On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the baroque complexity of the murder scenes in Blood and Black Lace (6 donne per l'assassino). It explains how the film was modelled after Alfred Hitchcock, who had always given great importance to elaborate murder sequences in his works. It also mentions the film Caccia all'uomo that was directed by Mario Bava's friend, Riccardo Freda, which was a stunning anticipation of what would be found in the forthcoming gialli. The chapter talks about Bava's Blood and Black Lace that reprised the emphasis on the crescendo which precedes death and multiplied it while amplifying the atrocity of the killing itself. It describes the murder sequence of the film that was characterised by a well-defined environment and has its own specificity regarding the characteristics of the victim, such as the ways of her dispatching and the murder weapon.