Audience Member
A doctor is summoned to a small town to help a police inspector investigate the apparent suicide of a young woman. The town folk rush to bury the body before an autopsy can be performed and the burgomeister appears to be helpful, but actually does little to help. It seems the town is haunted by the vengeful spirit of a young girl that induces her victims to kill themselves. Mario Bava kind of closes off the 1960's cycle of Italian gothic horrors with this beautifully atmospheric ghost film. Lead actor Giacomo Rossi Stuart is kind of wooden and uninteresting, but he's hardly the focus of the movie.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/01/23
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Audience Member
The title makes this film by Mario Bava sound more gruesome and violent than it really is (although Bava was capable of plenty of gore later on). Instead, this is a creepy ghost story set at the turn of the 20th century in a secluded European village. We follow a doctor who arrives at the request of the local police commissioner (also a newcomer to the village) as he discovers body after body, presumably murders but looking a lot like suicide. Bava uses his roving, tracking, camera to take us through the village and its locales, the old inn, the cemetery, the villa Graps - all are strangely lighted (especially in green) and filled with horror movie paraphernalia (local witches, evil-looking dolls, grisly sharp objects). The doctor tries to intervene to stop the villagers from giving into superstition and fear but even he eventually sees the source of the evil - the ghost of a young girl who died at age 7 and who is now wreaking her revenge. Very spooky (and the actual plot is even more complicated than you need to know - a clear influence on Argento). The Japanese view horror movies in the summer because the chills are supposed to cool you down - it didn't work for me, but this movie had the right feel (if not an enormous number of "shocks").
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/04/23
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Audience Member
A chilling & atmospheric horror that focuses on two professionals who travel to a remote town that seriously has an unusual presence.
One they starting digging they find there was a brutal death of a young girl & they believe her ghost returns to the kill those in the village.
Quite patchy in parts & the English Dubbing may affect the original experience. Definitely creepy but could have been told better.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/31/23
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Audience Member
Arguably Mario Bava's strongest horror film, Kill, Baby Kill follows a coroner who's called in to help investigate the mysterious death of a young woman in an isolated, superstitious village. The locals blame this killing (as well as a slew of similar ones) on the sadistic machinations of the ghost of a little girl; naturally, this turns out to be exactly what happened. Mario Bava chronicles this chiller with his trademark use of saturated colors, heavy shadows, and ample use of the fog machine. While not dissimilar to rest of his catalog, everything in Kill, Baby, Kill just clicks in a way that only happens when talent, hard work, and luck all happen to be in the right place at the right time. No exploration of Italian exploitation cinema would be complete without going over this movie.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/05/23
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Audience Member
A supernatural movie by Mario Bava. The plot feels a bit thrown together but the atmosphere is great.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/26/23
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Audience Member
http://letterboxd.com/zbender/film/kill-baby-kill/
Doctor Paul Eswai is in town (or village), and he is on a mission. After a strange death requires his assistance for an autopsy, Paul gets more then he bargained for when it turns out that there maybe some darker happenings within this town, than this one death.
Kill Baby, Kill is through and through a ghost story, and at times an unsettling one at that. If a horror film needed to pick an atmosphere then envy the sight of this film's environment. The town is made to feel so real, dark, menacing, and supernatural. I was enveloped within this village within the first half hour. Make sure to mix in an intimidating score with hints of child laughter, and BAM! Within just this environment I'm on the brink of converting to a religion. It's convincing!
So who is this ghost? It just has to be a seven year old girl who leads you to your death right? This girl literally and figuratively has a death stare going. Throw in some white makeup and some freaky close ups and it's kind of creepy. KIND OF. I felt that her presence wasn't capitalized on enough. A good amount of focus is on our leads Paul and Monica trying to solve a mystery of how these strange occurrences happen, and then there is an occasional glimmer of creep factor from our ghost. It just felt a little sluggish on those details at times (and I didn't even end up caring much about the two leads except their names). I was pleased overall from my first viewing of any of Mario Bava's work, and look forward to other films by him (especially Black Sunday).
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/27/23
Full Review
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