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Film: Hatchet for the Honeymoon (Il rosso segno della follia)
Year: 1970
Director: Mario Bava
Writer: Santiago Moncada
Starring: Stephen Forsyth, Dagmar Lassander and Laura Betti
Review:
This is a film that I have been meaning to watch for a while. It went on a radar getting into podcasts. I put it on a list to check out during my Journey through the Aughts and didn’t get to it. I’ve put it down as a movie for multiple October movie challenges and for whatever reason, it didn’t work. I’m now checking this out as a Mario Bava double feature for Italian horror month on Journey with a Cinephile: A Horror Movie Podcast.
Synopsis: a cleaver-wielding bridal designer murders various young brides-to-be to unlock a repressed childhood trauma.
We start this on a train. Someone sneaks out of a room and then into another. In the corridor, whoever we are with is trying not to alert the attention of a boy looking out the window. Inside of this room is a couple kissing. They are killed by a clever. We then see the killer cleaning it off with what looks like a wedding dress.
This movie doesn’t hide the fact that our killer is John Harrington (Stephen Forsyth). His mother owned the company that he now runs. John married Mildred (Laura Betti) who helped keep the business before going under since she was rich. These two do not get along anymore. John wants a divorce and she refuses. This creates tension regularly.
John informs us with narration that he’s insane. He’s killed multiple women and buried a few of them his greenhouse. The deaths are connected to his business, so this draws the attention of Inspector Russell (Jesús Puente). He can’t prove it though. Between this inspector and his wife, he goes into his office. In a rage he throws a framed picture of his wife, not realizing that Helen Wood (Dagmar Lassander) is there. She is a new model that he hires on the spot. It is from here that we see he has a secret room, filled with mannequins in wedding dresses and it is also where he hides his cleaver.
Stress and pressure mounts as Alice Norton (Femi Benussi) disappears. We see that he killed her. This draws her fiancé, Jimmy Kane (Ignasi Abadal). He comes with the police. All the while that this is happening, John has nightmares of him as a boy, the younger version played by Pasquale Fortunato, on the night that his mother was killed. He can’t figure out who did it and how he factors in there. With each kill, it seems to be made clearer. Mildred is also into the supernatural and she pushes her husband’s buttons one time too many. He can’t get rid of her as easily though.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this is another interesting take from Bava on the giallo sub-genre. This is another one that isn’t traditional in what it is doing. I’d even say this is another one that is ahead of its time and shares similarities to something you’d see in slasher films later in the decade. The big thing here, there is no mystery as to who the killer is. The mystery that we are trying to solve is who killed his mother when he was a boy and why is he haunted by what happened. It makes sense in the end as to why he is haunted by this. It also explains why he is doing what he is and in the way that he is as well.
The character of John is where I want to delve deeper. Forsyth is a good choice for the character. He is attractive with striking green eyes. I also think that he does well at displaying arrogance that he could get any woman he wants. Building on this, we know that he's a sociopath so that's why I call it arrogance and not confidence. We are given an interesting look into his psyche by hearing his inner thoughts. He is also a tragic character as there was trauma he endures as a boy that is causing him to be how he is. This feels like a case of nurture over nature. It could also be a combination of both as that is what I think goes into a psychopath.
Now I think it is interesting that our lead is also our villain. I've already brought this up, so we are seeing what he does to avoid being captured. There's also an added dimension here of the supernatural. I don't know if it fully fits. I will give credit to the fact that they developed it well. Mildred asks him to attend a seance with her. This comes back into play later when John is haunted. I wasn't sure if he was the only person that could see this figure following him. There is a stretch where that is the case. It shifts though later to torment him in a different way. Even though it doesn't necessarily fit how grounded this is, I do think it adds another layer to this movie.
Where I think I'll go then would be the acting. I've already said that Forsyth is good as our lead. I thought that Betti was also great as his angry wife. There is an interesting dynamic there and she works so well with antagonizing him. She has a point though. They're in a loveless marriage, but she doesn't want him to be happy. She helped save his business and I don't blame her for not wanting him to enjoy the fruits of it without her. It also makes sense to what happens to her as well. We have beautiful women here with Lassander and Benussi leading the way. I like Puente as this inspector who knows something is up, but he can't prove it. I love how he keeps bothering John. I'll also credit appearances by Antonia Mas, Luciano Pigozzi, Gérard Tichy and the rest of the cast. It rounded this out for what was needed.
All that is left then will be filmmaking. Seeing that Bava doubled as the director of photography as the cinematography is great. This movie looks amazing. He does such interesting things that you can see he has an eye for how to frame things and the ability to do things that you don't always see. Part of this is the fuzzy focus to signify flashbacks. We also have this great scene in John's special room with Alice. This was strong. Then I'll take this to the effects. This is one that is lighter on these elements. It isn't an overly violent giallo. I did find it funny that hatchet is in the title when it is a meat cleaver being used as the weapon. I still love what it was named. Other than that, I thought the soundtrack also fit for what was needed.
In conclusion, this was a solid gialli that took time for me to finally watch. I thought that this does interesting things, especially since we are still early into the sub-genre. It is intriguing to follow the killer. The mystery here is trying to uncover the truth of his childhood trauma. We have good acting from Forsyth and Betti leading the way with the rest of the cast good around them. I'm not sure that the supernatural element works as well, but I get why we use it. It feels almost like it is borrowing from Edgar Allan Poe with that. This is well made with the cinematography being the strongest part there. Not the best from Bava that I've seen, but still worth a watch. Even more so if you're out to watch all his filmography.
My Rating: 7 out of 10