If it's the best slasher film between Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Street, then it's the best slasher film between Halloween and the most recent slasher made today. lol. 1978-1984 was flooded with them, yes, but in my opinion, they sre easily the best of the flock of slashers. Post Elm Street till now, there's very rarely anything special about them. Aside from Inside, Identity, May, and some others, the past 27 years in slasherdom don't hold a candle to the classic era.
Agreed on
May, it's scattered but brilliant.
I never caught
Identity. All the signs pointed to "Thriller" for me and after around 2001, I decided to take a break from them, so I put it way on the back burner of movies to-see. I'm getting into thrillers a lot more now, so I'll try to seek it out now.
As for
Inside... well, this is awkward but, it's time for me to come out of the closet: I hate French horror with a passion! I've seen their idea of what horror is and, at best, it's just leftovers from the
Burning /
Prowler /
Maniac era of exploitation-'serial killer' movies mixed with Italian schlock like
New York Ripper,
Torso, and Ruggero Deodato's snuff-themed flicks. Which is a bad mix, at least it is for me.
I actually have a reputation for liking very little. And it's true. For me, a few choice films will bag an entire assembly line of similar films. For example, I think one of the reasons I just didn't like Bava's
Black Sunday or
Sabbath is because I already greatly prefer AIP's films from the 60's (
House of Usher,
Pit and the Pendulum,
Masque of the Red Death,
Tomb of Ligeia, etc).
Sabbath can't touch Corman's
Tales of Terror in my eyes. And, even though it came first,
The Girl Who Knew Too Much is just no
Repulsion. Not to mention, it practically went off into Fellini territory (a kind of filmmaking I've yet to find appreciation for).
That's another problem I have with
Lisa and the Devil, Bava will shoot all these statues and monuments and streets like it means something. Maybe it does... but I don't care. I mean, maybe if I thought the characters were interesting or there was something to grab onto. But... there isn't. Oh, and... religious artifacts. I either don't get it or I don't care. I also thought the movie was visually ugly (dusty, ancient, pale) and I don't really care for rape type plots in general (with the exception of Wes Craven's
The Last House on the Left which I think is so good, so effective that I actually think I
like the movie in addition to deeply admiring it- plus, it's also just amazing to watch other people watching the movie; an experience I've actually had twice). So, it actually really bothered me that, with no explanation, Carlos runs up to her and starts grabbing her. Then, later, Maximillion just chloroforms and rips her clothes off while classy music plays.
This pattern continues even when it's not Bava in question. For example, back to
The Burning and all those sleazy slashers in the 80-83 boom just like it: they all kinda look the same. I admit I fell in love with the franchise as a kid but my heart belongs to
Friday the 13th. However, none of them were really that "good": that was
Sleepaway Camp's job. As for the other movies,
Alone in the Dark is slightly above average. But everything else I've found is subpar. And I've seen almost all the most famous ones. Although, honorable mentions go to
My Bloody Valentine for being the most suspenseful and intense,
Hell Night having the best atmosphere, and
Prom Night being maybe the smartest. Oh, and
Motel Hell's worth a shout for being so damn odd.
I know certain slashers to come after the 80's boom don't have the same feel or look to them, but I think
Candyman and
Scream are vastly superior to most. At least, again, between
Halloween and
Nightmare, excluding Argento. Including
Sleepaway Camp. Slasher isn't really about formula in my eyes. It's about a well crafted film. Not delivering just on, what- gore and sleaze. Or creative murders. I think most of those core 80's slashers were not just cheap in budget, they were cheap in ambition.
As for Bava, Girl Who Knew Too Much and Bay of Blood are in my top 20 horror/gothic films of all time. They're brilliant! Lisa and the Devil is so beautiful that I like it based on that alone. Gorgeous. Hatchet for the Honeymoon was good, but like Baron Blood, compared to his other efforts, they're weak. 5 Dolls is probably my least favorite of his work, but it's good in a cheesy kind of way.
I think
Hatchet for the Honeymoon is easily Bava's masterpiece. Though, here's where I say I have yet to see
Whip and the Body,
Blood and Black Lace, or
Kill Baby Kill. I know it's not very graphic. But the music is incredible and I was kept wide awake and couldn't wait to see what would happen next.
Bay of Blood... I thought the character portrayals were shrill and often annoying, the genre switching (from slasher film into full-on detective / money-laundering thriller) bothered me a lot, and the special effects were downright awful. I know it was 1971 and there's nothing to compare it to but the blood was too stylized (and
Last House on the Left proved that people did know how to make realistic looking blood in the early 70's), the wounds looked really fake, and the camera shot them too close. Granted, it wouldn't be too close if the effects looked incredible. But, well, a lot of people say
Friday the 13th was no prize in the effects department and that film's gore looked a lot better than this. The movie seemed to be going for brutality and that was compromised by the poor quality of the effects. (I usually don't complain about this since I think
Dawn of the Dead and
The Evil Dead are two of the greatest horror films ever made and, well, look how realistic they look. But this film seemed to be about the mystery and the gore and it only drummed up a little interest for me on the former.)
I can't imagine how
Baron Blood could be considered weak in comparison. Exactly. That movie had me on the edge of my seat several times. The ending was weak, yes. But the movie came close to actually scaring me. That never happens anymore. Ever. The chase scene with the Baron and Elke Sommer, the little girl on the bike, the forest seance scene, the shot of the dead bodies impaled in the tower, the moment where he's slowly approaching and they lose the page and they're afraid they can't send him away. It's a gripping little movie.
5 Dolls definitely has a lot of slow spots. But, visually- you want to talk about gorgeous? From the shots of the island, to that James Bond-esque chic house, and... of course, that scene with the glass orbs that lead the camera down to the wife in the pool (jacuzi??)... that has to be just about Bava's best sequence of his career.
