Mario Bava (31 July 1914 – 27 April 1980) was an Italian filmmaker who worked variously as a director, cinematographer, special effects artist and screenwriter. His low-budget genre films, known for their distinctive visual flair and stylish technical ingenuity, feature recurring themes and imagery concerning the conflict between illusion and reality, as well as the destructive capacity of human nature. Widely regarded as a pioneer of Italian genre cinema and one of the most influential auteurs of the horror film genre, he is popularly referred to as the “Master of Italian Horror” and the “Master of the Macabre”.
After providing special effects work and other assistance on such productions as I Vampiri (1957), Hercules (1958) and Caltiki – The Immortal Monster (1959), Bava made his official feature directorial debut with the gothic horror film Black Sunday, released in 1960. He went on to direct such films as The Girl Who Knew Too Much, Black Sabbath, The Whip And The Body (all released in 1963), Blood And Black Lace (1964), Planet Of The Vampires (1965), Kill, Baby, Kill (1966), Danger: Diabolik (1968), A Bay Of Blood (1971), Baron Blood (1972), Lisa And The Devil (1974) and Rabid Dogs (1974).
According to the British Film Institute, “Bava took a vital role in the creation of the modern horror film. If there was to be a Mount Rushmore-style monument dedicated to four directors whose work pioneered a new form of big screen chills and thrills, those giant faces etched in granite on the mountainside would be: Bava, Alfred Hitchcock, Georges Franju and Michael Powell.”
Source: Wikipedia
- Baron Blood (27th May 1972)
- A Bay Of Blood (8th September 1971)
- Planet Of The Vampires (15th September 1965)
- Blood And Black Lace (10th April 1964)
- Black Sabbath (23rd August 1963)
- Hercules In The Haunted World (16th November 1961)
- Black Sunday (12th August 1960)