Mario Bava (1914-1980)
Born July 31, 1914. Sanremo, Italy.
Died April 27, 1980. Rome, Italy.
Regarded as an influential figure in Italian horror, Bava brought his skills as a painter, cinematographer, and later director to the Italian horror scene. As the son of Eugenio Bava, a talented cameraman and sculptor, Mario would find himself thrust onto the cinema scene many times throughout his career. With a passion for painting, but not making ends meet with his art, Bava joined his father's profession, working as a special effects assistant and cinematographer in the Italian film industry.
Bava was often called to rescue a production, shifting responsibilities from cinematography and special effects, to directing various scenes such as I Vampiri (1956, where it is believed he finished the shoot because Freda feigned absence to force Bava to director), The Giant of Marathon (1959) and Caltiki, the Immortal Monster (1959). Bava finally earned an opportunity to write, direct and shoot his first feature called Black Sunday (1960). The film features Barbara Steele (in her star-making performance) as a witch that is killed along with her brother and returns 200 years later to seek revenge on the descendants of the family. The film became a critical and financial success, helping to bring forth the supernatural or "modern gothic" genre.
Bava also directed the horror anthology Black Sabbath (1963). Bava's next film, Blood and Black Lace (1964) has been credited as inspiring such directors as Tarantino, Scorsese and Argento and also became one of the first films to feature the subject of an extended body count. Kill Baby Kill (1966) is regarded as being "one of the last gasps of the gothic cinema that was soon to give way to more graphic bloodletting". Bava's last work would become the special effects of the underwater sequence in Dario Argento's Inferno (1980).
Died April 27, 1980. Rome, Italy.
Regarded as an influential figure in Italian horror, Bava brought his skills as a painter, cinematographer, and later director to the Italian horror scene. As the son of Eugenio Bava, a talented cameraman and sculptor, Mario would find himself thrust onto the cinema scene many times throughout his career. With a passion for painting, but not making ends meet with his art, Bava joined his father's profession, working as a special effects assistant and cinematographer in the Italian film industry.
Bava was often called to rescue a production, shifting responsibilities from cinematography and special effects, to directing various scenes such as I Vampiri (1956, where it is believed he finished the shoot because Freda feigned absence to force Bava to director), The Giant of Marathon (1959) and Caltiki, the Immortal Monster (1959). Bava finally earned an opportunity to write, direct and shoot his first feature called Black Sunday (1960). The film features Barbara Steele (in her star-making performance) as a witch that is killed along with her brother and returns 200 years later to seek revenge on the descendants of the family. The film became a critical and financial success, helping to bring forth the supernatural or "modern gothic" genre.
Bava also directed the horror anthology Black Sabbath (1963). Bava's next film, Blood and Black Lace (1964) has been credited as inspiring such directors as Tarantino, Scorsese and Argento and also became one of the first films to feature the subject of an extended body count. Kill Baby Kill (1966) is regarded as being "one of the last gasps of the gothic cinema that was soon to give way to more graphic bloodletting". Bava's last work would become the special effects of the underwater sequence in Dario Argento's Inferno (1980).
watch 'black sabbath' and 'kill, baby, kill' trailer
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