It's been more than twenty-two years since the death of director Mario Bava in 1980 and finally the director and his work are beginning to receive the critical attention and exposure he was denied during his own lifetime. Just in the past year, film buff oriented distributors like Image, VCI and Fantoma have taken great care to release remastered versions on DVD of some of the director's most popular titles like Black Sunday (1960), Hercules in the Haunted World (1961), and Blood and Black Lace (1964) AND arriving in bookstores this spring is Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark by Video Watchdog editor Tim Lucas; it's the first comprehensive, in-depth biography of the maestro of Italian horror and fantasy (you can pre-order now at the VIDEO WATCHDOG web site. Today, it's easy to see how Bava's films influenced the look and style of younger Italian horror directors like Dario Argento (Suspiria, 1977) but it's also interesting to learn that American filmmakers as diverse as Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and Joe Dante have all been long time fans of Bava (Dante even used Barbara Steele, the star of Bava's Black Sunday), in his horror parody, Piranha).

Mario Bava was born in San Remo, Italy in 1914. His father was cinematographer and special effects designer Eugenio Bava so young Mario's exposure to the world of filmmaking was immediate yet he still pursued a career in painting during his early twenties. In the 1930s, however, he began assisting his father on film sets as an assistant cinematographer and eventually established a reputation as an excellent lighting director and special effects supervisor, one who could work wonders on a shoestring budget. His contributions to the films of other directors like Riccardo Freda (I Vampiri, 1956) and Jacques Tourneur (The Giant of Marathon, 1959) eventually earned him the right to direct his own feature and as a debut he chose Black Sunday (aka La Maschera del Demonio), a supernatural tale involving a witch's curse, revenge from beyond the grave, a haunted crypt and other pleasantries. The film became an unexpected hit for American International Pictures in the United States and led to other features such as The Evil Eye (aka The Girl Who Knew Too Much, 1963), a precursor to the "giallo" film (a type of thriller inspired by the lurid Italian crime novels sold at newsstands) and Black Sabbath (1963), a trilogy of horror tales that served up sex murders, vampires and a ring that brings unforeseen terror to whoever wears it. Unfortunately, most of Bava's work was distributed outside Italy in poorly dubbed, severely altered versions and shown in second run houses and drive-ins, a factor that prevented mainstream critics from seeing his work. But his films struck a chord with young moviegoers raised on horror magazines like Famous Monsters of Filmland and Castle of Frankenstein. For many of them, Black Sunday became the holy grail of Italian horror films and Barbara Steele, the star of the film, was enshrined as a cult icon (her unusual beauty was offset by her striking facial features which could register horror, perverse delight, an angelic innocence or an inner, predatory nature).

For the month of October, TCM Imports will pay tribute to Mario Bava every Friday night starting with the film that launched his career as a director - Black Sunday. The other titles include The Evil Eye, in which an American tourist in Rome is stalked by a maniacal killer after witnessing a brutal murder, Black Sabbath, which is hosted by Boris Karloff (he also stars in the second episode in the horror trilogy), and Kill, Baby, Kill! (1966), a period thriller involving a series of strange deaths in a remote European village.