Blood and Black Lace (60th Anniversary)

Part of Dundead Horror Film Festival 2024. Priority booking for members starts at 10:00 on Wed 3 April. Passes and individual tickets will go on sale from 10:00 on Fri 5 April. More information on Festival Passes can be found below.

This landmark film from Italian horror master Mario Bava is arguably the first film of the giallo subgenre, and perhaps the epitome of the style. Four years after Psycho and Peeping Tom (both of which we’ve screened in recent years), Blood and Black Lace is the next step in the inception of the slasher. 

The plot has an instant irresistible hook; A masked killer has been murdering the models of a scandalous fashion house in Rome. Blood and Black Lace’s killer is themself one of the subgenre’s most under-appreciated villains. Decked out in a raincoat and hat, with a white featureless mask pulled tightly over their face, the character is an example Bava’s trademark invention – a simple (and iconic) visual idea, executed perfectly. 

The lurid colours, the slinky score and Bava’s peerless eye for striking visuals make this a brilliant exercise in style. With a background in cinematography, Bava was already some 20 years into a cinematic career when he made this. 

Coming in at under 90 minutes, it’s a film which changed the trajectory of the horror genre and revolutionised the entire Italian filmmaking industry - 60 years later, it is still one of the most visually distinct horror films ever made.