Il rosso segno della follia

The wedding dress designer John Harrington (Stephen Forsyth) has a stylish studio and is unhappily married with the wealthy Mildred Harrington (Laura Betti). His mother was murdered in the studio when he was a boy and he has a childhood trauma with her death. John is a madman and serial-killer, who murders brides-to-be with a hatchet and uses an incinerator to get rid of their bodies is his greenhouse. When John kills Mildred, her ghost haunts him and his madness gets worse. Inspector Russell (Jesus Puente) is investigating the murders and John Harrington is his prime suspect. Will John escape from the smart inspector?

"Il rosso segno della follia", a.k.a. "Hatchet for the Honeymoon", is a different giallo from Mario Bava since the viewer knows who the serial-killer is since the beginning. The cinematography, camera work and locations are magnificent and supported by a great music score. The profile of the serial-killer is interesting and his duel with the intelligent inspector is a good part of the film. Laura Betti in the role of John's wife is top-notch. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Alerta Vermelho da Loucura" ("The Red Alert of Madness")

John Harrington runs a model agency specialising in bride gowns. He likes model railways and occasionally dressing up as a bride. The latter means he's in killer mode doing what he must do or, as he puts it, 'continue to wield the cleaver' until his 'issues' are resolved. The title suggests a similarity to Leonard Kastle's The Honeymoon Killers but in reality the films are far apart. Kastle's film is gritty, almost documentary-like and contains the massive presence of Shirley Stoler, while Bava opts for a style flamboyant even by giallo standards and has a handsome cast to match.

The spirit of Psycho looms large, though Bava's lightness of touch offsets the potentially gruesome subject matter - there's a very funny scene in a kitsch disco (with terrific music) where the cleaver wielder is thrown out for suggesting a threesome involving one of the dancers and his dead wife. It's true to say that it's style over substance, but that's the point

The man who brought you such successful chillers as "5 Dolls for an August Moon" , ¨Operazione Paura¨ ,¨Black Sabbath¨ , "Six Women for the Murderer" , ¨The Evil Eye¨ goes back in this nice film that packs great cinematography , impressive spectacle and well staged killings . It begins developing an elaborate animated collage for the film opening credits , being originally created by the great Mario Bava . The flick deals with a respected fashion mogul who runs a house of style where happens several bloody murders and gruesome executions . As a bridal design shop owner called John Harrington (Stephen Forsyth) kills various young brides-to-be (Femi Benussi) in an attempt to unlock a repressed childhood trauma that's causing him to commit murder . John contracts a new fashion model , that person ultimately being Helen Wood (Dagmar Lassander) , who eventually gets a little too close for his comfort . Harrington is facing further torment in the mutually unsatisfying marriage to Mildred (Laura Betti , originally the script didn't include the role , it was only after expressed interest in working with Bava that the director re-wrote the script so that Betti could have a suitable starring) who subsequently to return to haunt him as a ghost . Meanwhile , a police inspector named Russell (Jesus Puente) investigates the strange killings , being his prime suspect Harrington . When Russel enters Carrington's home , the latter tells the screams heard are caused by the television set (the TV show that Harrington refers to in an attempt to fool Inspector is a clip from Mario Bava's own Black Sabbath (1963) - specifically the "Wurdalak" sequence featuring Boris Karloff) .

Mario Bava strikes again in this mysterious and grisly picture with haunting atmosphere , colorful photography and strange musical score . Bava's great success (the first was ¨Black Sunday¨ or ¨Mask of Demon¨)is compellingly directed with startling visual content . This frightening movie is plenty of thrills , chills , high body-count and glimmer color in lurid pastel with phenomenal results . Interesting screenplay filled with twists , turns and rare situations by prolific Santiago Moncada , an usual playwright . This is a classic slasher where the intrigue , tension , suspense appear threatening and lurking in every room , corridors and luxurious interior and exterior . Nice as well as twisted acting by Stephen Forsyth as a psychotic killer who manages a model house . This genuinely mysterious story is well photographed by the same Mario Bava with magenta shades of ochre , translucently pale turquoises and deep orange-red . Filmed on location in Barcelona , Harrington's villa , Rome , Paris and studios Alfonso Balcazar . The Spanish villa that the majority of the film was shot at was formerly the touristic home of Spanish dictator Generalissimo Francisco Franco .

The movie well produced by Manuel Caño belongs to Italian Giallo genre , Bava (¨Planet of vampires¨, ¨House of exorcism¨) along with Riccardo Freda (¨Secret of Dr. Hitchcock¨ , ¨Il Vampiri¨) are the fundamental creators . In fact , both of whom collaborated deeply among them , as Bava finished two Fedra's films ¨Il Vampiri¨ and ¨Caltiki¨ . These Giallo movies are characterized by overblown use of color in shining red blood , usual zooms and utilization of images-shock . Later on , there appears Dario Argento (¨Deep red¨, ¨Suspiria¨,¨Inferno¨), another essential filmmaker of classic Latino terror films . Rating : Good, this is one more imaginative slasher pictures in which the camera stalks in sinister style throughout a story with magnificent visual skills.

It's sort of like Psycho, only not, and it's sort of like any number of other serial-killer movies, except you know who the bad guy is from literally the first scene. But we don't watch Mario Bava movies for the intricate plots or, as in this case, for the strong acting. We watch them for the grisly visuals! Man's a maestro of mayhem when it comes to presenting blood. Very stylish movie, very well shot. Forsyth is positively wooden, though.

I say strange because I'm not quite sure what exactly "Hatchet for the Honeymoon" was supposed to be (but enjoyed it nonetheless). It features many of the traditional giallo elements - a black-clad killer, lots of beautiful young women who may as well have "Murder Victim" tattooed on their foreheads, incompetent detectives, childhood psychological trauma, spooky childhood toys... Yet it also diverges from the giallo blueprint in some ways by incorporating an odd, Twilight Zone-style supernatural element into the plot, and also a wry commentary on bourgeois married life. There are clear elements of both Psycho and Peeping Tom in the story, and it also predates both the 1980 slasher film He Knows You're Alone, and the Bret Easton Ellis book (and later film) American Psycho.

As usual with Mario Bava, the cinematography, production design and lighting are all beautiful to look at, and there are two great suspense set-pieces: the scene where the killer waltzes with his next victim to the eerie tune of a music box in a shadowy, elegant store-room full of creepy plastic mannequins in wedding dresses; and the scene where he talks to the suspicious cop while his dead wife's arm is hanging from the staircase and dripping blood onto the carpet.

It's also a surprisingly funny film in many ways. Special mention must go to Laura Betti's hilarious performance as Mildred, the evil wife from hell.

All in all, "Hatchet for the Honeymoon" is an intriguing and often underrated addition to Mario Bava's formidable canon. Stylish, entertaining and darkly funny.