Can’t get past the one-dimensional characters

I struggle with Italian horror for this reason.

There’s much to admire in Kill Baby Kill - the atmosphere, the inventive camerawork and effects, the sexy Italian cast - but the characters just don’t draw me in.

I don’t know if that’s the writing, the dubbing, or the overblown theatrical style of performance - it just pushes me away and makes it difficult to empathise with characters and get involved with the story.

I saw this film because I read that it had inspired some moments in Twin Peaks. Lynch incorporates some of the creepy imagery and ideas here into a much better story with richer characters.

Chasing yourself through an endless labyrinth worked well in The Black Lodge, but here it seemed to have no purpose. Why was Dr Paul chasing and confronting his doppelgänger in the Baroness’ mansion..?

Also, the film didn’t properly address the fact that he got a young girl killed by removing the leech vine that was ‘protecting’ her. The father is pissed but our hero doesn’t show any remorse for his error, nor does the good witch tell him ‘well done, genius, your close-mindedness cost the life of a child’.

Clearly fans of Bava are seduced by the world-building and visuals, and more power to them, but I’m yet to see an Italian horror that I can take seriously.