Hard to find a movie better looking than this. Except for the last 10 minutes, everything is so perfectly staged and shot. It is pure visual mastery, from the first scene, which is a big fight, to all the excelent subdued moments like the queen finding Erik on the beach against the sunset. Bava’s excellency in his use of smoke and color far transcends the horror genre, and this is the biggest proof of that. I’m not sure if it is due to me having watched the english version but the last 10 minutes feel off. They look as if they were from a completely different movie, way less imaginative than the 80 minutes preceding it. Not enough to dismerit the film as a whole though, as it it is pure formal excelency with some interesting narrative chops.
Hard to find a movie better looking than this. Except for the last 10 minutes, everything is so perfectly staged and shot. It is pure visual mastery, from the first scene, which is a big fight, to all the excelent subdued moments like the queen finding Erik on the beach against the sunset. Bava’s excellency in his use of smoke and color far transcends the horror genre, and this is the biggest proof of that. I’m not sure if it is due to me having watched the english version but the last 10 minutes feel off. They look as if they were from a completely different movie, way less imaginative than the 80 minutes preceding it. Not enough to dismerit the film as a whole though, as it it is pure formal excelency with some interesting narrative chops.
