Return of the Creature Features

Mario Bava All The Colors of The Dark

My introduction to the maestro's filmography came in the form of the VCI Video tape of BLACK SABBATH, which I bought because I am a huge fan of Boris Karloff; I really didn't know anything about its director, Mario Bava. So I suppose my legitimate introduction was through the Image 2001 dvd release of BLACK SUNDAY (Mask of the Demon). I was at Rasputin in San Jose one day and saw it on the shelf, and just figured what the hell? Bought it on a whim--and boy am I glad that I did! Top rate Gothic horror, which was Bava's first official directorial effort. Considered Bava's masterpiece, it was also his international breakthrough, and so popular that subsequently, it had become the film that other horror filmmakers attempted to equal.

A great addition to this original international version was the optional commentary track narrated by one Tim Lucas, a writer who had been researching Mario Bava since the late '70s. I knew nothing of Bava's output until listening to this recording, and it really opened the door for me to the whole Italian horror oeuvre. At the same time, Tim's informative track clued me into his then-forthcoming biography of Mario Bava! Navigating my way around the World Wide Web, some years later, I found the ordering page for this volume. It seemed a little pricey at the time, but after learning more about its contents particularly, I decided it would be worth it! So, I pre-ordered, and soon thereafter received a really colorful, cool laminated bookmark decorated with the head of Gorka, Boris Karloff's character in BLACK SABBATH (I Tre Volti de Paura)! Mr. Lucas signed it, and thanked me for "ordering ahead"! It seemed like a lifetime before the book finally arrived in the mail, but I was very pleasantly surprised to find my self enumerated in the back of the book among those select few who had pre-ordered, apparently helping with much of the initial costs of publishing what turns out to be the Bava book-to-end-all Bava books! (While undoubtedly some would chastise me for stating so, I never cared for the excessively graphic violence which Mr. Bava chose to include in some of his films. However, it doesn't negate, in my opinion, the menace and tension and creepy atmospheric artistry he rarely failed to deliver.)

Mario Bava All The Colors of The Dark is by far the best source I have come across so far about film history.  Among other things, I learned through this volume (so much more than a coffee table book!) that Bava had been a pioneer of numerous genres of the Italian cinema. Prior to his breakthrough with BLACK SUNDAY, he had been responsible for the popularity of the uniquely-Italian "sword and sandal" or peplum film, when he photographed and directed HERCULES (1958) and its sequel HERCULES UNCHAINED (1959), establishing Steve Reeves as a global star; llater he followed these up with HERCULES AT THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (1961). Bava had also been involved with two pioneering Italian Sci-Fi films between 1958-59: THE DAY THE SKY EXPLODED (I much prefer its original title: DEATH COMES FROM OUTER SPACE!), and CALTIKI, THE IMMORTAL MONSTER (which despite a cheesy-looking creature, does have some very convincing miniatures and some very tense moments, and even a little of b & w gore). Also, about this time, Bava singlehandedly crafted the first significant giallo("yellow," for the the brightly-colored Italian pulp novel) with THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, in which he makes a cameo appearance. More influential was the graphically violent and tense BLOOD AND BLACK LACE (1963). Later, with BAY OF BLOOD, Mario Bava had influenced later "slasher" films like FRIDAY THE 13TH. But while graphic depictions of physical violence began to creep into his films, Bava also produced some of his more imaginative works such as PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES (1965) and KILL, BABY...KILL! (1966). The former had come to influence the highly-regarded ALIEN (1979), and the latter's visual style was imitated by other directors such as Fellini and Argento. Bava's diversity as a director is apparent in films like ROY COLT AND WINCHESTER JACK (1966), a takeoff on the highly popular Sergio Leone "spaghetti" westerns (in which Bava pokes fun at the man himself), and the stylish, swank DANGER: DIABOLIK (1968), photographed in the style of action comic books and the James Bond movies so much en vogue in those years. Mario Bava's last known film, an edge-of-your-seat thriller titled KIDNAPPED (1977), was the first Italian film in which the events depicted take place in real time!

Mario Bava's genius was never fully appreciated in his lifetime (he quietly passed away without fanfare in 1980). Most industry insiders respected him for his technical problem-solving abilities, which were impressive enough. But Bava, described by biographer Lucas as a "frustrated painter," had a keen eye for cinematography, and was known to have lent his talents without credit to many of his filmmaker peers. Working oftentimes without a budget, he was known to have completed several films as favors to his friends, and, as was typical of his renowned modesty, never asked for payment or recognition for his contributions. Hopefully, with the widespread acclaim of this very important monument, Tim Lucas will have finally brought Mario Bava the worldwide respect and attention his craftsmanship has always deserved!