Blood and Black Lace

1964 [ITALIAN]

Action / Crime / Drama / Horror / Mystery / Thriller

23
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 76% · 16 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 76% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.1/10 10 14931 14.9K

blackmail murder whodunit model killer giallo

Plot summary

Isabella, a young model, is murdered by a mysterious masked figure at a fashion house in Rome. When her diary, which details the house employees' many vices, disappears, the masked killer begins killing off all the models in and around the house to find it.

Director

Mario Bava Photo
Mario Bava

Top cast

Cameron Mitchell Photo
Cameron Mitchell as Massimo Morlacchi / Max Morlan
Dante DiPaolo Photo
Dante DiPaolo as Franco Scalo / Frank Scalo
Mary Arden Photo
Mary Arden as Peggy Peyton
Paul Frees Photo
Paul Frees as Max / Sylvester / Morell / Ceaser / Marco / Zanchin / Attendant / Butler / Walla
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
763.96 MB
1204*720
Italian 2.0
NR
Subtitles it  
23.976 fps
1 hr 28 min
Seeds 4
1.37 GB
1792*1072
Italian 2.0
NR
Subtitles it  
23.976 fps
1 hr 28 min
Seeds 29

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by hwg1957-102-265704 7 / 10

"I know very well what you'd like to say"

Made in 1966 but holding up today this is a textbook example of how to do a giallo. Carlo Rustichelli's film score, Ubaldo Terzano's cinematography, a good troupe of actors and Mario Bava's tense direction add up to a thrilling film. A good giallo is not just about the kills but the mystery narrative that contains them and this does both excellently. It's a darn fine movie.
Reviewed by sol- 6 / 10

Women for a Killer

Originally titled 'Six Women for the Killer', this Mario Bava film is often cited as the movie that pioneered the giallo horror subgenre with a plot that places more emphasis on gruesome murders than catching a killer. Full of creepy tracking shots and with eerie sound effects frequently favoured over background music, the film certainly succeeds in depicting a handful of memorable murders and stalking sequences. There is a particularly effective part where one victim to-be is chased around an antique dealer's place where every nook and cranny is lit up in varying neon shades of blue, pink and purple. The opening murder is effective too. The plot, characters and acting here leaves a lot to be desired though with the story coming to a near stand-still in between the murders. Thomas Reiner makes for one of the dullest police detectives of all time, though to be fair, the cast are hardly saddled with the sort of dialogue that could have made their characters come alive. Of course, many will be quick to point out that narratives are always a secondary consideration in gialli, but when one considers what Dario Argento was able of achieve in years to come with films like 'Suspiria' and 'Tenebrae' that managed to wrestle good performances and a decent plot into the giallo formula, it is hard not to mentally compare and contrast. Certainly, if viewed with minimal expectations, there is a lot to like about 'Blood and Black Lace'; it is simply hard not to expect something more revolutionary from a film that kick-started an iconic movie trend.
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