Following a bungled robbery, three violent criminals take a young woman, a middle-aged man, and a child hostage and force them to drive them outside Rome to help them make a clean getaway.
Direction
Bava's single-location car choreography is pure cinematic sadism.
Writing
The infamous ending twist that was lost for decades.
Cinematography
Sweaty close-ups that make you smell the fear.
Director
Mario Bava
Riccardo Cucciolla
Riccardo
Don Backy
Bisturi
Lea Lander
Greta Garbo
Maurice Poli
Dottore
George Eastman
Trentadue
Marisa Fabbri
Maria
Erika Dario
Marisa
Luigi Antonio Guerra
Impiegato
Gustavo De Nardo
Benzinaio
Emilio Bonucci
Tassista
Ettore Manni
Direttore Banca
Mario Pascucci
Paymaster (uncredited)
Oscar Sciamanna
Man in Gas Station (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Bava's producers hated the nihilistic ending so much they shelved the film entirely; it wasn't seen until 1998 when a producer's son found a workprint.
This is Bava's only pure crime thriller — no supernatural elements, just human monsters, making it feel eerily predictive of the 'home invasion' horror boom forty years later.
IT
