List Price: $49.97You Pay Only: $25.99 You Save: $23.98 (48%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: STARZ HOME ENTERTAINMENT
EAN: 0013131485493
Format: Box set, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Label: Starz / Anchor Bay
Manufacturer: Starz / Anchor Bay
Number Of Items: 5
Publisher: Starz / Anchor Bay
Region Code: 1
Release Date: April 03, 2007
Running Time: 430 minutes
Sales Rank: 11400
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
Theatrical Release Date: May 20, 1964
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Editorial Review:
Description:
More than a quarter of a century after his death, director Mario Bava remains one of international cinema’s most controversial icons. Today his influence — marked by stunning visuals, daring sexuality and shocking violence — can still be seen in the works of Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Tim Burton, Dario Argento and countless others in a legacy that extends far beyond the horror genre. This collection brings together 5 landmark movies from the first half of Bava’s career — encompassing the original giallo, a bold Viking epic, and his three gothic horror masterpieces — featuring new transfers, original European versions, and exclusive featurettes to create the definitive celebration of one of the most important filmmakers of all time.
Amazon.com:
Five of Mario Bava's best films are included in this box set, minus his forays into eroticism, like Blood and Black Lace. Still, the lines between sexual pathos and violence blur in these selections that influenced not only other famed directors of Giallo, such as Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, but also spawned the American golden age in horror, led by directors such as John Carpenter. Three black and white films here exemplify Bava's trademark use of chiaroscuro mixed with suspense-building cinematography first developed in early horror classics like Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. In the Hitchcock-inspired Evil Eye (1963), tourist Nora Davis (Leticia Roman) witnesses a murder but can't convince police of the crime. Kill Baby Kill! (1966) is the prototype for all little girl-ghost films. Dr. Paul Eswai (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart) is recruited to solve the mystery of Villa Graps, where Baroness Graps (Giana Vivaldi) reanimates her dead daughter, Melissa, by killing innocent villagers. In Black Sunday (1960), the witch Princess Asa Vajda comes back from the dead to inhabit her look-alike, Katia, both played by Barbara Steele, the original femme fatale to which all brunette vamps, like Soledad Miranda (Vampyros Lesbos) and Elvira, are indebted.
In Technicolor, Bava's fantastically rainbow-lit films underpin the director's fascination with connections between our world and those imagined. Black Sabbath (1963) is a trilogy hosted by Boris Karloff, who also stars as a Russian vampire in its segment, 'The Wurdalak.' 'The Telephone,' and 'The Drop of Water,' in which a nurse, Helen Correy (Jacqueline Pierreux), steals a ring then fears that her dead medium patient seeks revenge, are acute studies of guilt and paranoia. The Viking saga, Knives of the Avenger (1966), like Bava's Hercules in the Haunted World, spawned several sword and sorcery films, while protagonist Rurik's (Cameron Mitchell's) knife-throwing is indeed entertaining. Screened back to back, these films provide evidence of Bava's influence in the horror genre. Moreover, they reveal Bava's deep understanding of horror's many facets, whether sexually, psychologically, or physically based. —Trinie Dalton
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Classic early Bava
This five early films show Bava developing from B&W - which he does in a really eerie way - to his first colour projects. There are some fine chills in these movies, which include a great turn from Boris Karloff.
These are psychologically intense in many places and all are well worth seeing. This is a fantastic set.
Rating: - All Those Colours of the Dark
Mario Bava is probably one of the most important and influential, yet lesser known, genre directors to come out of Italian cinema. His films combined an art house sensibility within the 'exploitation' tag they we're labeled with. As it's been noted elsewhere here, he was a master of the gothic horror film, yet his body of work included such genres as Science Fiction, Greek mythology, Viking Sword and sandal tales, Crime capers, serial murderers, anti heroes, sex farces, westerns, surrealism, and psychological tales. His real love was special effects photography, yet he was capable to delivering decent performances from actors. He started off wanting to be a painter, and yet, in spite of that disappointment and yet following in his father's footsteps, he accomplished more as a cinema photographer and director through painting with light and celluloid. One of the stunning aspects of his career was the fact he was able to accomplish more with the limited budgets of his films, then what many new directors do in Hollywood with their multi million budgets, and their unlimited resources of computer effects.
While that might seem an overstatement, considering the many visual delights one can find in the standard Bava film, even a below par films, he's the kind of director that can inspire other filmmakers with his ideas. He was a master of trick photography, especially glass mattes and the layering of images. His skills with lighting a scene, colored lighting, the use of shadows and splashes ... Read More
Rating: - Great Bava Collection
This box set contains five of Bava's films. 'Black Sunday', 'Black Sabbath' and 'Kill, Baby..kill' (along with two more) are the top notch gothic horror flicks included in this set. Each DVD is placed in its own slim keep case inside the very artistic outer box. All movies are presented in widescreen format and the transfers are pretty good. Very nicely done by Anchor Bay. This along with The Bava Box Set, Vol. 2 will get you almost the entire Bava films.
Rating: - A Great Box Set
This is a great box set. Black Sabbath and Black Sunday are two of my favorite movies. I am glad to finally own them. I watched the whole set several times already. Black Sabbath is in Italian with english subtitles. This doesn't bother me one bit. I plan on ordering the second box set as soon as possible.
Rating: - Horrors! (and other stuff)
Prior to picking up the Mario Bava Collection Volume 1, I had only seen one Bava movie, Black Sunday. Based on seeing that movie, and his reputation as an important director for horror, I decided to pick up the five movie set and was not disappointed.
Black Sunday (or as it is also known, The Mask of Satan) was originally given a three star review when I watched it a few years ago, but it gets better on reviewing. Opening with the brutal killing of a witch and her lover, the movie soon goes forward two centuries, when through a series of seeming accidents, the witch is revived and is intent on possessing her descendant and wreaking vengeance. For Bava, this was his official directorial debut, and it is an effective one: even if the writing is weak in places, it is a wonderful film to look at. In addition, it established Barbara Steele as the queen of horror, the first real female horror star.
The Girl Who Knew Too Much is a light suspense movie obviously influenced by Alfred Hitchcock. Leticia Roman plays an American tourist in Italy who thinks she witnessed a murder by the so-called Alphabet Killer. This killer struck years ago, killing three women whose surnames began with A, B and C. Since Roman's character's last name begins with D, she worries she's the next target (this seems a bit of a plot hole, as the killing she witnessed she should have thought was the "D" killing). John Saxon plays her often hapless love interest.
With Black Sabbath (a.k.a., ... Read More
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