Hatchet for the Honeymoon

source: Hatchet for the Honeymoon

This film represents one of the few instances where I enjoyed an Italian film better in its English-dubbed incarnation (another I can recall is CASTLE OF BLOOD [1964]), which I first watched via the R2 Anchor Bay DVD. Still, the fact that the Italian dubbing on the DVD rental edition I now checked out was newly-recorded – rather than what was originally shown to theatres (the distinctive voice of the only Italian actress among the main cast, Laura Betti, is sorely missed) – wasn’t an enthusing prospect to begin with... Anyway, the film is one of Bava’s most unusual – ditto for the giallo genre; rather than having a variety of suspects among whom to determine the killer, here the hero (who also acts as narrator) tells us upfront who it is – himself! This makes of it a sort of black comedy – even though handsome lead Stephen Forsyth doesn’t exactly set the screen on fire…and the film is, in any case, undermined by the deliberate pacing typical of the “Euro-Cult” style. Bava here also served as his own cinematographer (with any number of smooth camera moves and striking compositions), and the result – with Forsyth’s villa and atelier (the latter, a familiar giallo setting) as attractive backdrops – is a beautiful-looking film; the editing, too, is creatively done. The various murders are, obviously, among the film’s highlights – as is Sante Romitelli’s memorable score (at once melancholically playful and creepily avant-gardist). Perhaps the most effective scene is Betti’s murder halfway through (whom Forsyth kills while he’s decked out in a bridal veil!) – which is immediately followed by the arrival of the police on the scene to interrogate Forsyth on a previous victim (where the wife’s blood dripping from the stairs and reflection on a table-top could give the killer away at any moment); an amusing in-joke here is the fact that Forsyth had been watching a TV screening (in black-and-white) of Bava’s own BLACK SABBATH (1963)! Also interesting are Betti’s numerous apparitions (which again stresses the absurdist/psychological aspects of the plot, since this is clearly not a supernatural tale): at first, Forsyth can’t see her but everyone else can – so, to make doubly sure, he exhumes her interred body, burns it in his incinerator and, then, keeps her ashes constantly with him inside a leather bag!; when he’s finally captured, the situation is reversed – the wife determined to haunt Forsyth till his dying day! Lovely “Euro-Cult” starlet Dagmar Lassander plays the heroine who, even though she’s eventually revealed to have served as police-bait for the killer every step of the way, demonstrates genuine affection for Fosyth throughout. Incidentally, the police inspector is unusually perceptive for this type of film and, at various points in the narrative, he lets Forsyth know that he’s his chief suspect – even equating the latter’s greenhouse (where plants are made to grow in an unnatural manner) with the inner workings of a madman’s mind! While the final revelation isn’t really much of a surprise, it’s interesting that a piece of the puzzle which haunts Forsyth – he also receives intermittent visits from himself as a child, to act as a guide through his hazy past – is seen to fall into place with each new murder of a bride! By the way, the film was an Italian/Spanish co-production written by Santiago Moncada – whose work includes two other fine “Euro-Cult” offerings, THE CORRUPTION OF CHRIS MILLER (1973; still unavailable on DVD, though I did get to catch it on DVD-R while in Hollywood in late 2005/early 2006) and A BELL FROM HELL (1973).

This was the worst thing I have seen in a very long time. Really a complete waste. It was not a horror movie, it was not a thriller, it was not gore - but it tried to be a little of everything, and it turned out it didn't succeed in any of those ambitions. The acting was poor to say the least, the sound was terrible, not to mention the non-existing lip sync. Already half way through the film you feel you've had enough of the close ups of Stephen Forsyth's face and eyes. It's not even thrilling, since you in the first five minutes get to know who the killer is. The only positive thing to say about this film is that it contained a few groovy outfits and sets but nothing worth to waste an hour and a half on!

Very stylish tale plotwise reminiscent of Hitchock's _Psycho_, albeit with some fantastic twists. The films edits and distortions are fascinating, as is the cheeky main them that is frequently repeated. There is also a disco source track and a waltz among the main musical motifs. John Harrington's relationship with his wife and mother is explored in bizarre supernatural ways that have never (to my knowledge) been imitated. Despite its superficial resemblance to _Psycho_, including Harrington's driving motivation, the film is astonishingly original, handled in a completely different manner, with a completely different mystery. While _Psycho_ was an attempt by Hitchcock to improve on Hammer horror, Bava takes a main idea from Hitchcock and twists it into something possibly even greater than its clear inspiration.

Such a crass title for such a wonderful film. A little languorous but then it is dreamlike throughout. Not quite surreal but certainly possessing a quality that allows us to accept all manner of supernatural elements in such an elegant and matter of fact way. Always looks good, the music is effective and sometimes surprising, An unusual narrative structure where we feel we know more about the central character than he does but slowly discover we knew less as we see him gradually learn more. Marvellous sets, great use of colour and light (as we would expect with Bava) and of course those super looking girls and their outfits. Pretty vigorous but perhaps a little lacking in blood but then even this seems in keeping with the dreamlike state the film exists within. Formidable.

I say strange because I'm not quite sure what exactly "Hatchet for the Honeymoon" was supposed to be (but enjoyed it nonetheless). It features many of the traditional giallo elements - a black-clad killer, lots of beautiful young women who may as well have "Murder Victim" tattooed on their foreheads, incompetent detectives, childhood psychological trauma, spooky childhood toys... Yet it also diverges from the giallo blueprint in some ways by incorporating an odd, Twilight Zone-style supernatural element into the plot, and also a wry commentary on bourgeois married life. There are clear elements of both Psycho and Peeping Tom in the story, and it also predates both the 1980 slasher film He Knows You're Alone, and the Bret Easton Ellis book (and later film) American Psycho. As usual with Mario Bava, the cinematography, production design and lighting are all beautiful to look at, and there are two great suspense set-pieces: the scene where the killer waltzes with his next victim to the eerie tune of a music box in a shadowy, elegant store-room full of creepy plastic mannequins in wedding dresses; and the scene where he talks to the suspicious cop while his dead wife's arm is hanging from the staircase and dripping blood onto the carpet. It's also a surprisingly funny film in many ways. Special mention must go to Laura Betti's hilarious performance as Mildred, the evil wife from hell. All in all, "Hatchet for the Honeymoon" is an intriguing and often underrated addition to Mario Bava's formidable canon. Stylish, entertaining and darkly funny.

This film has drive-in writin all over it. for the plot I think that it is not too bad, the acting o.k. So why did I give it such a low score? That soundtrack, that awful music, each time it started I expected to hear Neil Diamond sing! The production was a little slow, and if it were me I don't think that I would have killed my wife that soon, I would have waited for her to be last. On the plus side the ending is good, see it for the ending.

Interesting, complex look at a man who must kill young brides in order to unlock the secret of who killed his own mother. With each hacked bride, the main character of Harrington sees more and more of his terrible childhood memory when he saw his own mother axed. The acting in this film is nothing terribly special, nor is the story, but Bava'a direction is a visual treasure to behold. As always, he makes the most he can with the camera lens. Some of the shots are inspiring as Bava directs our attention through small orifices sometimes like a small window. His use of a room with mannequins is very effective too. Bava even has fun with his little joke of having Harrington watching Bava's own Black Sabbath on television when having just killed his wife he is visited by the police. Style and visual artistry ripen all around only to be harvested by Bava's gluttonous camera lens. The plot, although missing huge pieces of coherence and logic, is fairly well-crafted. The acting is adequate. I particularly liked the actress that played Harrington's vitriolic wife and the character of the police inspector.The sense of the sixties and fanciful colours pervade almost every scene, and the soundtrack is very suitable to this material. For some horror fans, the film may seem somewhat slow, but it kept my interest throughout.

In Hatchet For The Honeymoon, Mario Bava, father of the giallo, attempts to redefine the genre he practically created by radically altering the format: whereas most giallos try to keep the viewer guessing at the identity of the killer until the end, Hatchet immediately reveals its murderer to be wealthy businessman John Harrington (Stephen Forsyth), a self proclaimed madman who has a thing for butchering new brides with his oh-so-shiny cleaver; the trouble is, he has no idea what has caused this particular compulsion. The question Bava is posing to his audience is no longer 'WHO is committing the murders?', but rather 'WHY are they being committed?'. Clues come in the form of brief flashbacks, which are revealed to Harrington after each successive kill. Can our hatchet wielding loony drag enough information from his subconscious to finally unravel the mystery; will inquisitive copper Inspector Russell (Jesús Puente) crack the case before many more brides go missing; or can you, the viewer, beat both of them to solving the puzzle. Unfortunately, no matter how innovative this approach may seem, Bava's little experiment is not a great success: with the identity of the killer known to the viewer from the outset, any opportunities to create suspense are few and far between: apart from one well orchestrated sequence, in which Harrington tries to shoo the nosey policeman from his home whilst blood from his murdered wife drips dangerously nearby, the film is practically tension free. In a final bid to add a little life to all of the death, the director eventually changes tack and introduces a supernatural angle to the story that proves to be pretty entertaining, if only for its sheer incongruity: the ghost of Harrington's wife pops up to drive her hubby even crazier than before! If you are keen to acquaint yourself with Bava, or the giallo genre in general, Hatchet for The Honeymoon probably isn't the greatest place to start: although the director makes good use of shadows and colour, this is far from his most striking work; there is nothing to rival the glorious excesses of a Fulci or an Argento; the women are attractive, but fail to realise the importance of getting nekkid; and the death scenes are noticeably devoid of inventive gore.

Handsome bridal shop owner is troubled by mysteries from his childhood which seem to drive him to murder brides-to-be. However he may have other problems after the ghost of his vindictive wife starts to haunt him. Hatchet for the Honeymoon is one deliciously strange and darkly comical chiller from the great Mario Bava. As usual Bava's direction is excellent and inventive; particularly the dynamic camera-work and vivid imagery. The story is quite compelling as it goes against the norm and takes the killer's point of view and makes us surprisingly sympathetic toward him. The plot also takes some nicely off-beat twists as it brims with moments of macabre humor, sharp suspense, and some touches of dream-like surrealism. In addition the music score of Sante Maria Romitelli is jazzy and quite beautiful at times; a nice contribution to the colorful cinematography. The cast is fairly solid too. Star Stephen Forsyth does a wonderfully brooding performance and makes his psychotic character strangely likable (one wonders if Bret Easton Ellis saw this film before writing American Psycho). Forsyth is perfectly matched by co-star Laura Betti, who does a fiendish performance as Forsyth's domineering wife. Hatchet for the Honeymoon is a real treat for fans of Bava and the giallo genre, or those that just enjoy odd-ball horror films. It's one of Bava's most interesting works and remains perhaps the most overlooked of his films. *** 1/2 out of ****