Blood and Black Lace (1965)

Powerful

Lack of good storyline.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

I don't know why it took me so long to see this little gem, considering that firstly it was made by one of my favourite Italian directors Mario Bava and that it's considered one of the most important Giallo films and now that it has been released on Arrow films with a restored print, instead of trying to view with a not so great picture quality, and after viewing it I was pleasantly surprised by firstly at how beautiful it looked in its rich vivid colours and considering it was made in 1963, it doesn't look dated at all and very stylish.The storyline here is that on one stormy night a young model is murdered outside a lavish fashion house where she works with a group of other young models and this sparks a chain of events when her diary goes missing which reveals the sordid details of what's going on with the people who work there and not long after more women start to get murdered.This movie is definitely entertaining and relies heavily on its camera-work, set designs, artwork and lighting, all of which creates the perfect atmosphere. I have no complaints with this, only that I would say that the first half of the movie where the majority of the murders takes place is definitely stronger than the second half, which does have a neat little twist at the end which most Giallo's have and given that this movie was the one that started that started that trend, so that was pretty neat and makes this one of the strongest and influence shall of the genre.With a strong cast including Cameron Mitchell and Eva Bartok, 'Blood And Black Lace' is a very beautiful and violent movie where Bava really excels himself as a director and showing off his unique visual style on what otherwise would be a sub-standard script, and okay this may not be the best or most riveting of the genre, but it is very decent and it does pull you into this manic world that Bava has created within this universe.

Dear Mario Bava,I enjoyed the title sequence with the actors looking ponderously at me. I enjoyed looking at the film - each frame like a gaudy painting. I enjoyed the cinematography with the quick zooms. I enjoyed looking at the beautiful women - especially Eva Bartok. I enjoyed the background score which sounded similar to the one used in Orson Welles' Touch of Evil.Like Touch of Evil, Blood and Black Lace is also a stylish film without much substance. It was humorless. The plot resolution at the end was completely unimaginative. It is almost as if you did not care too hoots about the story or the script.Don't get me wrong. I love stylish films. And I did enjoy Blood and Black Lace. To a certain extent.Best Regards, Pimpin.(6/10)

Cited as the most prominent ancestor to the slasher movie (sorry, "Psycho"), "Blood and Black Lace" is more than just a stalk-and-slash splatter fest; it is also an artistic orgasm for the inimitable Mario Bava, a director so obsessed with the connection between romanticism and horror that his films, more often than not, found themselves as drenched in Technicolor mystique as they did claustrophobic shadows. "Blood and Black Lace" is important when considering the history of horror, but it is also a huge step for Bava. He kicked off the 1960s with great black-and-white chiller "Black Sunday", furthered his potential with an eventful 1963 (which included "The Whip and the Body", "Black Sabbath", and "The Girl Who Knew Too Much"), and then cemented his status as a visually adept horror maven with 1964's "Blood and Black Lace".Though not a success in its native Italy, its reputation has grown over the years, in part to the renewed interest in the giallo genre and a newfound respect for the filmmakers who were almost Hitchcock but never quite made it. Though I am not as fond of "Blood and Black Lace" as I am "Kill, Baby, Kill" and "Danger: Diabolik" (the former a Gothic spooker, the latter a campy soul sister to the early days of TV's "Batman"), I still find myself haunted by its images, so simultaneously dazzling and freakish that I, a day later, cannot decide if the film is beautiful or nightmarish."Blood and Black Lace" details a series of callous murderous disturbing the lives of the models employed by the Christian Haute Couture fashion house. Run by the physically stunning Countess Cristina Como (Bartok), whose husband has just died, the grounds seem to see tragedy regularly; so when Isabella (Francesca Ungaro), a flighty model, is offed one night by a masked assailant, it becomes clear that something is afoot at the mansion. Death may not just be a frequently occurring coincidence. The film then deviates into whodunit grounds, accentuating its red herrings and its murders. Surprisingly, though, the final result is not satisfying but predictable — one can only kill off so many people before a suspect(s), who never seems to be in trouble, turns into a definite beast of slaughter."Blood and Black Lace" has a reputation that precedes it, and though I cannot deny that it is extravagantly shot and opulently envisioned, the stiff acting of the cast, not to mention the bland dialogue of the screenplay, becomes distracting. Bava is unparalleled when it comes to visuals — why must he ignore his actors in favor of optic luminosity? The photography of the film is so brilliant that it, certainly, deserves its own review. But the material is so flimsy (and eventually been-there-done-that) that making excuses for "Blood and Black Lace"'s lack of unfiltered thrills becomes hopeless. Don't fear, though: there is no denying the film's other strengths. The girls are memorably alluring, the murders are impressively staged, and the music, which sounds more like background noise to a Spanish café, gives the impression that danger is running amok but is going unnoticed by the patrons of the invisible party going on outside. Everything looks great: if only there wasn't an underlying feeling that "Blood and Black Lace"'s accomplishments consist of being historically important and acting as an unusually exquisite Tumblr gif set.

A vicious killer who's looking for a diary knocks off various beautiful female models who all work at a swanky fashion salon. Acclaimed Italian horror maestro Mario Bava, working from an absorbing script by Marcello Fondato, does his customary expert job of creating and sustaining a profoundly spooky and sinister midnight-in-the-graveyard gloom-doom atmosphere, makes exceptional use of garish colors and striking lighting, generates a considerable amount of tension, and stages the brutal murder set pieces with startling savage aplomb (one victim has her face pressed against a hot stove in an especially gut-churning scene!). Cameron Mitchell contributes a fine performance as smooth and sneaky heel manager Max Marian; he receives sturdy support from Eva Bartok as his equally treacherous mistress Contessa Cristina Como, Mary Arden as the sensitive Peggy Peyton, Thomas Reiner as the persistent Inspector Silvester, and Franco Ressel as the slippery Marquis Richard Morrell. Veteran character actress Harriet Medin has a nice small part as housekeeper Clarice. Ubaldo Terzano's vibrant cinematography delivers a wealth of breathtaking visuals. Carlo Rustichelli's swinging jazz score radiates a cool'n'sleazy lounge vibe. But it's Bava's trademark gorgeously lurid, yet classy and arresting style and remarkable grasp of a certain divinely creepy flesh-crawling mood that in turn makes this honey so special and praiseworthy.