Shocktober 2007: Mario Bava Week

Each week in October this year, as part of our Shocktober Classics event, we'll be featuring a different director who has significantly contributed to the horror genre, with new reviews for that director's films from Monday to Friday of that week. For our final celebration, we look at the Italian Maestro of the Macabre, Mario Bava.

It's a good time to be a Bava fan right now. Tim Lucas has just published "Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark," a biography of the director that runs over 1100 pages and weighs 12 pounds, with full-color photos on every single page (not counting end papers). Somehow, the word "comprehensive" seems inadequate. Additionally, on October 23rd, Anchor Bay is putting out the Mario Bava Collection Volume 2, a set that includes most of Bava's directorial output from the 1970s. In celebration of both of these releases, we're extending our Mario Bava Week to a week-and-a-half, encompassing eight of Bava's films as a director and one as a writer.

Shocktober Bava Week Reviews:

• Monday, 10/22: Black Sabbath (1963)
• Tuesday, 10/23: The Whip and the Body (1963)
• Wednesday, 10/24: Blood and Black Lace (1964)
• Thursday, 10/25: Kill, Baby... Kill! (1966)
• Friday, 10/26: Hatchet for the Honeymoon (1970)

• Saturday Bonus: Review of Naked You Die (1968, screenplay co-written by Bava)
• Sunday Bonus: Morbid Configurations: The Beauty of Bava (feature article)

• Monday, 10/29: Five Dolls for an August Moon (1970)
• Tuesday, 10/30: Double Feature: Lisa and the Devil (1973) review / Interview with Bava biographer Tim Lucas
• Wednesday, 10/31: Shock (1977)

Other Bava Reviews on Classic-Horror.com:

Black Sunday (1960)
Planet of the Vampires (1965)
Baron Blood (1972)

Inferno (1980, special matte effects)

Shocktober 2007 Schedule:

Week of October 1st: Roger Corman
Week of October 8th: Wes Craven
Week of October 15th: Lucio Fulci
Week of October 22nd: Mario Bava
Week of October 29th: Mario Bava continued (through the 31st)