KNIVES OF THE AVENGER (1965; d. Mario Bava, w. Alberto Liberati + Giorgio C. Simonelli)

Icons drawn in sand (archetypes, + virtues lost to the ages) + contained in stone circle (temporal limitations + enclosure w/i mind) include Atlas-figure w/ sun (upholder of said virtues), etched by witchy Oracle (à la Hercules in the Haunted World, Black Sabbath "Drop of Water" + Kill, Baby…Kill’s similar, each redeemed version of demonized soothsaying Black Sunday prolog sorceress) who voiceovers prayer to Odin (Self, characters subconscious actors resolving interior issues) to "send us the fire of your sun" (invoking awareness, she "medium"/link btwn un/conscious [at shoreline] calling up "occult" information from both into neutral theater); camera w/draws to reveal her + deposed Queen Karin (lost feminine power) + son Moki (pubescent boy still attached to mother, needing Oracle to invoke own son/sun "fire" aka agentic masculinity; mother’s, as well) as Oracle reassures her husband Härald (own lost masc pwr à la Sunday’s similarly departed Javutich + Hatchet f/t Honeymoon’s 2 absent 1st husbands, of which he "herald" in last yrs before Wmn’s Mvmt) will return, before urging them to flee (waves coming to "plane the earth" + cover their tracks fem ocean wiping slate clean after history of male violence) as credits roll (Prolog description of "will" main drama to fulfill).

Hägen, leader of pursuant rogue pack (not-the-father, corrupt img of masculinity unleashed at decisive moment, 2B dealt w/ in boy’s establishing of adult self-img in real father’s absence), holds forth to men on dislocation + separation from wmn + children (complementary longing of aberrant masc’y for civilizing fem – essence of oedipal dilemma) + planned return to hometown (à la Sunday witch + Whip + the Body black sheep’s return [eventual outcome of all repression]; "cursed by King" injustice of rejection by rational consciousness for psychic matter desiring recognition/understanding), stopping 1st to interrogate Oracle (guardian of "secrets o/t cherished dead" aka Unconscious) as to Karin + Moki’s whereabouts (true object to reclaim lost tenderness + innocence, they embodiment of separation-trauma); warns him gods against him (he quality in Self 2B resolved by confrontation + open engagement) + want revenge (guiding motif of film: problem of modern man psychic rift btwn fe/male elements), he drawing sword on her (resistance especially dangerous when blind to what truth/Seer means – that he will be obsolete if he dsn’t either accept + mourn schism [submission] or unite w/ willing facsimile of desired object [sublimation]; vide James Hillman, OEDIPUS VARIATIONS) + she fends him off w/ fire (opposition of superior knowledge to weaker weapon).

Lone horseman Rurik (asocial figure arrived to rid/cure/resolve society of pathology) drawn to farm (fecund location in psyche) where Karin + Moki living (he positive not-the-father/"fire" Oracle predicted), rescuing them from intruders (come to ward off negative n/t/f, their "You’ll serve the new king" self coercing self to accept dysfunction) then cleaning up aftwd; teaches Moki archery + knifethrowing (phallic proficiency: dagger flying thru window [ahem]) – Karin sure she knows him (own regressive masculinity returned to unite w/ his complementary itinerant-independent fem’y) – then fishing (stream theme from I Vampiri, Sunday + Hercules – fecundity, continuity; community w/i "river" of life), that evening discovering (by hearth, again à la Vamp, Sunday, Whip et al: colloquy around warm center of Self) who she is (King Husband set sail during famine à la Oedipus, Khnemu, etc: film similar drama w/i mind of "absent" dreamer/ego to find cause of internal malaise) – cue flashback to their wedding (when their people unified as well: marriage both internal + ex-, later division psychic split result of separation of archaic unity aka birth), jealous Hägen bringing gift of severed heads (separation of mind from body at "historical" onset of sleep, parturition also reiterative of same) of Rurik’s wife + son (K+M not-the-wife+son; alternatively, they the souls of his family [river he crosses to find them Styx] he must release from their stateless condition, Reunion w/t Departed King Who Will Return aka heaven) before offended father-king kicks the "vicious idiot" out of town (cursing "day he was born" à la prolog Sunday witch, her transfiguration here her vindication).

Karin (own softer sensitivities) recounts to Rurik (unrecognized: latter’s transformation since event) raid + pillaging of village (devastation to interior landscape) on enraged R’s return ("Peace left our land on our wedding day" – epochal disengagement from family on sexual maturation, fortressed in-the-beginning city Eden), he masked (à la similarly vengeful "demonized" Sunday witch) + killing her father (marriage effectively ending wmn’s independent agency) then raping her (sense of loss entering her + yielding mental offspring); next morning (mind having assimilated details of previous night), R takes Moki trapping (bridging wounded boy-self by teaching containment of animal impulses; Bava teaching ropes to own dir-son Lamberto, as spfx senior Eugenio did him), rebuffed in his love-confession to K (commitment not to live w/ vengeful feeling; expecting hubby’s return as King fidelity to harmony + anticipating reinstatement of original order).

At tavern (inebriated depths of unconscious), Hägen floats desire to marry Karin (tribal elders discussing: superego weighing various combinations in free-associating dream, mother’s many "lovers" boy’s realization of her erotic life beyond their exclusive one), leaving as Rurik arrives to sit at his table ("child" pretending to "father’s" degraded throne, two men interchangeable in mind: different valences of same motivation) – Moki at window (objective always in sight; he also looking inwd to objectified drama unraveling there) – Atlas tattoo on wrist (he Christ-figure bearing weight of world – illumination also – on shoulder) noted by Häg goon (mental minion recognizing burden Self carrying) on taunting him for his insolence; drunk + whoring Häg spills plot to marry Karin + kill Moki (acceding to father’s place [as Rurik just rehearsed, latter’s promise to "drink w/ Häg tonight" freely identifying self w/ nemesis] resolving childhood/mother-attachment) then make wench his wife (threat to ideal/maturity of unrestrained id [cf R’s trapping lesson]), met by + fighting Rurik (cowardly chest-armor à la 2 foiled ambushes on way + breaching fortress gate: avoidance of pain deepening/prolonging dysfunction) till escaping into darkness + out door (piece missing before mission can be accomplished).

Härald (missing piece) docks (nobility returning on attempted engagement w/ nemesis) + finds drunken Rurik (reversal of previous scene) unwilling to duel (vengeful aspect dulled), sparing him (as R had done him earlier: restarting time from decisive moment), only to have R do same following swordfight (repetition establishing new formula), their fistfight (going mano a mano physical engagement w/t vulnerable [vs shielded Hägen] Self) spilling over into daylight (illuminating rivalry) until both exhausted, Karin stopping them (separated at last by purifying fem pwr) to tell of Moki’s kidnapping (cost of their differences); Oracle w/i inch of life (medium btwn un/conscious dimming) directs them to "hidden grotto" she opened for Häg (Unconsc itself to which complex/menace threatens to escape, taking Future w/ him), where they break up to explore (typical Bavarinth à la Sunday + Hercules catacombs where 2 men similarly split [mysterious psychohistory where psyche itself legendarily divided, Häg’s threats of dismemberment rendering him archaic agent of such: cruel fate + mechanism of sleep, besides]; cf also Blood & Black Lace antique shop [history itself maze in which Italy – as self – lost connection w/ noble origins], Whip’s secret passagewy + Härald/Giacomo Rossi-Stuart’s climactic KBK labyrinth pursuit), Hal finding 2 at center of cave (own heart, as primal womb: rejected, alienated man + captive boy 1 + same, threat of dismemberment as of birth-separation).

Hägen demands vessel out of country (desire now for parturition on uniting all 3 in conscious arena; odd reversal from original plan suggesting Hal + Rurik’s fisticuffs actually resolved issue, he vestigial material yet 2B dealt w/) till R’s vow (booming, disembodied voice [as of threatened rendered self: voice from beyond birth-separation – unafraid] w/ no fixed origin [à la opening Oracle: he ascended to the mystic – fem – realm beyond mind/body/soul Hal/Hag/Moki: voice o/t Self/womb/Unconscious itself) "My knife will find its way to your heart" (truth will reach Häg’s soul + eliminate/resolve him) + Moki strips him of chestplate (leaving armored heart vulnerable) + gives him target (accepting maturity, dagger delivered by supranatural force); father + son reunited (observed by Rurik: visualizing own reconciliation btwn optimism + experience), as son + mother (restoration of [compromised] innocence; she w/ her own pubertal male pwr), and R+H make up, Avenger then riding out across shoreline (back into Unconscious, surf washing away traces as of outmoded, if utilitarian, violent potential [as opening icons]).