Mario Bava was born on July 30, 1914, in San Remo, Italy.

In 1960 he directed one of the first Italian gothic horror movies Black Sunday which made a star out of Barbara Steele. His use of light and dark in black and white movies is widely acclaimed along with his use of colors in films like Black Sabbath and The Whip and the Body.
His work has proved very influential, Bava directed what is called the first Italian giallo movie, The Girl Who Knew Too Much, and his 1965 sci-fi horror Planet of the Vampires was a key influence on Ridley Scott’s Alien. Diabolik was one of the world's first comic book adaptations, while 1971's Twitch of the Death Nerve is considered to be one of the earliest slasher films.