The Whip and the Body Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

The Whip and the Body Blu-ray Movie Review

50 Shades of the Dark

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater December 20, 2013

Kino-Lorber has slowly been expanding their Mario Bava Collection line of Blu-ray releases, and this week they're giving us one of the giallo godfather's more underrated—and until the DVD era, largely under-seen—movies. The Whip and the Body, with its Marquis de Sade-ish title, drafty castle setting, and slow kill count, finds Bava midway between two modes. It draws on the gothic horror and fantasy of Black Sunday and Black Sabbath, while also anticipating the proto-slasher kink and bloodletting of later films like Blood and Black Lace, Five Dolls for an August Moon, and Twitch of the Death Nerve, which would come to cement Bava's influence on the American horror boom of the early 1980s.

When it comes to Bava's visual and thematic preoccupations, The Whip and the Body—or, La frusta e il corpo—truly has it all. The vivid cinematography. The ill-at-ease sexuality. The familial drama and revenge-driven violence. There's a reasonable case to be made here that The Whip and the Body is the most Bava-esque of Bava's entire filmography, a central point where all of his major filmmaking concerns collide. It does have its detractors—who find it somnambulantly slow—but if you submit to a little pain in the pacing, you'll be rewarded with the pleasure of the film's haunted atmosphere and S&M theatrics.

Blue Velvet?

Borrowing Black Sunday's sense of lonely, isolated 19th century aristocracy, The Whip and the Body is set in a crumbling ancestral castle where the aging Count Menliff (Gustavo De Nardo) whiles away his last days. His youngest son, Christian (Tony Kendall), and daughter-in-law, Nevenka (Daliah Lavi), live there with him, along with the maid (Harriet Medin), her daughter Katia (Ida Galli), and a bumbling groundskeeper named Losat (Luciano Pigozzi). None are too pleased with the unexpected return of Kurt Menliff (Christopher Lee), the count's sadistic eldest son, who fled home and was disowned when he took advantage of—and then abandoned—the maid's other daughter, Tania, who later committed suicide out of grief. The maid, Giorgia, keeps the blade used for the self-slaying inside a glass bell jar, where it functions like Chekhov's pistol; that is, we know it's bound to be used again—and, probably, again and again—before the film is through.

The count begrudgingly forgives his son and welcomes him back into the fold, but the others are understandably wary, not least of which Nevenka. We quickly gather that she and Kurt have a history together—before he ran off and she married his brother out of convenience—and though she's chilly towards him at first, this is all part of their sexual cat-and-mouse attraction. When they finally meet alone, by the seaside, he pulls out a bull-whip and lashes her over and over in a bit of foreplay for what we can presume—but isn't shown—to be sex on the beach. She's the "M" to his "S," and she loathes and wants him in equal measure. But this only the beginning of the film's psychological and romantic malaise. There are subtle hints that Nevenka may also be involved with the count in some physical capacity, while her husband is secretly embroiled in an affair with Katia.

Nevenka's alternating attraction and repulsion to Kurt is the film's dramatic impetus, and when the sadist is found murdered, slashed across the throat with the very knife that killed his spurned lover, Tania—this is no real spoiler; it occurs fairly early on—Nevenka's fears and desires take a dark turn. What does it mean to lust after a ghost? Is Kurt even dead? How closely linked are terror and arousal? Working from a screenplay by Ernesto Gastaldi, Ugo Guerra, and Luciano Martino—all prolific giallo players—Bava toys with these questions, turning a straightforward gothic whodunit into an exploration of "aberrant" sexuality. Luis Buñuel's Belle de Jour would retread some of the this same ground four years later in a more studied, almost literary way, but while Bava's approach is less philosophical, it's definitely more visceral, using all the tools of the horror and erotic genres. The creeping walks down darkened hallways. The dead hand emerging from the shadows. The crack of a bullwhip and the resulting cry of pleasure.

Made on an exceptionally small budget, the film is nonetheless alive with Bava's attentive detail to color, set design, and cinematography. The attempt here was clearly to emulate Hammer Horror's Peter Cushing/Christopher Lee films and Roger Corman's series of Edgar Allen Poe adaptations, but Bava's work is ultimately both more individualistic and more nightmarish. Casting Christopher Lee was a brilliant stroke, and though it's unfortunate that Lee didn't do his own dubbing—every time the character speaks, you're disappointed not to hear that distinctive baritone—his Kurt is nonetheless a presence, cold and commanding. Israeli model/actress/singer Daliah Lavi is something of a stand-in for Black Sunday's Barbara Steel, who turned down the part, but Lavi handles the role's emotional complexities well, trembling with anxiety and burning with attraction.

The Whip and the Body Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Kino-Lorber's presentation of The Whip and the Body is very much in line with their other Mario Bava Collection releases, with a 35mm print that has been lightly color corrected and contrast balanced but otherwise left "as is." The print is in decent shape—it's definitely less age-damaged than a few of the others titles—but you will notice some specks, light vertical scratches, and the occasional hair stuck in the film gate. That said, Kino's hands-off approach also yields a 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that's naturally filmic and free from excessive noise reduction, edge enhancement, or other forms of unnecessary processing. The encode is solid too, with no blatant compression artifacts. Not surprisingly given the film's budget and genre, the image is a little soft overall—sometimes due to heavy grain, elsewhere because of misplaced focus—but if you've ever seen The Whip and the Body on DVD, you'll notice an immediate and impressive difference in clarity with the Blu-ray. Lines are tighter, textures finer, fine detail better resolved. Much of the film takes place at night, in dark corridors and bedrooms, and while some shadows look a bit "crushed," this seems to be an inherent part of the cinematography and not a contrast adjustment problem. Bava's characteristically lurid colors come through just fine.

The Whip and the Body Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

We're blessed for options here. Kino-Lorber has included not one, not two, but three audio tracks—dubs in Italian, English, and French—each in uncompressed Linear PCM 2.0 mono. Considering the way the film was meant to be internationally distributed, there really is no "correct" track here for purists to stick with, so choose whichever suits your mood. The English dub is really awkward for the first act but gets better as the film goes on, while the Italian and French tracks seem a little more natural altogether. Sound quality across the three doesn't differ too much—the French mix arguably sounds a hair brighter and cleaner—and while there are no major distractions, you will notice a low-level hiss in spots and patches where the dialogue is a bit thick. Carlo Rustichelli's score, with its melodramatic minor-key main theme, is one of the most memorable in Bava's filmography, and—recognizing this—Bava actually reused bits of it in Blood and Black Lace and Kill, Baby, Kill! The music sounds as good as can be expected, reasonably clear and dynamic. Optional English subtitles are available in easy-to-read white lettering.

The Whip and the Body Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary: Video Watchdog founder and walking Mario Bava encyclopedia Tim Lucas—who wrote the comprehensive Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark—originally recorded this track for the film's DVD release. Insightful as ever, Lucas dissects the film's intricacies, provides background info for the cast and crew, and points out details you might be unlikely to catch on your own.
• Trailers (HD):Includes trailers for The Whip and the Body, Black Sunday,Bay of Blood, Baron Blood, and Lisa and the Devil.

The Whip and the Body Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Midway between Bava's gothic horror and proto-slasher phases, The Whip and the Body is an atmospheric thriller with a kinky S&M sub-current. Only within the last few years has it been appreciated as one of Bava's best, dreamy and uneasy, languid and beautifully shot. Kino-Lorber's Blu-ray release is a fantastic way to experience the film; Ubaldo Terzano's cinematography is at its lurid best, Carlo Rustichelli's score gives off its darkly romantic minor-key vibe in an uncompressed codec for the first time, and the disc includes an excellent audio commentary from Bava expert Tim Lucas. Recommended for all fans of drafty low-budget 1960s horror.