Some people have trouble resisting any movie they are told was ever banned. Even if they know the reason in advance and they doubt it’s justified. I admit to being one of those curious people. My curiosity about Kill Baby Kill got the better of me. Even though I knew the general argument for banning it—the theme of revenge but the avenger being a little girl, ten or younger. Not long after, this movie would be overshadowed by at least two others: Night the Living Dead and The Exorcist. Little girls doing some major violence. Then what did the censors find so unacceptable about Kill Baby Kill?
Melissa, the avenging angel in this movie is actually fairly bland. No satanic expressions on her face. No demonic voices. No dire threats. (“The sow is mine.”). But we do know she is seeking revenge…probably she is justified. And others have died in the neglected, backward village where she lived all her life.
The movie has more than its share of weaknesses. Bad dubbing from Italian into English. Generally shallow characters. Acting—average at best. A plot that’s nothing new—apart from Melissa.
Then what are the movie’s strong points? (Keep in mind, it has more than its share of admirers.) Atmosphere—an overall sense of an isolated village with its mysteries well hidden. Well guarded against strangers. People determined to keep their secrets to themselves. An overall sense—sickness, a cancer that needs to be cut out. But a strong resistance to permitting anyone to do it.
A physician, Dr. Eswai, arrives in the village on a bright day, in broad daylight. Still, the coach driver refuses to come close to the main street. Inside the inn, hostile looks, silence. As though a stranger can only make life worse for them. Karl, the burgomeister is the only one in town willing to speak to Dr. Eswai.
Irena, a village woman has died recently, falling from a balcony onto a row of metal spikes. Besides Eswai, a government inspector is in town to investigate Irena’s death. Villagers, the few willing to speak, have suggested to the inspector and to the doctor that the solution lies within the villa Graps—a huge mansion dwarfing the town. But they warn the outsiders—never go inside…for any reason. Dr. Eswai suspects the inspector has gone there…and may be already dead.
An unwavering materialist, Dr. Eswai has no fear of ghosts and avenging spirits. He walks through an open door into the huge, ominous villa. The atmosphere he finds inside is one of the movie’s strong points…maybe the strongest. Cobwebs, everywhere he looks, obscuring portraits and mounted animals and birds, straight out of Norman Bates’ office in Psycho. And the size of each room, dwarfing the doctor, who is a tall man himself. Hard to believe he will ever find his way out. A spiral staircase, narrow but seemingly endless. Bright blue and red colors. Many believe the blues and reds were an inspiration for the ways Dario Argento colored his masterpiece Suspiria. I find that hard to argue; just watch Argento’s movie for yourself.
Dr. Eswai is not an exciting character yet he is someone you respect for keeping up his search for Melissa, her reputed curse and a way to finally end it. He finds a long string of secrets and plot twists inside the villa. As bland as he may be, you have to admire him for his determination to solve the mysteries. So many characters have long-buried secrets. As I stated, you experience the secrets as cancers that need to be cut out. None of the people are evil people. But their quests for vengeance have corrupted them. Both the baroness Graps and Melissa have suffered wrongs that explain their parts in the larger tale you watch unfold. Try to follow each character carefully and unravel their part in this tragic story.
In the 70’s, the great success of The Exorcist opened the floodgates for possessed and evil children in horror films. People now will probably look at Kill Baby Kill as a historical relic—-a symbol of big changes to come. For better or worse, just read a list of 70’s releases; you can’t miss it.
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