Baba Yaga (1973)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Corrado Farina

Writers:

Guido Crepax (comics)
Corrado Farina (writer)

Release Date:

20 September 1973 (Italy)

Genre:

Mystery

Plot:

A photographer finds herself falling under the spell of a witch.

Plot Keywords:

Photographer | Witch | Lesbian | Doll | Female Nudity

Cast

Carroll Baker	...	Baba Yaga
George Eastman	...	Arno Treves
Isabelle De Funès	...	Valentina Rosselli
Ely Galleani	...	Annette
Daniela Balzaretti
Mario M. Giorgetti
Sergio Masieri
Angela Covello	...	Toni
Cesarina Amendola
Mario Paolo Giordani
Carla Mancini
Giorgio Pellizone
Lorenzo Piani
Natalie E. Spleptzow
Rodolfo Zola

Also Known As:

Baby Yaga, Devil Witch (USA)
Black Magic
Kiss Me Kill Me (USA) (video title)
The Devil Witch

Runtime:

91 min | UK:81 min

Country:

Italy | France

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:12 (2007) | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Milan, Lombardia, Italy

Company:

14 Luglio Cinematografica

Trivia:

The Diamond Entertainment DVD box and menu erroneously attribute the direction to Umberto Lenzi, although the print itself correctly credits Corrado Farina.

Movie Connections:

Features Golem, wie er in die Welt kam, Der (1920)

A Bizaare Giallo

I saw this in my local video store for a while, and only rented it after finally reading the reviews here, and I must say, it was quite bizaare.

Valentina is a photographer who, one night, has a run-in with a mysterious woman named Baba Yaga. Baba Yaga asks to borrow something from Valentina, promising to give it back the next morning. (I have no idea what the thing was--I decided to just forget it.) Valentina agrees, and after a very odd photoshoot with one model the next morning, she finds Baba Yaga at her door, with the item as promised. The woman also inspects Valentina's camera, and then everything Valentina photographs is plagued by something horrible. Things continue, including a creepy photoshoot at Baba Yaga's home, the gift of a strange leather-clad doll named Annette, all leading up to an extremely bizaare ending.

Definitely not for everyone, but still an okay movie. Fans of giallo thrillers will like this very offbeat, trippy movie. I didn't really understand the meaning behind Valentina's SS-influenced dreams, and in fact, they were quite disturbing. The bottomless pit in Baba Yaga's house was a nice touch, and actually, the house in total was quite creepy. Annette was very weird, the living doll. And the ending--that was the oddest part of the whole movie! As I said, not for everyone, but still entertaining. And am I the only one who thought the music was nothing special? Sorry, I didn't get what all the hype was about from the other reviewers. Oh well. Still, check this movie out if you can find it.