User Reviews

Made around the same time as Mario's classic horror anthology BLACK SABBATH, this deserves the same accolades as his other more famous work. Upon release, WHIP was unfairly neglected, hacked up, censored and critically frowned upon for the subject matter (sexual violence). Next to RABID DOGS (1974), it was also the most difficult of Bava's genre films to acquire in America; I'm not even aware of an accessible home video release until just recently. All but forgotten for decades, but now finally available in a gorgeous restored cut on DVD from Sinister Cinema, WHIP is an absolute must see for Bava fans and very highly recommended for aficionados of Gothic horror. It is also a film that demands to be seen by any person interested in film-making as art - in set design, costume design, lighting schemes, color, shadow and music used for the creation of atmosphere and mood. Every single frame is composed with the utmost care and every inch of the screen exhibits such astonishing attention to detail that it almost begs to be watched in slow motion to soak it all in. Bava is a rare cinematic artist; a true visionary who uses celluloid as his palate; painting all the colors of the dark on drab, dank and dreary castle walls and corridors. Even though the story slips into the routine at times, it also is above average; progressive, serious, entertaining and even extremely ballsy for the 1960s in that it dares to romanticize sexual violence and sadomasochism.

Christopher Lee (who considers this one of his best films) is perfectly hateful as Kurt Menliff, a cold-eyed sadist who returns home to his family's seaside castle after being banished years earlier. His ailing father (Gustavo De Nardo as "Dean Ardow") calls him a serpent, his brother Christian (Tony Kendall aka Luciano Stella) has since married Kurt's beautiful raven-haired ex-fiancé Nevenka (Daliah Lavi) and the loyal housekeeper Giorgia (Harriet Medin), whose daughter, Tanya, had taken her own life after being seduced and abandoned by Kurt, quietly plots her revenge. Also in the house is a pretty, but plain, young cousin named Katya (Ida Galli as "Isli Oberon"), who is actually in love with Christian and would undoubtedly make a much better mate for him. No one exactly welcomes Kurt home with open arms, so when he's found dead with a dagger driven into his neck (the same fashion Tanya ended her life) it isn't a surprise, though it does create a shroud of suspicion over every person in the castle. Even worse, Kurt seems to have returned from the dead to haunt, terrorize and inflict damage via the lash on poor, emotionally fragile Nevenka.

The most interesting and complex character in the film turns out to be Nevenka herself. Her love-hate relationship with Kurt is unique and memorable. Though Christian is handsome, gentle and devoted to his bride, she obviously has the strongest passion (and love) for the cruel Kurt, who claims the reason he came back to the castle in the first place was that he heard his brother had married his former lover. Kurt's return has nothing to do with guilt over his immoral actions, but everything to do with control over Nevenka. It is made very clear during a beach love scene right before Kurt is murdered that the two do share a deep personal bond and a sexual secret. Right before his death, Nevenka is reminded by her former lover, "You haven't changed... You always loved violence!" before he alternates viciously whipping her with his passionate kisses. And she likes it so much you get the strong feeling that her 'straight' life with Christian was miserable for her. Kurt and Nevenka's love is a love of pain and mutual violence, but also of understanding that their mutual love for the sadism is a hard thing to come by. Their love is forbidden, but it is still distinctly, uniquely theirs... even into the grave.

As he proved in THE HORROR OF Dracula (1958) and other horror films, Lee is a tall, towering, menacing figure, even when given little to no dialog. He's killed off fairly early here and appears sporadically throughout the film as a silent 'ghost,' but is all the more effective in his elusiveness. Dark beauty Daliah Lavi, who was a former Miss Iran, is excellent in the role and should have gone on to a career similar to that of Barbara Steele, who in many ways she resembles. Both ladies are able to embody Gothic horror to a T. The entire supporting cast, especially Medin, is very good. And Bava's mastery of the medium, like I said, really make the film incomparably intoxicating. He offers up twisting doorknobs, disembodied voices, creaking floorboards, secret passageways, muddy footprints, hands reaching out at you from the darkness, horse rides along the beach and other Gothic trappings with his exquisite flair for the visual, making this a painfully underrated gem of Euro-shock cinema.

Some notes: * Bava used aliases all around - "John M. Old" for director and "Dick Grey" and "David Hamilton" for his cinematography. * A scene of Lavi moaning in ecstasy as she's being whipped by Lee was so controversial that it was excised from most prints when originally released * It was filmed on location in France * Co-writer Ernesto Gastaldi also wrote THE HORRIBLE DR. HICHCOCK, THE SCORPION'S TAIL, TORSO and many other notable Italian horror films from the 60s, 70s and 80s. The DVD comes with a few trailers for Bava films (including the French version of WHIP), four bios, photo and lobby card gallery, soundtrack access and the original U.S. main titles (under the name WHAT!).

The suicide of a jilted fiancé holds a scar over the House of Menliff as the black sheep who left her returns, Kurt(Christopher Lee, who is simply outstanding in his limited presence..even dubbed he holds you under his ominous spell)wanting to reclaim his heritage, but receiving scorn from his ailing father(Gustavo De Nardo). His real lover, and sadomasochistic partner, Nevenka(the luscious, ravishing Daliah Lavi)has married his brother Christian(Tony Kendall)who Kurt has always hated. Christian is the caring, straight-as-an-arrow son..the direct opposite of Kurt who seems to cast a malignant shadow over his family. Kurt and Nevenka carry on their passion in a scene where he slashes her with a horse whip and we see that she likes it very much. There's a history of this as we can see. She claims to hate him, but he's perhaps merely a male mirror image of her own ugly side she tries to hold imprisoned in herself. Someone kills Kurt with a dagger..the very dagger that was used by the love he left to stab herself with. This death will haunt the rest of the characters as Kurt reappears to Nevenka setting off a growing madness in her as no one else seems to see his presence, but her. When the patriarch, Count Menliff is killed by the same dagger in the same fashion as Kurt, the idea that Kurt's ghost has returned becomes a looming, frightening possibility. Among the other melodramas, Christian is actually in love with servant girl Katia(Ida Galli), maid Giorgia's(Harriet Medin, the mother of the female suicide that Kurt left to suffer)daughter. Losat(Luciano Pigozzi)is the manservant spooked by the terrifying circumstances emerging after Kurt's demise is often walking the grounds and family mausoleum expecting to find specters. We also call into question whether Kurt's ghost is real or simply imagined by a grieve-stricken(..and guilt-stricken)Nevenka harboring a secret love for the murdered aristocrat and now coming face to face with the inequities she's kept buried inside.

Fantastic Gothic masterpiece from one of our treasured Horror directors..the lush color photography is jaw-dropping and awe-inspiring. Every frame of this film looks like it was lifted from one painting or another. Superb uses of red and green, especially when Lee's "ghost" appears to Nevenka. Sure, the whipping S&M aspect adds a naughty flavor to the proceedings, but it's the way Bava brings this castle setting to life with his camera and artistic eye that makes this such a pleasure to behold. I loved how Bava returns to the muddy boots and the prints they leave behind without showing who is treading the floors with them. I think this is Bava's finest film. I hope in time(..and I believe it already is starting to gain an official..and rightfully deserved..following)this film will be mentioned more and more as a classic horror film to be seen. It really is a Gothic horror fan's wet dream. Great atmospheric trappings are benefited by a grand, sweeping score. If there ever was a director who painted a canvas using the cinematic form as his paint brush, it was Bava. And, the way he shoots faces as the characters seek out Kurt in the darkened rooms of the castle at night. Or, the way Bava lights the family crypt as others dare step inside to possibly find Kurt's ghost within. See how Bava uses a tree vine whipping in an open window reminding Nevenka of her sordid past with Kurt. Not only does Bava use color, but symbolism describing the passionate, yet violent, nature between Kurt and Nevenka. Lavi's captivating beauty is wonderfully shot, often in her room, engulfed in darkness, the wind roaring, her frightened eyes constantly veering right & left..she's completely at the mercy of Kurt's presence. I feel Bava establishes the fact that, even though Kurt's dead, his hold over this family is long-lasting, especially Nevenka, who keeps pronouncing her hatred for him even though she's in denial of her true feelings. Perhaps Kurt's *spirit* did truly live and breathe, even if it didn't exactly manifest in our realm, he certainly was real to those still living within the confines of the castle. This is truly a masterpiece.

This is undeniable-proof that Mario Bava was one of the best horror-directors of all-time. The maestro's use of color and unnatural-lighting is stellar, and unique. There are few films that convey desire so-deeply, so-yearningly, but also depict repulsion just-as-well; and aren't the two inextricably-entwined in horror? It is perhaps the best Gothic-horror film of the 1960s, bar-none, and that includes some of Hammer's finest. In-fact, you can see that in Bava's, Hammer's and Roger Corman's 'Gothic' films, there is a dialog going-on. They copied-each other, but few would be so-daring as Bava, as this is the best S&M horror-film, and the sexiest too. Dahlia Lavi couldn't be more desirable in this, and the S&M depictions are pretty racy, even the standards of 2006. For this reason, it was radically-cut in most regions-of-distribution (except-Germany!). 'Black Sunday/Mask of Satan' (1960) may have been the 'Citizen Kane' of horror, but this is Bava's 'Tales of Hoffmann' (1951), and all these films should be seen by serious horror-fans. Corman, AIP and Hammer had blood, brains, bulging-boobs and cleavage, but not this!

It is probably the most-underrated film I have ever seen. A film like The Whip and the Body has to be watched-repeatedly to truly-appreciate, and it gives-up secrets with each-viewing. What has always been a shoddy dubbing-job has marred this film's reputation and relegated it to-the-margins of the horror-genre. The Whip and the Body is the essence of what truly makes-up horror, especially Gothic-horror, and it is psycho-sexual-tension. If you cannot appreciate such literary-concerns, or the eternal-issues involving the human-condition, you aren't going to enjoy it, because it is a pretty literary-film. It is poetic, and strongly-erotic. It is also, decidedly-not 'PC', but who cares anymore about that? Art never is, nor should it be, 'acceptable.' It simply is.

Outside-of Hitchcock, psychological-horror doesn't get much-better than this masterpiece. It is a ghost-story, and so-much-more. It is a study of sexual-obsession, and the demons that haunt all relationships. Who has not been haunted by a lover from one's past? If you haven't, you are missing-something important in the human-condition, so go out and find it. The archetype of the 'demon-lover' is in full-bloom in this masterpiece, and it is titillating and emotionally-powerful for it. It should also be said the film has a few-similarities to Ricardo Freda's classic, 'The Ghost' (1963), which is likely due to the era it was made-in, and the fact that Bava was frequently Freda's assistant-director. Guilt plays-its-part in the films of both directors, usually manifesting as an apparition. Catholic-guilt? This is likely, but neither Bava or Freda can be typed so-easily, they were non-conformists in their stylizations, with Bava even showing a connection with Slavic-literature in the works of Gogol and Tolstoy. He borrowed from a lot of literary-sources, including Lovecraft, making it into something that was his own. The director was also known for his belief in Italian folk-superstitions, and he drew from Italy's folklore, and Roman mythology as well.

As far as I can tell, much of the 'color-coding' in this film for given-characters was relatively-new when Bava attempted-it. Powell & Pressberg's 'Tales of Hoffman' is the closest I can recall with this style conveying horror so effectively. Lee's-character (Kurt Menliff) is portrayed in the cobalt-hues of blue ever to grace a Technicolor-film, suggesting the character spectral-nature. Other times, Lee is lit with a green-light on his face, like Osiris. I'd say some aspects of the film resemble the myth of the resurrection of Osiris by Isis (through sexuality). Lee is the dying-god, Nevenka his Astarte or Isis. Scenes of passion with Dahlia Lavi are decidedly red-in-hue, while when the apparition of 'Kurt' gives us scenes that are green or blue. One scene has Lavi walking-down a hallway while each side of her face keeps changing-colors as her emotions change. The whole approach is a kind of expressionism of color, the hues conveying the internal-states of the characters. The Technicolor-process made colors so deep!

This is film-as-artifice, and we should never forget this while viewing the works of a director like Bava, he reveled in this artificiality. This helped him emphasize the thematic visually, rather than through dialog and a linear-narrative. Yes, it's supposed-to look 'fake', it's a film-reality, like in a Tarantino-film. This movie has suffered-enough! The story-line isn't very difficult to follow, it's just the poor-dubbing by the Italian production-company. When a film is this low-budget (for 1963), it's usually post-production that suffers, and it does here. The owners of this property should record Mr. Lee's dialog for this film-- he has offered, after-all, so why-not? It's insane to think the producers of a film with Christopher Lee would not see-fit to use his actual-voice, because he is an actor who was known for it (and still is).

As much as I love Italian horror, I have never been too keen on the films of Mario Bava, who is often considered the grandfather, guru, and all-superior being behind the genre/subculture. The specific Gothic stylings of "Black Sunday" (well-loved, but not by me) and the latter-day bloodletting of "Bay of Blood" (gory yet boring) were not my cup of tea; however, I have a lot of appreciation for "Kill Baby Kill" and "Shock," two wonderfully surreal rides into madness. "The Whip and the Body" is an excellent entry from Bava (I'd go so far as to say it's his best work, based on the few films I've seen by him), who merges his signature style (specific color schemes, spooky set decoration, a period setting) with a surprisingly rich story line. Anyone who thinks Euro-horror can't branch out from its primal urges (that being extreme bloodletting and excess talk), owe it to themselves to see this film. Never--not even in the early works of Argento--have I seen such a gripping story (a married woman murders her ex-lover only to be haunted by his ghost) told with such unflagging skill. The plot explores obsession, true love, S&M, and the supernatural with great passion; it is a bonus that "Whip" is also fittingly spooky and a treat for the eyes. A young, handsome Christopher Lee gives a wonderful performance as the deceased lover; ditto Daliah Lavi as the object of his obsession--when together, these two exhibit a chemistry that is absent from much of cinema (not just the Italian school).