‘Blood and Black Lace’ — The Genesis of Giallo?

Wow!

Okay, got a pretty packed day today so just a few words about Mario Bava’s stunning ‘Blood and Black Lace’ because I’ve just got to say something about it.

Straight off the bat, the legends were true — this IS as influential as I’d heard. It’s not often watching a movie feels like you’re witnessing the birth of an entirely new sub-genre but that is exactly the experience of viewing ‘Blood and Black Lace’ as it contains not just the template for the many Giallo that followed but also the impact this must have had on everyone from De Palma to Scorsese as well as the entire slasher genre. So there is a masked killer stalking vulnerable victims through a phantasmagoria of colours and resulting in horrific deaths, usually involving a glinting blade.

But it is the design and staging of it that is so striking. Everything is done for maximum impact as pop-art clashes with the Gothic with Bava’s camera gliding and sliding throughout it all. The lighting design and colours are overwhelming here and, at times, there is so much visual detail on screen it’s like looking at a Mandelbrot Set. And it is against this retina-blazing back-drop that the killer prowls with highly stylised and choreographed movements that hark back to silent cinema or German Expressionism (the Giallo that followed all seem achingly modern whereas ‘Blood and Black Lace’ still retains, and shows, earlier “influences”).

Then there’s Bava’s usual ability to make a few lire, some cardboard and some red lights look like a million bucks and this has never been more explicitly apparent than here. The film was shot on a pretty low budget but you would never think that as it looks ridiculously expensive and is one of the most visually striking movies I’ve seen, whether it’s the production design, the elaborate set-pieces or the way Bava’s camera pulls off some insanely audacious moves. It is gorgeous.

‘Blood and Black Lace’ is a stunning, and important, movie. If you’re a fan of De Palma, Argento (especially ‘Suspiria’) or films that just drip and ache with style then I cannot recommend this film highly enough. I will be revisiting this film a lot.