I consider it my own personal mission to make the world aware that Mario Bava was the greatest horror director of all times and ... with brilliant movies like this "Operazione Paura" ...it can't be too difficult to fulfill that mission. This Gothic masterpiece easily ranks high among the most beautiful horror movies ever made, with an atmosphere that constantly causes you to gasp and a striking photography that influenced even the most successful directors in the post-Bava era. This haunting gem takes place in an early 20th century ghost town, complete with superstitious inhabitants, fog-enshrouded cemeteries and supernatural curses! Paul Eswai is an young and ambitious coroner/doctor who's called to the town to perform an autopsy on the unfortunate Irena Hollander who died under mysterious circumstances. It doesn't take Paul long to find out that there are many more mysteries that need to be cleared out in this town... All the strange deaths in this town are related to the tragic accident that killed the young Melissa 20 years earlier. Has the restless soul of this girl returned to avenge her own death ... or is it her witchy mother Baroness Graps who entrenches herself in her lonely old mansion? The script contains a few holes (rather big ones...) but Bava cleverly camouflages them by a stunning use of color or by introducing creepy gimmicks. "Kill Baby...Kill" contains some truly horrific, yet masterful oddities that have been copied numerous times since, like the constant eerie use of mirrors, a ball bouncing through corridors in slow-motion or the mesmerizing spiral-staircase sequence. The absolute best sequence can't even be put into words, so great it is! I won't spoil it, though...it involves a bizarre pursuit by the hero himself but you have to watch the film in order to believe what happens. The camera-work is outstanding, the color pattern is powerful and the filming location is really breathtaking! The town is a nightmare place...and this is wonderfully illustrated with dying trees...ramshackle building and the very unappealing inn. This is subtle and atmospheric Gothic terror, so you shouldn't expect large amounts of bloodshed or sleaze. Don't be alarmed, though, because this film evokes shocks and nightmares without a single gruesome image. "Kill Baby...Kill" is at least ten times scarier than, for example, "the Shining" and yet no one ever mentions it. It's about time Mario Bava receives credit for his achievements.

Despite a very poor print from Netflix streaming, despite the film being dubbed instead of subtitled and despite some occasional bad acting, "Kill Baby, Kill" is a dandy Gothic horror piece. This is because director Mario Bava successfully has created a moody film that will keep you on edge.

The film is set around 1900 and begins with a doctor and a police investigator coming to a remote village to investigate a very suspicious death. However, this is all complicated by the townsfolk--who do NOTHING to help with their efforts. Eventually, however, the story SLOWLY unfolds and you learn that the fear of the town is because MANY healthy young people in town have died suspiciously and some crazy Baroness and her dead child are somehow responsible.

This is clearly a film you need to see and force yourself to keep watching. That's because the film is talky and slow and it takes a while for the film to unfold. But it IS worth it. So, look past all the moaning women, silly cobwebs and slow plot--it IS scary, moody and worth it.

In the beginning of the Twentieth Century, Inspector Kruger (Piero Lulli) calls Dr. Paul Eswai (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart) to perform an autopsy in the corpse of a woman found dead in the village where she lived. The coachman leaves Dr. Eswai in the boundary of the village and advises him to return, since the place would be abandoned by God. Dr. Eswai is helped in the autopsy by Monica Schuftan (Erika Blanc),a young woman that has just returned to her hometown, and they find a coin slipped in the heart of the woman. Inspector Kruger goes to the Graps Villa to investigate the rumors about a local curse that the victims are killed by the ghost of a girl called Melissa (Valeria Valeri) with Baroness Graps (Giana Vivaldi),but he never returns to the inn. Meanwhile, Ruth (Fabienne Dali),who is the local witch and mistress of Burgomaster Karl (Max Lawrence),tries to help the daughter of the innkeeper Nadienne (Micaela Esdra) with magic under the protest of Dr. Eswai. When Karl and Nadienne are murdered, Dr. Eswai goes to Trap Villa and discloses an evil curse on the feared and superstitious villagers produced by the hatred of her grieving mother.

"Kill, Baby… Kill" or "Operazione Paura" is a frightening and original horror tale of hatred, curse and fear. The cinematography, atmosphere and sets are bleak, and I have startled several times with the appearance of Melissa. The scene in the spiral ladder is fantastic and visibly inspired in "Vertigo". My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Ciclo do Pavor" ("The Cycle of the Fear")

Note: On 10 June 2015, I saw this movie again.