The Whip and The Body (1965)

The hungry, haunted eyes of the voluptuous Daliah Lavi dominate Mario Bava's kinky little ghost story. Set in a cavernous castle on a lonely coast, it looks like something out of Roger Corman's Edgar Allen Poe thrillers, at least at first. Christopher Lee is the bad sheep prodigal son who returns to the family manor. A sexual sadist whose proclivities brought about the death of a young girl and sent him into exile, he immediately lures his brother's wife (Lavi) into his sadistic games upon his return. There's no shortage of suspects when he's found dead, a dagger plunged into his neck (the same one his former lover killed herself with), but when he returns as a gray-faced ghost Bava pushes the gothic conventions and repressed sexual desires into delirious territory. It's one of the most psychologically compelling scripts in Bava's filmography, wracked with mad passions and haunted with guilt, and he pushes the emotional hysteria to the limits with lush style, surreal color, and gorgeous, often perverse imagery. The film was drastically cut and renamed What! for its U.S. release. VCI's edition is not only completely uncut but mastered from a gorgeous, color drenched print, restoring Bava's rich play of crimson red and cerulean blue.

The DVD features both English and Italian language soundtracks (neither of which feature Lee's voice, though the English track better matches the images) with optional subtitles, a sharp, informative commentary track by Bava historian Tim Lucas, and two cut scenes hidden as "Easter Eggs." To access these, go to the Special Features menu, move the cursor to "Play American Titles," and push the left arrow button. --Sean Axmaker Amazon.com

Not too hot

The best part of the whole movie was Christopher Lee with his whip...he was sexy in a menacing, dark way. Too bad they didn't spend a little more time developing the story and concentrate on the sexually sadistic relationship between the two main actors.
I liked the opening scene on the beach, after that it was down right silly. September 30, 2008

Whip and the Bava

Any horror movie buff who discovers the treasure trove of Mario Bava for the first time will relish in the Maestro's work. From films like Kill,Baby,Kill to 5 dolls for August Moon, nobody ever did it quite like Bava. The Whip and the Body is no different. Simply put, it is a Gothic masterpiece. Using his genius of ambient dark and light imagery, this movie stands the test of time and should go down in history as possibly Bava's best film. It's the story of a cruel and magnanimous brother Kurt(Christopher Lee) who returns home to wreak revenge on the family who despises him. There he resurrects his torturous affair with his brothers wife Nevenka(Dahlia Lavi). He is mysteriously killed and returns as a ghost to finish his revenge, while the family members question the truth and Nevenka loses her mind.
I've seen at least 7 of Bava's films..all good and all worth it. It is amazing as another reviewer stated, that without the benefit of effects,computer graphics, and other modern abilities, that Mario Bava created some of the best horror cinema ever produced. Whip and the Body is a must for Gothic horror fans and cinema goers alike. They just don't make them like this anymore. This version is the uncut Euro version and has a really decent transfer, not perfect but good enough. This one is a triumph for his career. May 26, 2008

Sheer Bloody Poetry

A cinematic poem that's more about sexual repression than its controversial (during its day but tepid by today's standards) sadomasochism themes, beautifully executed by Italian Director/Cinematographer, Mario Bava. Clearly, this also was a tribute to the Hammer films of the era. Lee's considerable screen presence in this film is more commanding than any other I've seen, and Daliah Lavi is simply stunning both in terms of her beauty and her performance. But the star of the show is Bava's direction and use of Technicolor. This film is a scene for scene atmospheric visual feast. Perhaps this film - Bava's follow-up to his classic Black Sabbath, isn't quite a masterpiece but it's damned close. A real treat for those who appreciate the best of the European horror genre during the 60's era of film making. August 15, 2007

Best Bava, next to Black Sunday

I love this masterpiece of necro-erotic horror, being possibly the best film to use an S/M subtext. I saw it as a kid in its incomprehensible US verion as What, and to have the original, in all its chromatic splendor, is a treat. Not very bloody at all, so if that's your cup of tea, this film will not please you. Instead, this is a dark moody ghost film, where atmosphere and character are the important elements. In the Barbara Steele role, Daliah Lavi is splendid, and Lee, despite being dubbed, is always imposing. As usual, Bava's compositions are beautiful, and the whole film has a gloomy disturbing mood that is far more mysterious than anything offered in today's horror films. Highly recommended. January 31, 2007

Whipping the body

One of Christopher Lee's darker films -- and Mario Bava's more gothic ones -- is "The Whip and the Body," a sort of ghostly-mystery with a perverse twist. It suffers from a slack midsection, but it's still loaded with wonderful direction and tons of atmosphere.

Kurt (Christopher Lee) has just returned after years in disgraced exile, and immediately grates on his sickly father and mild brother Christian (Tony Kendall). Also it turns out that Kurt's ex-girlfriend Nevenka (Daliah Lavi) has married Kurt, but she can't deny her feelings after a Kurt whips and seduces her.

Then Kurt is found dead. Everyone -- from Christian to the servants -- has a reason to want Kurt dead, but no one knows who did it. And Nevenka is acting strangely, as she is visited and whipped by Kurt when no one is around. Is she the victim of a ghost, or something far more terrible?

Mario Bava knew how to make creepy gothic movies (a la "Kill Baby Kill"), but he gives it a perverse twist here. "Thhe Whip and the Body" is gleefully split between ghost story, murder mystery, and dark erotic story of S&M and personal obsession. This is not cheerful, family-oriented fare.

As with his other gothic movies, this one is set in a creepy, crumbling estate, full of dark corners, grimy walls, torches and weird coloured lights. It does suffer from an uninspired middle section, between Kurt's death and the coffin's unearthing, which is mostly Nevenka wandering around hallucinatng.

And the direction is very solid -- disturbed, stormy, slightly off-kilter, and peppered with perversely erotic love scenes. The sight of Lee whipping the clothes off a moaning Lavi borders on campy, but it just stays on this side, and remains darkly intense right to the creepy finale.

Lee seems to relish his juicy, devilish role as a whip-wielding nasty who doesn't care that he drove a girl to suicide. Even dead, he's the most powerful presence in here. And Lavi does a solid enough job as his ex-lover, who can't cope with her obsessive, unhealthy adoration for him and thinks that he's risen from the grave to torment her.

"The Whip and the Body" lives up to its name, taking the sexual edge of gothic horror and running with it. Not Bava's best, but an excellent movie nonetheless January 27, 2007

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