Review of Blood and Black Lace (1964) by Max M — 17 Jul 2009

Italian horror maestro and unsung master filmmaker Mario Bava kicks off both the "Giallo" film as well as the "Slasher" film genres (although that style wouldn't really take hold until the late 70's) with this mildly entertaining but beautifully stylized thriller about a masked killer stalking and killing off in brutal ways, a group of high-fashion models.

There is nothing terribly intriguing about the story (Bava was basically trying to one-up Hitchcock's Psycho which had been released four years earlier) but Bava, ever the extraordinary visual artist (he started out as a cameraman), fills his frame with vibrant colors and tantalizing compositions thus elevating routine schlock to cinematic art.