Chad

Trevor

Bump for today's film.

Undeadcow

Watching Kill Baby Kill (KBK) then Planet of the Vampires (which foreshadows Alien/Lifeforce) back-to-back it is obvious how much influence Bava films had on successive films. Do you think Friday the 13th intentionally rips off KBK?

One thing I love about KBK is the gaudy gothic set design that although effective is so over the top as to come across almost cheesy. Great suspense and watching it a second time it kept pace because there are subtle hints early on made more obvious from knowledge of the ending. This was my introduction to Bava last year and is a good film.

As an aside I love how offspring Lamberto Bava rides his father's success to make sleazy gory exploitation films like Demons or Macabre that are not as artful or subtle; but are some of my favorites. Mario Bava's final horror directorial duty on Shock (aka Beyond the Door 2), written by Lamberto, is an intense ghost story if anyone is looking for suggestions for today's theme.

SethDLH

No but I do think it intentionally rips off Bay Of Blood no matter what Sean Cunningham says. Kill Baby, Kill is good stuff though. I've been wanting to see Shock for a while.

clckworang

* Ding, ding, ding. The first time I saw Bay of Blood, I was shocked at the Friday the 13th similarities. Cunningham might deny, but it's completely obvious. Who owns the U.S. rights to that movie? It deserves a good Blu-ray release.

As for this movie, I liked it. It's not favorite Bava, but I've noticed that all Bava films seem to grown in my estimation with repeat viewings. I think it just shows that he's one of the deeper Italian filmmakers. But I've noticed that Bava films are never what I'm expecting on first viewing, probably the reason why so many first-time viewings of his films underwhelm me. In this case, I didn't read a synopsis before jumping in, so I was expecting more of a slashe, not something that had so many supernatural elements. I'll need to go back to it after the challenge is over.

I didn't think of it before, but would this work for the killer/evil child checklist item?

Undeadcow

I'm going to have to check out Bay of Blood; I've now got it on my agenda for giallo night.

I think it should count for evil child. I'm also using it for "living dead" named due to aka "Curse of the Living Dead."

rbrown498

I do dearly love Mario Bava's films. I guess my love goes back to the very first time that I saw one of his films, Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs. Sure, it may not be his best film, but as a six-year-old, I enjoyed it a lot. The next film of his that I saw was Black Sabbath, which I saw when I was around 8 or 9 years old. That experience traumatized me. Once I got older and found out who made that film, I tried to watch as many of his films as I could. I didn't catch up to Kill, Baby...Kill! until it came out on DVD around the turn of the millennium. The first time that I saw it, I thought that it was pretty good, but every time I've watched it since then I've come to admire it more. It has an atmosphere that is truly unique, some pretty effective shocks, and one of the most memorable ghosts in the genre. The film's influence is amazing, informing the work of those other great Italian auteurs, Fellini and Argento. I can even hear echoes of Kill, Baby...Kill!'s soundtrack in the music of Goblin. And lest you think that the film only influenced those in Italy decades ago, don't forget that a similar ghost was featured in FearDotCom nine years ago. Kill, Baby...Kill! is an essential Bava film, which means that it's essential viewing for ALL movie buffs.

SethDLH

I would think Anchor Bay has the rights to it but with the boxset it was in going OOP I'm not sure.

And I wouldn't argue with using this movie as the evil child checklist item

clckworang

If Anchor Bay still holds the rights to it, that is unfortunate because I seriously doubt they will do anything with it. We need some Bava on Blu here in the U.S.!

Spiderbite

Should have been called Snore Baby...Snore for me. I really wanted to like this movie. The atmosphere is great but the story just fell flat and couldn't hold my attention. I tried.

My rating: ** out of *****

NoirFan

There is a region-free Blu-ray of Bay of Blood from Arrow. As far as Bava influencing others, the little girl and her bouncing ball were clearly an inspiration for Fellini's segment in Spirits of the Dead. By the way, the Lucas commentary from the recalled Dark Sky disc of KBK is floating around online. It's not my favorite Bava, but I like some of the camerawork.

Trevor

I think my favorite scene is the one of the protagonist running through all the doors chasing himself. Saw it coming, but still eerie.
I'm not sure if I have another evil child film, so I'm using it there too.