Blood and Black Lace

For 6 donne per l’assassino, Bava reprised and expanded some elements he had already employed in his previous films. Violence directed at the female face characterized the striking opening of La maschera del demonio, whereas the emphasis on the erotic potential of the female body in danger was at the center of Il telefono. Here these elements are pushed to their extreme, and the act of killing turns into a spectacular sideshow, both horrifying and erotic. The victims are all beautiful women in various states of undress, and their deaths become the object of a series of increasingly elaborate and spectacular sequences, imbued with a dose of violence and eroticism which hardly anyone dared to offer back then…

Mario Bava delivered his most savage and contemporary film to date with Blood and Black Lace. It would prove to be one of his most influential pictures and literally established a blueprint for other giallo filmmakers to follow. ... Visually speaking, Blood and Black Lace remains one of Bava’s most handsome films; there is not a shot that does not seem to positively glow. Bava’s use of color and framing gives the image an almost three-dimensional quality at times.