Kill Baby Kill - Lisa's Review

This weeks movie sends us scuttling back to 1966 (who knew something asides from football happened that year!!) and to this offering from Italian Mario Bava.   To start with, for me, I saw a lot of similarities to Dario Argento in the movie.  Although this may sound like a great thing, for me, it most certainly isn't.  I am not a fan at all.



To give an idea of plot line, the movie tells the story of the arrival of a young doctor (Dr Eswai) to a small village to carry out an autopsy on a dead girl, to establish whether or not her death was a murder.  The village and it's inhabitants are one of those places where strangers are most definately not welcome.  Think 'American Werewolf in London' or 'The Wicker Man' for comparison.  The doctor however seems to be of strong stuff so he makes it clear that he intends to stay for the duration, until he does what he has been sent to do.  Local men even resort to violence to convince him to leave, but he perseveres.

When the autopsy is carried out, we are first made aware of the presence of a silver coin in the victims heart.  A young lady called Monica, who has just returned to the village since her departure when she was 2 was sent to witness the autopsy tells of an old saying regarding coins "Only with money in the heart, can one who meets a violent death ever rest in peace".
As you would expect further murders occur and the doctor has troubles with a constant fight in his mind between the science he lives by and supernatural aspects of what is happening around him.  He finds himself (along with Monica) trying to get to the bottom of may more deaths which occur in the small village.  All bodies have a coin present in their hearts.  How is this happening?  What is the significance?  Why is the local sorceress, Ruth so involved?

There is an old baroness living in the village who has a murdered daughter.  Does she know anything of the significance of the murders?  Who is the ghost of a little girl and why does she keep appearing?

These are all questions asked and answered in the movie should you wish to waste an hour and a half.  I think that'll sum up my viewpoints.  Like I said earlier in the review, it reminded me of Argento in places.  The cinematography and styling of the movie especially.  Sure I'll admit it looked awesome in places, but style over performance?   Not for me.  The cast are all guilty of horrendous over acting, the script is pretty poor and the way they pronounce Autopsy p*ssed me royally off.

All in all, this movie wasn't for me at all.  I'm sure there are diehard Italian movie fans who will love this.  The inclusion in The Timeout 100 best Horror movies is testament to that fact.  Hey, maybe I know bugger all about awesome movies, but this bored me to death.  Avoid.