Operazione paura (1966)

	Also Known As: Opération peur, Die toten Augen des Dr. Dracula, Kill baby kill
	Year of first release: 1966
	Director: Mario Bava
	Actors: Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Erika Blanc, Giovanna Galletti,  Fabienne Dali
	Country: I
	Genre: Horror, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 18.11.2017, arte.tv, Italian version with French subtitle
Synopsis: Dr. Eswai (Rossi-Stuart) is called by Inspector Kruger to a small village to perform an autopsy on a woman who has died under suspicious circumstances. Despite help from Ruth (Dali), the village witch, Kruger is killed and it is revealed that the dead woman, as well as other villagers, have been killed by the ghost of Melissa, a young girl who, fed by the hatred of her grieving mother, Baroness Graps (Galletti), exacts her revenge on them. Dr. Eswai, along with Monica (Blanc), a local nurse who moved recently to town, are lured into a fateful confrontation at the Villa Graps.
Review: When I saw that arte.tv was streaming some movies by Mario Bava, one of the creators of Giallo, I was amazed and had to watch it. Operazione Paura is considered as precursor horror movie for Dario Argento and others. Especially the use of a child as focus of the fear, the doll initiating fear. Other features, the old Italian mansion, the lost village, the garden of the big mansion, are typical for many horror movies, from Suspiria to The others. The story starts really like the Dracula story. A guy enters in a lonely region with a cab who is afraid to go further. The clothes he wears at the beginning, the long coat, reminds me Nosferatu. But there is a village, with living people. The omerta forcing the villagers not to talk about their dark stories. The long corridor with armours. The colours of the night mixing green, red, yellow, give also the direction that would remain in all Italian horror movies of the 70s until going sometimes psychedelic.  The image composition is time to time really good! When Dr. Eswai runs behind somebody opening always the same doors in the Viall Graps. When Monica and Dr. Eswai try to go down the stairs in a vertiginous travelling in a style like the Vertigo by Hitch in 1958. There are many travelling and camera movements that are relatively fast and precise over the scenery and this gives a tense atmosphere.  As milestone of the Italian horror cinema and as precursor of many classical horror features, Operazione paura can be considered as a great movie. There are unfortunately some flaws in the story and especially in the dramatic part such as the discussions with the Baroness.
Rating: 6 /10