Editorials
‘Hatchet for the Honeymoon’ – Mario Bava Giallo Movie Was Underrated and Ahead of Its Time
Hatchet for the Honeymoon doesn’t behave like other gialli. This Italian-Spanish movie does something unconventional at the beginning; the identity of the killer is revealed to the audience. It goes against tradition to spoil the mystery so early, but after feeling restrained while working under producer Dino De Laurentiis only a year earlier, director Mario Bava sought a fresh start in 1968. This almost forgotten movie was that creative reset, though it wouldn’t be until years later that everyone better appreciated this late entry in Bava’s unique oeuvre.
After taking a meat cleaver (not a hatchet, mind you) to a young bride and groom on a moving train, Stephen Forsyth’s character introduces himself. Not only is he a “madman, a dangerous murderer,” 30-year-old John Harrington is the movie’s protagonist. “I am a paranoiac,” he narrates during his morning rituals. From there John confesses to killing five brides and hiding their bodies, all in an attempt to uncover the truth about his repressed childhood trauma. Now, while it would appear writer Santiago Moncada and Bava have stripped the mystery from their story, John himself is as intriguing, if not more so, than a standard whodunit plot.
John’s scathing wife Mildred, a role Bava especially made for Laura Betti, is then introduced. She shows no affection for her husband, and the feeling is mutual. Mildred lords her money over John, brings up his failings as a lover, and to make matters worse, she refuses to give John a divorce. Instead, Mildred is more keen on making John’s life as miserable as she feels. Betti delivers a memorable performance that cuts into the supposed suavity and sureness of Forsyth’s character. She plays the second greatest foil to John — the first being his own conscience — and she does it with flair.
Bava’s exceptional photography skills fill the movie, though his eye is sharpest whenever John adjourns to his secret and macabre lair. In a hidden and sizable room at John’s bride-wear factory sits a collection of creepy mannequins, all dressed in wedding attire. Euphoria and eeriness harmonize as John gingerly caresses his many inanimate “brides,” fingers the very same cleaver used in his past and future crimes, and lures unsuspecting women to their death. These private moments in John’s Bluebeard-esque hideaway also demonstrate the director’s sense of humor. Hatchet trades one self-indulgence for another when transitioning from John’s room to Mildred’s ridiculous séance. And in another instance of nearly missed drollness, a visual gag about burning toast follows John’s disposal of a model inside the factory’s incinerator. This movie was more strapped than others that Bava helmed, but it was rich in both visuals and wit.
There is a debate about whether or not Hatchet for the Honeymoon is a legitimate giallo. Above all it doesn’t hide the killer’s identity. However, it’s obvious Bava didn’t want to follow the same routine as before. Never one to play by the exact rules of the genre anyway, Bava is even bolder here. He makes the movie all about the villain as beautiful and empty as his mannequins, providing an absorbing, intimate study of Forsyth’s unhinged character. The story probes the darkest recesses of John’s mind and manifests his madness. It’s unsurprising to learn what made John homicidal, but Bava doesn’t ease up in his examination. On the contrary, he steps on the gas after John has followed through on what’s been telegraphed since Mildred first appeared.
With Mildred dead — Bava channeled Psycho when John dons a wedding veil during the slaying — Hatchet for the Honeymoon presents another element that challenges its place among orthodox gialli. The supernatural was teased earlier when Mildred conducted a séance, hinting at what’s to come next in the story. Rather than reaching out to the great beyond to speak to his loved one, though, John is haunted by Mildred’s ghost. At first only everyone else can see Mildred, begging the question if this is all a massive ruse to expose John. The closing scene, on the other hand, is Bava leaving us with an ambiguous parting gift; Mildred is now only visible to John. The supernatural wasn’t common in giallo movies, but Bava is nebulous with the concept. There’s no confirmation that everything, along with seeing his own childhood self everywhere, is the work of John’s guilty conscience, or it’s really something uncanny.
Hatchet for the Honeymoon wasn’t a smooth production. On top of being underfunded, there was tension on set. Forsyth handed in what’s been deemed the best performance of his career, despite receiving no actual direction from Bava. And co-star Dagmar Lassander was not pleased with Laura Betti being given the more significant role. The movie was then unceremoniously dumped into theaters in 1970. After ample panning and neglect for most its life, though, Hatchet enjoyed a favorable turnaround much like all of Bava’s output. The movie stands out due to its nonconforming and perverse story, but the director’s unique style makes everything even more savory.
Regarding the more recent subgenre of charismatic yet deeply disturbed men, Hatchet for the Honeymoon was as prophetic as it was darkly poetic. This shadowing of a handsome and undetected killer predates the likes of American Psycho, but don’t let its age fool you. This movie is as twisted and unsparing as its modern descendants.
Horrors Elsewhere is a recurring column that spotlights a variety of movies from all around the globe, particularly those not from the United States. Fears may not be universal, but one thing is for sure — a scream is understood, always and everywhere.
Having grown up in a religious family, Christian movie night was something that happened a lot more often than I care to admit. However, back when I was a teenager, my parents showed up one night with an unusually cool-looking DVD of a movie that had been recommended to them by a church leader. Curious to see what new kind of evangelical propaganda my parents had rented this time, I proceeded to watch the film with them expecting a heavy-handed snoozefest.
To my surprise, I was a few minutes in when Denzel Washington proceeded to dismember a band of cannibal raiders when I realized that this was in fact a real movie. My mom was horrified by the flick’s extreme violence and dark subject matter, but I instantly became a fan of the Hughes Brothers’ faith-based 2010 thriller, The Book of Eli. And with the film’s atomic apocalypse having apparently taken place in 2024, I think this is the perfect time to dive into why this grim parable might also be entertaining for horror fans.
Originally penned by gaming journalist and The Walking Dead: The Game co-writer Gary Whitta, the spec script for The Book of Eli was already making waves back in 2007 when it appeared on the coveted Blacklist. It wasn’t long before Columbia and Warner Bros. snatched up the rights to the project, hiring From Hell directors Albert and Allen Hughes while also garnering attention from industry heavyweights like Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.
After a series of revisions by Anthony Peckham meant to make the story more consumer-friendly, the picture was finally released in January of 2010, with the finished film following Denzel as a mysterious wanderer making his way across a post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book. Along the way, he encounters a run-down settlement controlled by Bill Carnegie (Gary Oldman), a man desperate to get his hands on Eli’s book so he can motivate his underlings to expand his empire. Unwilling to let this power fall into the wrong hands, Eli embarks on a dangerous journey that will test the limits of his faith.
SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?
Judging by the film’s box-office success, mainstream audiences appear to have enjoyed the Hughes’ bleak vision of a future where everything went wrong, but critics were left divided by the flick’s trope-heavy narrative and unapologetic religious elements. And while I’ll be the first to admit that The Book of Eli isn’t particularly subtle or original, I appreciate the film’s earnest execution of familiar ideas.
For starters, I’d like to address the religious elephant in the room, as I understand the hesitation that some folks (myself included) might have about watching something that sounds like Christian propaganda. Faith does indeed play a huge part in the narrative here, but I’d argue that the film is more about the power of stories than a specific religion. The entire point of Oldman’s character is that he needs a unifying narrative that he can take advantage of in order to manipulate others, while Eli ultimately chooses to deliver his gift to a community of scholars. In fact, the movie even makes a point of placing the Bible in between equally culturally important books like the Torah and Quran, which I think is pretty poignant for a flick inspired by exploitation cinema.
Sure, the film has its fair share of logical inconsistencies (ranging from the extent of Eli’s Daredevil superpowers to his impossibly small Braille Bible), but I think the film more than makes up for these nitpicks with a genuine passion for classic post-apocalyptic cinema. Several critics accused the film of being a knockoff of superior productions, but I’d argue that both Whitta and the Hughes knowingly crafted a loving pastiche of genre influences like Mad Max and A Boy and His Dog.
Lastly, it’s no surprise that the cast here absolutely kicks ass. Denzel plays the title role of a stoic badass perfectly (going so far as to train with Bruce Lee’s protégée in order to perform his own stunts) while Oldman effortlessly assumes a surprisingly subdued yet incredibly intimidating persona. Even Mila Kunis is remarkably charming here, though I wish the script had taken the time to develop these secondary characters a little further. And hey, did I mention that Tom Waits is in this?
AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?
Denzel’s very first interaction with another human being in this movie results in a gory fight scene culminating in a face-off against a masked brute wielding a chainsaw (which he presumably uses to butcher travelers before eating them), so I think it’s safe to say that this dog-eat-dog vision of America will likely appeal to horror fans.
From diseased cannibals to hyper-violent motorcycle gangs roaming the wasteland, there’s plenty of disturbing R-rated material here – which is even more impressive when you remember that this story revolves around the bible. And while there are a few too many references to sexual assault for my taste, even if it does make sense in-universe, the flick does a great job of immersing you in this post-nuclear nightmare.
The excessively depressing color palette and obvious green screen effects may take some viewers out of the experience, but the beat-up and lived-in sets and costume design do their best to bring this dead world to life – which might just be the scariest part of the experience.
Ultimately, I believe your enjoyment of The Book of Eli will largely depend on how willing you are to overlook some ham-fisted biblical references in order to enjoy some brutal post-apocalyptic shenanigans. And while I can’t really blame folks who’d rather not deal with that, I think it would be a shame to miss out on a genuinely engaging thrill-ride because of one minor detail.
With that in mind, I’m incredibly curious to see what Whitta and the Hughes Brothers have planned for the upcoming prequel series starring John Boyega…
There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.
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