Mario Bava never made anything as singular as Suspiria, but the style in his films would be recycled and imitated for decades to follow, including by himself. Blood and Black Lace paved the way for Suspiria’s vivid colors, and Black Sunday showcased a modern Gothic style that was borrowed just a couple of years ago for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. He definitely favored style over narrative and for those that follow his work, Kill, Baby… Kill! is the film that shows the best of what he’s good at. It’s part hardcore and part camp, an emotionally cool and aggressively stylized psycho-sexual supernatural murder mystery. With exteriors that are layered with detailed landscape and spare, empty interiors, Bava delivers scene after scene of visual splendor. Through it all is a ghostly young girl, rolling her ball down streets and hallways, driving the other characters to their doom. I don’t think The Shining would’ve been what it was without this film.
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