THE DANMAN CAN

Mario Bava ’s Four Times That Night (1971) is a visually inventive, if obviously problematic, sex comedy and very much a product of its time. Bava's comedic take on  Rashomon  (1950)—while certainly not one of his best efforts—features fantastic  production and costume design and solid performances. Mario Bava Feature Films Ranked

Shock   (1977),  Mario Bava ’s final foray into filmmaking (with assist by his son  Lamberto ) is a slow burn spookshow featuring a suitably unhinged performance by the gorgeous  Daria Nicolodi , a creepy possessed kid, a frantic freak-psych-prog score, fun and inventive visual effects, genuinely unsettling hallucinatory visions, effective jump scares, and a brutally bleak climax. Recommended for fans of  Repulsion  (1965),  The Tenant   (1976) ( review ),  The Amityville Horror  (1979) ( review ),  The Changeling   (1980) ( review ), and  Insidious  (2010). Mario Bava Feature Films Ranked Lamberto Bava Films Ranked

Danger: Diabolik (1968) is a film that I love to eternity. It's earned a place on my Top 100 Films  list more than once.  Based on the popular fumetti (Italian comics) created in 1962 , Mario Bava 's film is a perfect cinematic representation of a comic (instead of the superhero dreck that has clogged cinemas for well over a decade)—it's literally a comic book come to life. It's ludicrous, it's whacked-out, it's playful, and it's F-U-N, fun—even hilarious at times (I frequently find myself laughing out loud). Diabolik is campy in the way that the Batman (1966–68) television series was, but it’s never corny like the latter (though I do love that series) and it has loads more super sexy '60s style. John Phillip Law plays the titular character—picture James Bond as a super villain (he even has a deliciously devious laugh) and instead of being a playboy he's actually in a monogamous relationship!  There's another connection to the Bond films ...

Mario Bava 's  Black Sabbath   (1963) is simply one of the best horror anthologies ever made. Though it's only three stories, each one is unique and worthwhile, filled with beautiful actresses and spooky imagery. It's not a gory movie, but it's got an old school charm that holds up to this day. Hell, pioneering metal band  Black Sabbath  took their name from the film, which only adds to its legacy. This time around I watched the  AIP  Cut. While it's nice to hear narrator and star  Boris Karloff 's voice on the English version, I'm of the opinion that the Italian version (which is shorter and contains a different score), known as  I Tre Volti Della Paura   ( The  Three Faces Of Fear ),  is superior (my review of that version here ). I also like the order of the stories in the Italian cut better, which opens with "The Telephone", followed by " The Wurdulak ", and concluding with the best story, "The Drop Of Water". In the AIP Cut...