International man of mystery Diabolik and his sensuous lover Eva Kant pull off heist after heist, all while European cops led by Inspector Ginko and envious mobsters led by Ralph Valmont are closing in on them.
John Phillip Law Marisa Mell Michel Piccoli Adolfo Celi Claudio Gora Mario Donen Renzo Palmer Caterina Boratto Lucia Modugno Annie Gorassini Carlo Croccolo Lidia Biondi Andrea Bosic Federico Boido Tiberio Mitri Isarco Ravaioli Giorgio Sciolette Terry-Thomas
Danger: Diabolik is one of my favorite films. A psychedelic, fantastical piece of pulp fiction. Mario Bava may be known for his influential mark on Italian horror, but this outlier is no joke. A sheer delight.
I know Bava is suis generis, lightning in a bottle, etc, but still, you'd think with all of the billions of dollars and untold labor hours put into making comic book movies the past two decades just ONE of them would strive to have as much visual identity and personality as this one. So many are mired by some sort of slavish adherence to a grounded "realism" (or something like that), which combined with sweatshop VFX production, creates images with about as much personality as a screen saver. Fuck realism! You can toss a dummy out of an airplane if you also have a hyper stylized super mod underground villain layer/pleasure pad.
Mario Bava's only comedy (more or less), Danger: Diabolik succeeds on virtually every level, from the purely visual to the philosophical; from the erotic to the comedic. It's not exactly a hot take but, damn this movie is good.
some of the most amazingly sharp production design that you'll ever see, peak 60s kitsch with surreal colors and glassy texture, and on top of that you have a fucking dynamite morricone score that twangs throughout the whole thing and i had no idea he even did the score for this but the man seemingly was a goddamn golden goose and just couldn't miss. diabolik is almost plotless, pure vibe and unearthly coolness, just a fucking blast to see; i had a big grin on my face the whole time.
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