Baba Yaga (1973)

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

Director:

Corrado Farina

Writers:

Corrado Farina (adapted for the screen by), Guido Crepax (cartoon)

Stars:

Carroll Baker, George Eastman, Isabelle De Funès

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Carroll Baker	...	Baba Yaga
George Eastman	...	Arno Treves
Isabelle De Funès	...	Valentina Rosselli
Ely Galleani	...	Annette
Daniela Balzaretti	...	Romina
Mario Mattia Giorgetti	...	Carlo, Hippie in the Demonstration (as Mario M. Giorgetti)
Sergio Masieri	...	Sandro
Angela Covello	...	Toni
Cesarina Amendola	...	Baba Yaga's Neighbour
Mario Paolo Giordani
Carla Mancini
Giorgio Pellizzone
Lorenzo Piani
Natalie E. Spleptzow
Rodolfo Zola

Storyline

Strange things have been happening to Valentina, a young and beautiful professional photographer, ever since she made the acquaintance of Baba Yaga, a mysterious older woman who gave her a lift home late one night. For one thing, Valentina has been having weird, kinky nightmares. For another, one of Valentina's cameras seems to have acquired a deadly curse. And then there was that visit to Baba Yaga's house, where Valentina discovered bizarre relics, including a dominatrix doll, and a bottomless pit in the living room. Valentina comes to realize that Baba Yaga is a witch who is out to possess her - body and soul.

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Plot Keywords:

fumetti | based on fumetti | woman in jeopardy | giallo | french giallo | 

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

Unrated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Anne Heywood was originally cast as Baba Yaga but withdrew before filming and was successfully fined by the studio.

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Alternate Versions

The film was cut for its UK cinema release to heavily edit two scenes of full frontal nudity. The 2009 Shameless DVD is fully uncut and features a print re-edited by the director which also previously deleted footage including a pre-credits graveyard scene.

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Connections

Features The Golem (1920)

User Reviews

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.

Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

20 September 1973 (Italy)

Also Known As:

Baba Yaga, Devil Witch

Filming Locations:

De Paolis Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

14 Luglio Cinematografica, Productions Simone Allouche, Rewind Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1