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From HouseofHorrors.com Recent News
On the same day, Anchor Bay will also release the North American DVD premiere of Bava’s Viking epic Erik The Conqueror, as well as single-disc editions of Black Sunday (aka The Mask of Satan) and Black Sabbath (aka The Three Faces of Fear). Erik the Conqueror, Black Sabbath and Black Sunday all carry $14.98 SRPs, with pre-book on September 20th.
The Mario Bava Collection -- Volume 2 not only features Bava’s signature thrillers, but the collection offers fans an unique and fascinating opportunity to enjoy Bava’s creativity and ingenuity in other film genres not normally associated with “Il Maestro.”
The films presented in the Mario Bava Collection -- Volume 2 include:
Baron Blood Long after the global successes of Mask of Satan and Three Faces of Fear, BavaJoseph Cotten (The Abominable Dr. Phibes), Elke Sommer (A Shot in the Dark) and Massimo Girotti returns to his gothic roots – albeit with a modern day Technicolor twist – in this atmospheric thriller that pays tribute to the horror classics of the ’30s and ’40s while delivering the black humor and grisly shocks of the grindhouse ’70s. star in one of the most visually haunting films of Bava’s later career, now presented in its uncut “European Version,” featuring footage not seen in the original American release.
Bay of Blood (aka Twitch of the Death Nerve) What begins as a simple giallo about greed and murder at a secluded bayside estate explodes into an odyssey of carnage that would single-handedly trigger the ‘body count’ genre of films like the Friday the 13th series. Claudine Auger (Thunderball), Luigi Pistilli (The Good, The Bad & The Ugly) and Laura Betti (Hatchet for the Honeymoon) star – along with nearly a dozen landmark gore effects – in Bava’s epic of cruelty that remains as reviled as it is acclaimed. Best known under its alternate title Twitch of the Death Nerve.
Five Dolls for an August Moon Bava’s ultra-mod 1970 murder mystery remains one of the most critically divisive and little-seen films of his career. Yet despite being a last-minute work-for-hire project, Bava imbues the derivative script with a sly streak of black humor and a steady stream of eye-popping visuals, including a va-va-voom performance by giallo goddess Edwige Fenech. Never released theatrically in America, it has since become a favorite of Bava fans worldwide. William Berger (Keoma), Ira von Fürstenberg (The Fifth Cord) and Ely Galleani (Emanuelle and the White Slave Trade) also star in this stylishly sexy whodunit, now presented in both its original Italian language and English dubbed versions.
Four Times That Night For his sole foray into the sex comedy genre, Bava delivers a swinging orgy of mod design, leering humor and late ’60s erotica. American leading man Bret HalseyReturn of the Fly) and former Miss Italy Daniela Giordano star in this Rashomon-inspired tale of a playboy and a virgin’s first date that may or may not have included rape, nymphomania, lesbianism, and groovy inflatable furniture. Long unavailable to Bava fans in America, Four Times That Night is now presented in its original Italian language version. (
Kidnapped (aka Rabid Dogs) Previously available as a separate DVD, Kidnapped (aka Rabid Dogs) has a history equal in drama and scope to its explosive narrative. The harrowing story of a botched robbery by three criminals and the aftermath – taking three hostages during their desperate getaway – Kidnapped was never finished due to a dispute with the estate of the film’s financier who died during production. Anchor Bay’s presentation of Rabid Dogs includes both Bava’s original film – now with newly created opening and end credit sequences – as well as the version known as Kidnapped featuring footage shot by producer Alfredo Leone and Mario’s son and longtime assistant Lamberto Bava.
Lisa and the Devil and House of Exorcism Following the international success of Baron Blood, Bava was given carte blanche to make the film he’d envisioned his entire career. Elke Sommer, Telly Savalas (TV’s “Kojak”), Sylva Koscina and Aida Valli (The Third Man) star in this surreal tale that unfolds as both waking dream and elliptical nightmare, a lush and disturbing meditation on love, death, identity and the machinations of evil. Despite a rave premiere at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, Bava’s beloved project would remain unsold and unseen until crudely re-edited years later into a crass grindhouse hit. Now recognized as Il Maestro’s final masterpiece, Lisa and the Devil has been fully restored and remastered from the original camera negative recently discovered in a Rome lab vault. Anchor Bay proudly presents both the original director’s cut of Lisa and the Devil, as well as the alternate version, released as House of Exorcism.
Roy Colt and Winchester Jack In perhaps the most atypical film of his career, Bava combines elements of The Good, The Bad & The Ugly and Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid for one of the first tongue-in-cheek comedies of the ‘Spaghetti Western’ genre. Brett Halsey (Four Times That Night), Charles Southwood (Fistful of Lead) and Marilù Tolo (Django, Kill) star in a tale of two good-natured outlaws, one wily Native American prostitute, and a fortune in gold that triggers the greed of ruthless gunmen, dyspeptic clergymen, and even a Sergio Leone look-alike. Teodoro Corrà (Five Dolls for an August Moon) co-stars in this little-seen charmer blending rousing action and bawdy humor with inventive visuals that remain undeniably Bava.
The single-disc Bava releases include:
Erik the Conqueror (Gli Invasori) In this long-unseen classic, Viking hordes invade Britain in an orgy of violence, vengeance and virgins. Cameron Mitchell (Knives of the Avenger) stars with Andrea Checchi (Black Sunday), George Ardisson (Hercules in the Haunted World) and the astonishingly beautiful Kesslar Twins in an epic of ferocious color and design, bursting with more chained maidens and swordfights than any other Viking movie of the time. Erik The Conqueror – also known as Fury of the Vikings and The InvadersAmerica on DVD. – has been fully restored from original European vault materials and is now presented uncut and uncensored for the first time in
The Mask of Satan (aka Black Sunday) Mario Bava’s 1960 directorial debut film The Mask of Satan introduced audiences to a new type of horror film – lyrical in imagery, terrifying in impact. Starring British actress Barbara Steele, John Richardson and veteran character actor Arturo Dominici, The Mask of Satan set a different course for gothic horror films, pulsing with stunning cinematography and landmark special effects. Anchor Bay is honored to present Bava’s uncut and uncensored international version of The Mask of Satan, featuring the original Italian score and English dubbing.
The Three Faces of Fear (aka Black Sabbath) Horror icon Boris Karloff is our guide for Bava’s 1963 trilogy of terror, taking us through three journeys into the supernatural. In “The Telephone,” a woman is terrorized by incessant phone calls that may or may not foretell greater danger. In “The Wurdalak,” based on a Leo Tolstoy story, Karloff stars with Mark Damon as the patriarch of a family of bloodthirsty ghouls. “The Drop of Water,” adapted from an Anton Chekhov short story, stars Jacqueline Pierreux as a nurse who avails herself to take a ring off the finger of a dead medium – only to realize that sometimes the dead can take it with them!
Bonus materials for The Mario Bava Collection – Volume 2 and the single-disc DVD releases:
BARON BLOOD
BAY OF BLOOD
FIVE DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON
FOUR TIMES THAT NIGHT
KIDNAPPED / RABID DOGS
LISA AND THE DEVIL / HOUSE OF EXORCISM
ROY COLT AND WINCHESTER JACK
The single-disc Mario Bava DVD releases:
ERIK THE CONQUEROR
MASK OF SATAN (BLACK SUNDAY)
THE THREE FACES OF FEAR (BLACK SABBATH)
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