Style on a budget

Anyone who wants to make movies should study Bava's work. The environment of a film can be whatever you want it to be and it can be manipulated with lots of money or with lots of imagination. All of Mario Bava's films show what a man with a quick mind and experience can do. "Ercole al Centro della Terra" would have been a machine made Sword and Sandal flick if not for Bava's abilty to create tension with his paceing and camera work and set direction.
See "Planet of the Vampires" for a real slice of Bava elegance making something from almost nothing.