FTER COMPLETING Roy Colt & Winchester Jack, Mario Bava sensed that the intuitive, improvisational approach he had taken to his
DETAIL from Spanish poster art by Jano.
career was leading him into a professional cul de sac. If he continued to accept whatever jobs were offered him, he would be nothing more than an artisan posing as a hack. The time had come to take greater respon- sibility for generating his own projects. With this end in mind, he renewed his acquaintance with actress Laura Betti and the two of them set to work concocting new opportunities for collaboration. A gourmet cook in her private life, the Il rosso segno della follia star began inviting Bava to her dinner parties, and sometimes to private suppers, which he would attend with his aging basset hound, Centi.