Mario Bava’s 1966 film Kill, Baby… Kill! is jam-packed with classic horror tropes: creaky doors, gratuitous cobwebs, shadowy passageways, intense exorcisms, cavernous tombs, ornate candelabras, random green auras, and one revolting baby doll.
The story is classic, too: Following the mysterious death of a young woman, Dr. Paul Eswai (Giacomo Rossi Stuart) is sent to perform her autopsy in a village in Eastern Europe’s Carpathian Mountains. Eswai’s dismissive voice of reason is not welcomed by the locals, who believe their town is cursed and being ravaged by a murderous ghost. Eswai’s foil is Ruth (Fabienne Dali), a professional sorceress with winged eyeliner who inserts coins into corpses’ hearts.