radikill
10-31-2002, 01:03 PM
The Skinny: A coroner is called into a small Italian village to investigate a bizarre series of deaths in which the victims have had coins embedded in their hearts. Paranormal mayhem ensues.
Review[b]: Yippee-ki-yay! The little missus finally broke down and started letting me view the flicks on Brentwood's "Fright Night" 10-movie 5-dvd box set, so I figured I'd throw a review up here for the movies as I watch 'em. First one I started with was Mario Bava's [b]Kill, Baby... Kill![b] (original title: [b]Operazione Paura (Operation Fear)).
Prior to viewing this flick, I knew Mario Bava by reputation but hadn't seen any his films. If Kill, Baby... Kill! is representative of his work, the man really knows his stuff when it comes to horror flicks!
The flicks gets your attention in a hurry when a frightened woman chased by an unknown entity jumps to her death and is impaled on an iron fence. That cues the arrival of a coroner, played by Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, in the small Italian village where it happened. We know he'll be the hero of the movie because he is by far the best looking guy in town. Based on some info supplied in the movie, the time would be around the early 1900s.
He meets with the local burgermeister and finds that this is just the latest in a series of bizarre deaths, and the police are stumped as to whether they are accidents or murders. The coroner wants to start an autopsy immediately, but the local villagers are rather eager to bury the body before he gets a chance to examine it.
Our hero soon gets his way though, and is assisted by a young woman, played by Erica Blanc, who happens to have come to town recently. This is obviously going to be our heroine, because she's the best looking woman in town. During the autopsy, the coroner finds that a coin has been embedded in the victim's heart.
What follows is a mystery with a healthy dose of supernatural mayhem thrown into the mix. What does the burgermeister know that he's not telling? What's with the woman who everyone in town views as a sorceress? Why does the appearance of a little girl strike fear into all of the villagers? And why is no one ever seen leaving the villa of a local baroness?
Yeah, this flick has style out the ying-yang. The sets are meticulously decorated and colorful, but give a groovy eerie atmosphere. The heroes make for good eye candy, especially our heroine who at one point gets a good scare while in bed - so she creeps out from under her covers while her nightie rides up all the way to her...
*whew* Sorry. Got a little warm in here for a second.
Anyway, the scares are effective and the story takes enough turns to keep you interested. Add to that a few visual head trips that obviously influenced guys like Fulci and Argento, including a scene where our hero keeps running across a room and opening a door only to find himself back in the room he started in - and eventually begins chasing himself! And what happens once he catches himself is even weirder...
The movie earns a couple of demerits due mainly to its low-budget (tell the chick playing the corpse to stop moving her eyes, dammit!) but the cool mystery story and occassionally wild visuals make it a great Halloween flick.
I'd give it a 7 out of 10.
Review[b]: Yippee-ki-yay! The little missus finally broke down and started letting me view the flicks on Brentwood's "Fright Night" 10-movie 5-dvd box set, so I figured I'd throw a review up here for the movies as I watch 'em. First one I started with was Mario Bava's [b]Kill, Baby... Kill![b] (original title: [b]Operazione Paura (Operation Fear)).
Prior to viewing this flick, I knew Mario Bava by reputation but hadn't seen any his films. If Kill, Baby... Kill! is representative of his work, the man really knows his stuff when it comes to horror flicks!
The flicks gets your attention in a hurry when a frightened woman chased by an unknown entity jumps to her death and is impaled on an iron fence. That cues the arrival of a coroner, played by Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, in the small Italian village where it happened. We know he'll be the hero of the movie because he is by far the best looking guy in town. Based on some info supplied in the movie, the time would be around the early 1900s.
He meets with the local burgermeister and finds that this is just the latest in a series of bizarre deaths, and the police are stumped as to whether they are accidents or murders. The coroner wants to start an autopsy immediately, but the local villagers are rather eager to bury the body before he gets a chance to examine it.
Our hero soon gets his way though, and is assisted by a young woman, played by Erica Blanc, who happens to have come to town recently. This is obviously going to be our heroine, because she's the best looking woman in town. During the autopsy, the coroner finds that a coin has been embedded in the victim's heart.
What follows is a mystery with a healthy dose of supernatural mayhem thrown into the mix. What does the burgermeister know that he's not telling? What's with the woman who everyone in town views as a sorceress? Why does the appearance of a little girl strike fear into all of the villagers? And why is no one ever seen leaving the villa of a local baroness?
Yeah, this flick has style out the ying-yang. The sets are meticulously decorated and colorful, but give a groovy eerie atmosphere. The heroes make for good eye candy, especially our heroine who at one point gets a good scare while in bed - so she creeps out from under her covers while her nightie rides up all the way to her...
*whew* Sorry. Got a little warm in here for a second.
Anyway, the scares are effective and the story takes enough turns to keep you interested. Add to that a few visual head trips that obviously influenced guys like Fulci and Argento, including a scene where our hero keeps running across a room and opening a door only to find himself back in the room he started in - and eventually begins chasing himself! And what happens once he catches himself is even weirder...
The movie earns a couple of demerits due mainly to its low-budget (tell the chick playing the corpse to stop moving her eyes, dammit!) but the cool mystery story and occassionally wild visuals make it a great Halloween flick.
I'd give it a 7 out of 10.