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Opération peur

Original title: Operazione paura
  • 1966
  • GP
  • 1h 25m
IMDb RATING
6.9/10
8.2K
YOUR RATING
Valerio Valeri in Opération peur (1966)
A Carpathian village is haunted by the ghost of a murderous little girl, prompting a coroner and a medical student to uncover her secrets while a witch attempts to protect the villagers.
Play trailer2:33
2 Videos
99+ Photos
Supernatural HorrorDramaHorrorMystery

A Carpathian village is haunted by the ghost of a murderous little girl, prompting a coroner and a medical student to uncover her secrets while a witch attempts to protect the villagers.A Carpathian village is haunted by the ghost of a murderous little girl, prompting a coroner and a medical student to uncover her secrets while a witch attempts to protect the villagers.A Carpathian village is haunted by the ghost of a murderous little girl, prompting a coroner and a medical student to uncover her secrets while a witch attempts to protect the villagers.

  • Director
    • Mario Bava
  • Writers
    • Romano Migliorini
    • Roberto Natale
    • Mario Bava
  • Stars
    • Giacomo Rossi Stuart
    • Erika Blanc
    • Fabienne Dali
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.9/10
    8.2K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Mario Bava
    • Writers
      • Romano Migliorini
      • Roberto Natale
      • Mario Bava
    • Stars
      • Giacomo Rossi Stuart
      • Erika Blanc
      • Fabienne Dali
    • 97User reviews
    • 89Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 1 nomination total

    Videos2

    Trailer
    Trailer 2:33
    Trailer
    Kill, Baby, Kill!: Opening Scene
    Clip 1:16
    Kill, Baby, Kill!: Opening Scene
    Kill, Baby, Kill!: Opening Scene
    Clip 1:16
    Kill, Baby, Kill!: Opening Scene

    Photos112

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    + 106
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    Top cast17

    Edit
    Giacomo Rossi Stuart
    Giacomo Rossi Stuart
    • Dr. Paul Eswai
    • (as Giacomo Rossi-Stuart)
    Erika Blanc
    Erika Blanc
    • Monica Schuftan
    Fabienne Dali
    Fabienne Dali
    • Ruth
    • (as Fabienne Dalì)
    Piero Lulli
    • Inspector Kruger
    Luciano Catenacci
    Luciano Catenacci
    • Burgomeister Karl
    • (as Max Lawrence)
    Giovanna Galletti
    Giovanna Galletti
    • Baroness Graps
    • (as Giana Vivaldi)
    Micaela Esdra
    • Nadienne
    Franca Dominici
    • Martha
    Giuseppe Addobbati
    Giuseppe Addobbati
    • Innkeeper
    • (as John MacDouglas)
    Mirella Pamphili
    Mirella Pamphili
    • Irena Hollander
    • (as Mirella Panfili)
    Valerio Valeri
    Valerio Valeri
    • Melissa Graps
    Aldo Barozzi
    • Interrogated Villager
    • (uncredited)
    Salvatore Campochiaro
    • Coachman
    • (uncredited)
    Carla Cassola
    • The Graps' Maid
    • (uncredited)
    Quinto Marziale
    • Inn Patron
    • (uncredited)
    Mario Passante
    Mario Passante
    • Monica's Father
    • (uncredited)
    Alfredo Rizzo
    • The Graps' Butler
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Mario Bava
    • Writers
      • Romano Migliorini
      • Roberto Natale
      • Mario Bava
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews97

    6.98.2K
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    Featured reviews

    9lost-in-limbo

    Praiseworthy Gothic horror.

    In a small town in Transylvanian, police detective Kruger calls upon Doctor Paul Eswai to perform an autopsy on a woman who died a violent death, but the unusual thing is that a coin was embedded in her heart. When Dr Eswai arrives in town he discovers that the town is paralysed by fear of a dreaded curse of a spirit of a young girl who died 20 years earlier and the towns folk aren't all to happy about doctor interfering in their business.

    Breathtaking! Yes, breathtaking indeed. It's only my third viewing of a Mario Bava film and what a talented and versatile director he is. This film breathes Gothic atmosphere and chills, with air of mystery to keep you glued to this subtle nightmare. The remote nature of the film adds to the spooky sets with dark shadowy pathways, creepy graveyard, a misty town with its eerie ruins and a downright unnerving Villa Graps, where the locals fear to tread! The whole surroundings come across as rather forbiddingly stark and very alienating. With a colour scheme that jumps out at you and that only Bava can create. What compensates the visual flair is the horrifyingly tense, but mystical score and effectively jittery sound effects. Damn that hissing wind! Also profound camera work that's incredibly vivid and swirling panning all over the place helps convey such a brood mood. There always seemed to be lurking danger even if it wasn't evident on screen. With all that, we are put into a whirlwind of such unease, which bleeds with a high amount of tension and frights.

    The odd plot builds on the superstition and the dialogue was rather interesting. Performances were so-so, no one really stood out, but they fit the buck. Really, Bava was the real star here and it shows. Even the special effects were well used, but the make-up of child spirit was damn freaky. Especially those scenes with those hands going pitta padder at the window seal. Shivers ran down my spine! Although, saying that it does have some weak spots in the continuity of the plot and I thought ending was all a bit too convenient. Anyhow, this didn't damaged my experience of this menacing chiller that grows on atmosphere, not violence. The story might be your standard run of the mill, but it's Bava's direction that makes it visually impressive and immensely spooky. Also, what a great title!

    Highly recommended!
    spooky_trix

    creepy!

    the movie starts off wonderfully, a woman gets chased through the grounds of a villa, and jumps to her doom. Then a doctor shows up to do the controversial new medical procedure, the autopsy. The film pace suffers at this point, where the film is introducing characters. Once the film moves into the baroness's mansion, the film runs at full speed. The film gets insanely bizarre, with wonderful creepy imagery, such as graps' ghostly daughter, the repeating room, and the disturbing portrait of the daughter with a skull. The movie is gloomy, and downbeat, but the pace is wonderful at this point. This is one of the best movies bava made.
    7GroovyDoom

    Primo Bava spookfest

    I see a lot of people complaining about the silly title "Kill, Baby, Kill", but the original title, "Operation Fear", is no better. But don't be deceived, this is a first-rate Bava shocker with plenty to look at.

    Here we have an isolated Transylvanian village haunted by the spirit of a dead little girl intent on collecting the souls of the inhabitants. The plot finds a young doctor summoned to the town to perform an autopsy in the investigation of a girl's mysterious death. The simultaneous arrival of a damsel-in-distress "assistant" completes the formula, and soon there is danger galore for everyone.

    The imagery gets the emphasis here, and I found some of these sets to be absolutely unreal. Spooky-movie cobwebs and mist abounds, and the movie takes place in a series of oddly-shaped buildings, labyrinthine walkways, and even an ultra-campy graveyard. One of the most astonishing sets is that of the ominous "haunted villa", inhabited by Gianna Vivaldi, bearing an uncanny resemblance to Alida Valli (Ironically, the town's burgomaster is played by Luciano Catenacci, who looks more than a little bit like Telly Savalas. Alida Valli and Telly Savalas would both star in Mario Bava's seminal "Lisa and the Devil" years later).

    The film's influence on many genre classics will be obvious to horror film buffs, particularly the resemblance of several sequences to Dario Argento's "Suspiria". Even the soundtrack features a number of sighs and musical cues that seem to have been borrowed by Goblin for "Suspiria"'s score. The most obvious similarity is the use of gratuitous red and green lights (which makes you wonder where these villagers got those colored bulbs-this is a period piece, after all!), and one dizzying sequence makes ingenious use of a spiral staircase.

    The film also has a level of violence that must have been quite shocking in 1966, with a throat-slashing, temple-piercing, and even an impalement on an iron fence. I am so glad I finally made the time to sit down & watch this great movie. I'm really surprised the film doesn't get more recognition; it is that good. Now why couldn't anyone think of a better title for it???
    7Coffee_in_the_Clink

    When I think of gothic horror, I picture the village that Bava has created here

    I wonder was Mario Bava ever head-hunted by Hammer? This film is so gorgeously shot, the set-designs so perfect, that the film has the look of a fairy-tale nightmare. The gorgeous art-direction serves the story, pacing and director's style very well. This is a very moody piece, that demands your patience and attention. It gave me goose-bumps and in one scene towards the end, made my blood turn cold.

    The ghost of a dead child is doing the rounds in a small Carpathian village, killing the inhabitants, who are reluctant to speak about it when a coroner turns up to investigate. He ends running foul of the one in control of the ghost.

    I really can't praise the cinematography, set-design and directing enough. This was my first time meeting Mario Bava, and I look forward to watching more of his work, and even watching this one again. The gothic horror is exceptionally done, finely complemented by the set-designs and imagery, that give a nightmare quality to it all.
    8Anonymous_Maxine

    Faster, pussycat...

    This is a surprisingly effective horror film, since I got it on a collection of 10 old horror movies for $15. I have three or four other ten horror movie collections and have only seen one or two films from them. I wonder how many more are actually worth watching? I have a love of really old and even really bad horror movies, For some reason terrible old horror movies can be a ton of fun to watch, while terrible new horror movies just come off as exploitative and stupid (Cabin Fever, Wrong Turn, House of the Dead, etc.).

    In Mario Bava's 1966 horror classic, Kill, Baby, Kill, there have been some mysterious deaths in a small village, the isolation and pure strangeness of which reminds me of the town from The Wicker Man. Evidently a seven year old girl burned to death 20 years earlier and continues to haunt the town. Anybody that she reveals herself to almost immediately dies a terrible death which will look like suicide to any subsequent investigation. As was also the case in The Wicker Man, the outside detective assigned to the case gradually questions his certainty that it's all just some kind of superstitious hysteria.

    He initially explains the phenomena as poverty and ignorance, combined with superstition. A dangerous combination, to be sure. Bava takes this premise and does all kinds of cinematic trickery with it, much more than is common in horror. He makes psychological use of lighting and color, expertly frames his shots within outstanding sets (seriously, even the bad ones are good), and delivers the surprisingly complex story with a level of skill rarely seen in the genre. He makes good use of the quick zoom lens and such ever-effective horror film tools as children and hallways (Kubrick was surely influenced by this film when he made The Shining, we have the ghost of a little girl, the creepy hallways, even the ghostly bouncing ball) and does some great things with a spiral staircase.

    I expected the movie to be terrible, at least because of the collection in which it is contained, although I guess I should be careful about assuming that a 10-movie horror collection that comes out to $1.50 per movie will be full of bad ones. One of my other collections has the original House on Haunted Hill and Night of the Living Dead, for example, but I didn't expect many more that would be any good. Kill, Baby, Kill, though, is certainly an overlooked gem.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Melissa Graps, the ghost girl, is played by a boy, billed as 'Valerio Valeri.'
    • Goofs
      Nadine is put to bed nude, but after the doctor visits and she is left sleeping, somehow she appears dressed in a nightgown in the next shot.
    • Quotes

      Martha: [to Innkeeper] The child has seen her. She's after our daughter and now there's no help for her!

    • Alternate versions
      In the United States, an edited version of this film was released as "Curse of the Living Dead" as part of "Living Dead" triple feature aimed at drive-ins. Other releases, including home video, under the title "Kill Baby, Kill" are the more complete version.
    • Connections
      Featured in Malenka la vampire (1969)

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • 1966 (Italy)
    • Country of origin
      • Italy
    • Language
      • Italian
    • Also known as
      • Kill, Baby... Kill!
    • Filming locations
      • Villa Grazioli, Grottaferrata, Rome, Lazio, Italy(castle of Baroness Graps)
    • Production company
      • F.U.L. Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $50,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 25 minutes
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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