Netflix Fix #4 -- Blood and Black Lace

Really tired right now for some reason....it's a Saturday morning, 10am, which is an ungodly hour for yours truly on a Saturday morning, mind you. Have a family reunion picnic to hit in like an hour; otherwise, I'd be coutning dozens of sheep right now, or rather, I'd be in the midst of some dream that I won't remember at all after waking up. It's strange. Maybe like once every two months do I have a tangible dream. Does that have any significance, or underlying meaning? Aren't you supposed to remember your dreams? Aren't they somewhat important? Ahh, nevermind.

At least I didn't dream of that creepy-ass end shot from Sleepaway Camp. Sheesh. I thought that crazy bitch Angela and her little surprise would show up in an uncomfortable nightmare, for sure. Oh well, there's always tonight. Or tomorrow night. A boy can dream, can't he? Wait, actually, hopefully no, he can't. At least not about Angela's disturbed self.

Anyway....another reason why I'm bit fatigued at the moment is that I was up 'til about 2am watching Blood and Black Lace, an Italian "giallo" flick that I've been wanting to see ever since it made the Bravo channel's "100 Scariest Movie Moments" special from a couple Halloweens ago. I have that special on VHS, by the way. Fucking love(d) it. It put me on to so many unique and dope movies I may have otherwise never even heard of. Blood and Black Lace a primo example.



Made way back in 1964, directed by "the great" Mario Bava. I put that adjective in quotations only because I've yet to see all his films (a sad fact that Netflix will eventually change), even though he's regarded as a God of Italian horror and genre ish. So I can't fully call him that without knowing firsthand, just how I see such praising. But after watching Blood and Black Lace, I'm definitely excited to catch up with his entire catalog, because this flick kinda rocked. Not a hands-down masterpiece, by any means, but one that I'd imagine was hugely influential on any filmmaker who made horror, namely "slashers," during the 1970s and 1980s.

There's this serial killer, who looks exactly like No-Face from the Dick Tracy movie (the enigmatic force who ended up to really be Madonna's lounge singer character, remember? Dick Tracy ruled, by the way)in a mask that seems like a woman's stocking and a black hat/black overcoat combo.



This killer is stalking and shortening lifelines of a group of models, hot chicks who all convene in some sort of studio and fashion-house on the daily. There's this diary floating around, too, that holds secrets and treachery that's gone down within this crew, and the killer is hellbent on finding said truth-holder. So naturally, six people die in the process, all pretty graphically.



First off, the positives, and there are many here. To get the morbid out of the way, the death scenes are all very, very well done. Tight close-ups of victims faces; framing shots that hide the killer from the audience's view; prolonged tension, but not so long that interest is sacrificed. You get one girl's face burnt off by a piping-hot lamp, another's face jabbed forcefully by a glove with three rusty metal spikes sticking out (ouch!), another smothered by a pillow after having burnt-face chick fall on top of her....this flick has a reasonably high bodycount, worth noting only because it was made back in '64. Extensive corpse pile-ups are something most commonly associated with '80s horror, at least for me. So I could go out on a limb and say that without Blood and Black Lace, we'd have no Friday the 13th, Halloween, good ol' Sleepaway Camp, Prom Night, etc. I could be wrong, though; Psycho is more influential, I'd imagine, but still. Bava definitely broke some ground here.

Also worth mentioning....typically, the actresses in older movies aren't that hot. Maybe it's the fully-clothed style of garment worn back then. Who knows, but I'm rarely turned on by old film actresses. There's exceptions, granted, but not often. Blood and Black Lace, however, has some en-fuego beauties. Most stripped down to their underwear during the money shots. As Peter Griffin would say: "That was freeaakinn' sweeet!"



The use of color in this film is really something to see, too. Lavish, rich, bright shades of red, yellow. The blood, especially in a scene where one gal is submerged in a bathtub, face first, until her breathing abilities are finished, reminded me of the "gorgeous red" shade seen in Suspiria. That bathtub scene is actually one of the pics I posted above. The most red of all here, though, are the mannequins found in the fashion-house. Not sure why these dummies are so crimson, but the fact that they are strangely adds to the creep factor.



Now, on to some negatives. The majority of the music heard is this live band sounding jazz stuff, which takes away from the tension and creepiness rather than adding to. Music in horror is crucial, and when used right, like in Halloween or Psycho, it can make a slasher's kill scenes unforgettable. Here, you feel like getting up and doing a bit of a jig during a couple of the death scenes, scenes that are otherwise brilliantly shot. Secondly,
and this isn't really Bava's fault, but more to blame on whoever packaged the DVD version, there's some horrendous voice dubbing afoot. Akin to those Godzilla flicks, there's hardly any effort made to match the English dialogue to the mouth(s) of each Italian thespian. It's laughable, at times.

But, for me, the biggest issue is a large one indeed: Blood and Black Lace isn't scary. At all. Sure, some scenes have a nice bit of tension, and mostly all the death scenes are very effective. But this plays like more of a crime noir than a slasher horror. Not knocking that, one bit. I just went into the film thinking it was a pure creepshow. But on further investigation, before watching, I learned that it's actually an Italian "giallo," which is a term used for films covering crime fiction and mystery blended with horror elements.

The identity of the killer is pretty well covered, so in that respect the mystery factor works. I didn't guess who the killer was 'til pretty late in the game, and usually I'm good at doing so.

In all, Blood and Black Lace is a really strong flick...not as scary and horrific as I was anticipating, but once I accepted that it wasn't a full-on dread affair, I eased into enjoyment. It's pretty damn bleak in its own right, and groundbreaking in its direction and willingness to escalate the corpse count. I'm really looking forward to seeing what else Mario Bava has to offer. In time, I'm sure I'll be taking those quotations away from "the great."

Now, off to the Barone family reunion picnic. I hear chicken teriyaki is on the menu. My stomach is ecstatic.