Episode Description
Welcome to episode 38 of The Horror Double Bill, the podcast where each week we pair two movies to create something greater than the sum of their parts
This week we are returning to the world of the 1940s horror noir and the Italian giallo, with two highly influential movies that would shape some of the tropes that we now see as standard in many films
First up, we have The Spiral Staircase from 1946 directed by Robert Siodmak and starring Dorothy Maguire, Ethel Barrymore, George Brent, and Kent Smith
Then we follow this with Six Women for the Killer, also known as Blood and Black Lace from 1964 and director Mario Bava. This stars Cameron Mitchell, Eva Bartok, Ariana Gorini and Thomas Reiner.
Recommendations
The Killers: https://youtu.be/qN8CKO-_th8?si=bSjwl02I927bTgmG
The Girl Who Knew Too Much: https://youtu.be/kHolwKaXHHw?si=uiiNHwREjIZaWhIn
The Whip & The Body (1963)
Black Sabbath (1963)
References
The File on Robert Siodmak by Joseph Greco
American Gothic Six Decades of Classic Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby
https://metrograph.com/the-strange-affair-of-robert-siodmak
https://offscreen.com/view/siodmak-spiral-staircase
https://www.dasmagazin.de/magazin-historie/
https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2003/great-directors/siodmak
https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd11861472X.html#ndbcontent
https://abergavennylocalhistorysociety.org.uk/gallery/Ethel%20Lina%20White.pdf
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/obituaries/ethel-lina-white-overlooked.html
The Haunted World of Mario Bava by Troy Howarth
So Deadly So Perverse by Troy Howarth
Blood and black Lace by Roberto Cuti (Devils Advocates Series).
Special features and interviews on the blu ray release of the film from Arrow Video
The Aurum Film Encyclopedia of Horror
https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/where-begin-mario-bava
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Bava
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spiral_Staircase_(1946_film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Siodmak
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_and_Black_Lace
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artwork by Justin Parker (IG jpkr_illustration.com)