Blood And Black Lace

Blood and Black Lace (6 Donne Per L'assassino) (1964)

Runtime: 88 minutes

Directed by: Mario Bava

Starring: Cameron Mitchell, Eva Bartok, Thomas Reiner, Arianna Gorini, Dante DiPaolo

From: Several companies from Italy, France & West Germany

This was another picture viewed on Turner Classic Movies. As it's the first “true” giallo made and was literally the template that was typically followed by dozens of genre efforts in the years to come, it seemed important to check out the film that did the job so well, it to varying degrees inspired all those films in later years, nevermind its influence on the slasher genre.

This started off with a bang: it was an explosion of color has many were shown as the main cast was shown in the opening credits which also established the fashion house that ties together the suspects in the investigation of a young lady known as Isabella; she had a diary filled with secrets, so naturally this creates all those potential murderers.

It was an intriguing mystery which unfurled in a delightful manner as various kills punctuate the story and all are pretty thrilling in the way they were composed and shot. To steal a phrase I recently read elsewhere, Blood and Black Lace is “a masterclass in lighting” and this point is especially true during all the kill scenes. At least one of the deaths is wince-inducing by 2020 standards, let alone what it must have been like in the mid 60's. Mix in a groovy score and at least for me it is not a surprise that this is still popular almost 60 years after its release.