More than meets the eye

This is an extraordinary film. Bava pretty much dispenses with plot altogether and leads the viewer into the world of this main character who tells us at the very beginning that he's a paranoiac and a crazy killer. This point of view gives Bava license to adopt a methodical, hypnotic visual method throughout. Since we know who the killer is, the suspense here is not what's going to happen, but, as the film progresses, why. Bava loved to play with his camera; his best work, I think, was the result of a particular kind of visual experimentation. Diminishing the value of plot, Bava could take his time layering ideas that visually convey his main character's state of mind. Playing with visual distortion and counterpoint moods, he creates the kind of dreamscape we usually associate with the surrealist. The way Bava plays on, then subverts the masculine good looks of his leading actor, suggests a subtext that has very little to do with the film's exploitative title. Mario Bava may have been one of Italy's premiere horror directors, but films like this, along with a few others, show a talent that deserves to be ranked with Leone, Visconti, and Fellini.