Don't listen to the negative reviews

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Mario Bava once again creates a poetic, moving film; a Gothic chiller with plenty of atmosphere (the use of shadows here to evoke fear figures predominantly, even more than in Bava's other work) and with a romantic, tragic love story at its centre. THE WHIP AND THE FLESH highlights Bava at his most sensual, as he focuses the film on a masochistic relationship, something which was not taken lightly when the film was first released.The film is deliberately ambiguous, and offers us no explanations. It's never made clear whether Kurt has indeed come back as a ghost, or whether he is just a figment of a disturbed imagination; but in any case, the fact is that love is far stronger than death. The film has the usual Bava trappings; a remote castle, full of empty rooms full of shadows, characters who are not heroic but indeed flawed, a heavy feeling of nostalgia, and of course supernatural occurrences, and a character who may or may not be dead.Good performances are given by all of the cast members, especially Lavi as the tormented Nevenka, who hates herself for enjoying the whippings that Kurt gives her. Pigozzi registers as a limping manservant, while Gustavo De Nardo paints a sorrowful picture of an old man with only his memories left to keep him company. Christopher Lee's performance makes a strong impression on the film, indeed he is the key figure in the proceedings. Lee has said that this was one of his favourite films, and he gives one of his best performances here, despite the fact that he was dubbed by an American actor. Lee's Kurt is a noble man, distinguished in appearance, and very dignified; yet at the same time he's totally depraved, delighting in the pain of others. It's this dual role which makes Lee all the more interesting. The doomed romance between Kurt and Nevenka is touching, despite the masochistic basis for the relationship; you get the feeling that the pair really are deeply in love with each other.Of course, Bava couldn't make a film without it being controversial, and the sadistic scenes (of whipping) are a typical trademark of his; powerful, yet important, it's not just violence for violence's sake. There are plenty of shocks, faces appearing in windows and ghostly green hands reaching out of the dark, as well as creepy scenes, such as the muddy footprints of a ghost appearing on a wooden floor. The film reaches an eventual climax of Gothic melodrama, and Bava does a good job of weaving the two plot strands of a murder mystery and a supernatural shocker into one satisfying concoction. THE WHIP AND THE FLESH is a woefully underrated film, and remains powerful, moving, and perhaps one of the most striking horror films ever made, one of the few to actually reach out and touch your heart, and not with revulsion, instead with mixed feelings of love and hatred; in fact, you're torn between the genuine love between Kurt and Nevenka and the hatred of the sadistic activities that Kurt enjoys. Added to this one of the most romantic and moving scores ever composed, and you have one cracker of a film.

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).

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!).

Irresistible and genuine Gothic scares, combined with atmospheric camera-work and breath-taking scenery… Welcome to yet another visual masterpiece directed by the greatest horror genius of all time: Mario Bava! "The Whip and the Body" isn't the man's most mentioned achievement, it's not even in my personal Bava-top 3 and yet I still rated it a solid 9 out of 10. That should give you somewhat an idea of how excellent his total repertoire in fact is. "The Whip and the Body" is a unique film in many ways, but particularly because of the controversial substance it dared to bring forward. Don't forget that the year of release was 1963 and Mario Bava unscrupulously introduces characters with taboo-fetishes like S & M. The story is terrifically set in the 19th century, where Kurt Menliff returns to his eminent family after being banished for several years. The family's hate towards Kurt's vile behavior is only surpassed by their fear and only the gorgeous Nevenka has a secret desire towards his wicked sexual preferences. In a particularly astonishing sequence, he whips her repeatedly (and roughly...) before continuing with making love. Terror overcomes the Menliff family when Kurt is found murdered in his room and when the tormented Nevenka begins to see his appearance in nearly every chamber of the castle. As it usually is the case in Bava's films, the plot contains quite a few holes and illogical moments, but they're totally forgivable if you acknowledge the intensity and power of the wholesome. Especially praiseworthy is Mario Bava's unequaled talent to turn totally natural things into terrifying atmosphere-elements… Blowing wind, pouring rain, footprints covered in mud...all these ordinary things turn into suspicious omens in the hands of this masterful filmmaker. With his skilled cinematographic eye, Bava perfectly knows how to raise an unbearable tension that grabs you by the neck immediately and it doesn't let go until the very last scene fades away. All the other typical Bava-trademarks are clearly present as well, namely an authentically creepy score, a minimum of stylish gore (burning, rotting corpses!!) and – last but not least – a stunning use of color shades. Mario plays with colors like he invented them and this emphasizes the spook-effect even more. "The Whip and the Body" is a more than just a shocking horror film. It's an offbeat love-story, a Gothic poem AND an unsettling horror tale all in one! If you love beautiful cinema, don't miss "The Whip and the Body".