in the film, except it has . . . French titles.

* Photo Gallery. A poster and still gallery. Nice small touch.

* Soundtrack. This is something DVDs should do more often. This section contains 4 cues from Carlo Rusticelli's score, for further enjoyment of his theme and its subtle variations.

* Original American Release Titles. The American distributors, the Woolner Brothers, made this title sequence separately. It actually fits great with the movie - with its mannequins, skulls, and bright lighting, it looks like Bava himself could have made it. But the existing title sequence is the keeper.

* Interview with Cameron Mitchell. Cameron Mitchell - who had a long career and worked with many prestigious folks, including Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Jack Nicholson and Monte Hellman - sits down with the host of "Sinister Image", which looks like some public access movie monster show, and discusses his career in general and Bava in particular. Swathed in a turquoise Members Only jacket, gold chain, and what is apparently no shirt, Mitchell lets us in on Bava's techniques and personality. He worked with Bava three times and has lots of fond memories. Cheese aside, this is a good piece.

* Interview with Mary Dawn Arden. Mary Arden was the only American woman in the cast (she played Peggy, the girl who's face is burned on the hot stove, and also re-wrote some of the American dialogue). Speaking right to the camera, she runs down her experiences with Bava and her career in general. She ended her acting career relatively early and went onto a fulfilling life in the business world. A nice story to hear, a change of pace from the E! True Hollywood Story crash n' burn treatment (sorta like Mitchell).

"Blood and Black Lace" is presented in its original 1:66.1 aspect ratio. For a low budget international co-production from 1963, it looks phenomenal, with bright saturated colors and deeper blacks than other films I've seen of this vintage.

The sound is standard, 2.0 mono, which works great for the film. Be aware that this film has English, Italian, and French audio tracks. All are dubbed over, and since this was intended for audiences throughout the world, none seem intended as the definitive version. The subtitles also don't exactly match the English track.

I can't emphasize enough what a great movie "Blood and Black Lace" is. There is much I haven't mentioned about its plot, visuals, and characters. If you like stylish horror films, those elements are yours to find and enjoy.