Films directed by Mario Bava

Baron Blood

A resurrected torturer stalks his own castle. Bava on more commercial autopilot, still gorgeous.

Lisa and the Devil

Bava's most personal film, and his strangest. Telly Savalas as the devil, holding a lollipop.

Kill, Baby... Kill!

A ghost child with a white ball. Fellini and Scorsese both stole from it.

Hatchet for the Honeymoon

A bridal-couture killer who narrates his own psychosis, and the best ghost gag Bava ever staged.

Planet of the Vampires

Bava builds an alien planet out of fog and two rocks, and Alien quietly borrowed the skeleton.

Danger: Diabolik

Bava doing pop art on pocket change. Genuinely one of the best-designed films ever.

I Vampiri

Freda walked off Italy's first sound horror; Bava finished it. The whole euro-gothic shelf starts here.

The Whip and the Body

Bava and Christopher Lee doing sadomasochism the censors did not catch.

The Giant of Marathon

Reeves again, with underwater battle scenes Bava shot uncredited.

Hercules in the Haunted World

Bava shoots Hades in gel colours. Looks like nothing else in the cycle.

The Girl Who Knew Too Much

The one usually called the first giallo. Still half a krimi.

Black Sabbath

Three stories, one Karloff. The Wurdulak segment is the best thing Bava shot.

Blood and Black Lace

The template, and still the best-looking film on this list.

A Bay of Blood

Bava invents the slasher a decade early. Friday the 13th copied two kills outright.

Black Sunday

Bava's debut as director. Barbara Steele and a mask full of spikes.