Mario Bava dvd help!

[wizzer]

well, for one reason or another my dvd collection has disipated and evolved and i am now going through disc by disc and making a new dvdaficianado list. going through some of these horror titles i realized i owned 16 films by mario bava. 16!! i don't even know who he is. i know his son, lamberto, and i'd like to punch him in the face for making me sit through monster shark but i'd pick him back up off the ground and buy him a beer for directing Demons :)

anywho, i got this big stack of bava sr. films that i'm ready to dig into and i was hoping some people on here could help me pick from my list and give some advice on any of these titles. i already have them so it's just a matter of sorting them out.

5 Dolls for an August Moon (1970)
Baron Blood (1972)
Black Sabbath (1963)
Black Sunday (1960)
Blutige Seide - Special Limited Edition (Bound in Black Velvet) (1964)
Danger: Diabolik (1968)
Four Times That Night (1972)
Girl Who Knew Too Much, The (1963)
Hatchet for the Honeymoon (1969)
Kill Baby Kill (Full Screen) (1966)
Planet of the Vampires (Original Theatrical Score) (Restored Extended Version) - Midnite Movies (1965)
Rabid Dogs (1974)
Schock (1977)
Twitch of the Death Nerve (1971)
Vampiri, I (1956)
Whip and The Body, The - Uncut European Version (1963)

help me out. i hope this guy is a good director because it seems i'm already vested. help me out!

[Katatonia]

Mario Bava films are always a treat wizzer. Black Sabbath is my favorite from my childhood...great horror anthology. Baron Blood, Black Sunday and Twitch of the Death Nerve are also great Bava flicks. Planet of the Vampires is also great sci-fi cheese. Shock was directed somewhat by his son...it's a family film of sorts!

[speanroc]

Blutige Seide - Special Limited Edition (Bound in Black Velvet) (1964)



if this title is BLOOD AND BLACK LACE(if this is not the BBL, then u must pick it up, VCI released a nice fully loaded version) , it is one of his ,if not his best film, great giallo, and it was one of the fist giallos..... i like bava's films , he has a very unique style, great set pieces and uses of good camera angles .......

TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE(bay of blood) is probably his most poular film in it is his goriest feature, and it has great similarities to friday the 13th part 2, steve miner probably was a huge fan of the film..........

mario bava to me is like an italian alfred hitchcock(at least to me)

so enjoy my friend u got alot of catchin up to do.............

[KamuiX]

Mario is probably rolling over in his grave at how terrible Lamberto is. Such a hack...although I've HEARD he's only his son through marriage (or adoption or something), which makes it seem better. It would be a waste if Mario's blood was coursing through Lamberto's veins.

Anyways, from that, you can tell I'm a big time Mario Bava fan. He's one of the unsung horror directors of all time. I say that because a lot of people don't know him...but they know of gialli, which he basically catapulted to the spotlight and created the template for how we think of giallo films today Most people also know of body count films, which again, he sparked. Of the films you listed, here's my preference, in order from top to bottom.

Black Sunday - Classic gothic spaghetti horror
Black Sabbath - One of the best anthologies of all time
Rabid Dogs - Very realistic and dirty crime film
Twitch of the Death Nerve - Body count films begin...
Blood and Black Lace - The first gialli that has the style that shaped the genre
The Whip and the Body - Cool gothic horror with Christopher Lee
Baron Blood - Bava returns to his gothic roots
The Girl Who Knew Too Much - Nice homage to Hitchcock
I Vampiri - More great gothic horror
Hatchet for the Honeymoon - Good psycho flick
Schock - Decent final film from Bava, although Lamberto did most of the work
Danger: Diabolik - Cheesy as hell...and that's what makes it good
Planet of the Vampires - Fun drive-in fare
Four Times that Night - Decent take on Rashomon
5 Dolls for an August Moon - Interesting, but sort of a mess
Kill Baby Kill - My least favorite Bava film...but it looks good!!!

I'd HIGHLY have to recommend one Bava film you don't own..Lisa and the Devil, which is my all-time favorite Bava film, and one of my favorite horror films, period. Great surrealistic horror. Enjoy the wealth of goodness you've come across :D

[Erick H.]

Both BLACK SABBATH and BLACK SUNDAY are great.DANGER:DIABOLIK is stylish,nutty fun.RABID DOGS is a memorably nasty crime thriller and SHOCK is an effective psychological horror flick.Many of the others I saw as a kid,but I'd rather stick with discussing the ones I've seen recently.KamuiX is right in recommending LISA AND THE DEVIL,it's an odd one,but it sticks with you.

[Luna]

You're sure to like Black Sunday and Black Sabbath. What I've seen of Kill, Baby...Kill was great... creepy gothic atmosphere. Lisa and the Devil... well, I really enjoyed it and it was odd to see Telly Savalas in that kind of role after only seeing him in Kojak. I may give Lisa and the Devil a spin this week as I haven't seen it since maybe 1999 or 2000. Danger: Diabolik was featured on MST3K if that gives you an idea, but it's kinda fun, visually interesting and the music is great if nothing else. I'm not really much for "comic book" kind of action movies so you may get more out of it than I did when I last saw it some years ago. It's actually another one of those I'd consider giving a re-watch because I loved the music so much. Shock is a damn good one in my opinion, but I am always biased towards those creepy-kid movies. :evil:

I envy your list. I'd love to see all of those. :D

[wizzer]

thanks for all the help guys. i actually put in the whip and the body last night but it was too late and i fell asleep but i'm going to finish watching it right now. it was going good already and im intrigued by some sort of ghost maybe?? anyway thanks again for all and any more suggestions.

lisa and the devil is a title i know i flipped over many times in my library so i went back and looked again and it's not here any more :( oh well plenty of others to hold me off for now :)

i like the way the color looks in the film i'm watching right now. i saw part of danger diabolik on a beastie boys video and the color has the same style or feel to it.

[DeathDealer]

Mario Bava And His Films Are Badass!!!!!!!!!

[wizzer]

i finished watching the whip and the body and i think it was a really good movie.

i knew that fine bitch was crazy

i think the movie was well put together and it was a very straight forward who done it type of thing that i found real easy to take in. the colors were great (although the print could have looked better- it gives thanks to joe dante in the start credits for restoration i think) i watched the trailers for planet of the vampires and blood and black lace so i'm going to watch one of those two tonight i think.

[Coverdale]

My favorite Bava are Blood & Black Lace, Black Sunday, and Shock.

I also like Whip and The Body, but it annoys me how it's not Christopher Lee's real voice. Kill Baby Kill puts me to sleep for some reason. Black Sabbath is pretty cool, but I have to be in the mood for it. I didn't like Planet of the Vampires, though.

I agree that Mario is a much better director than Lamberto!

[Cujo108]

I'd definitely pick up Lisa and the Devil ASAP. An amazing, beautifully surreal film, and Bava's best IMO.

[Progger]

Maybe its personal, but I think that a lot of Argento's better ideas (lighting etc.) were Mario Bava inspired. I only have amassed a limited amount of his work, but Bava never lets me down with his attention to detail and style. I still have a lot of catching up to do as well. HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD (1961) is still in print in the States and has some cool usage of color.

[Paff]

I recently re-watched Baron Blood, and I still like it a lot. Possibly my favorite Bava film, which seems odd as it's not one of his "best", according to most fan-written top ten lists.

5 Dolls for an August Moon was actually kinda fun. I need to see it again, see if it holds up on repeat viewings.

The one that I qualify as a "mess" is Bay of Blood/Twitch of the Death Nerve. A lot of people compare it to Friday the 13th, and that's an accurate comparison. Of course, I find F13 films to be mindless slashers, and thats exactly what Bay o Blood is. I saw none of the Bava style in it, the narrative is a total disaster, and there's no cohesive "theme" to it. Sold it immediately after watching it, and I don't regret it for a second.

[RyanPC]

Blood and Black Lace (Blutige Siede) is my favorite of the Bava films I've seen... definitely check it out. :)

[KamuiX]

The one that I qualify as a "mess" is Bay of Blood/Twitch of the Death Nerve. A lot of people compare it to Friday the 13th, and that's an accurate comparison. Of course, I find F13 films to be mindless slashers, and thats exactly what Bay o Blood is. I saw none of the Bava style in it, the narrative is a total disaster, and there's no cohesive "theme" to it. Sold it immediately after watching it, and I don't regret it for a second.

I think it's pretty good...not the best, but awesome reguardless. It's like a horror soap opera...it's so over the top and ridiculous, it's super fun. Although you're right in the fact that it's pretty stale looking for a Bava film. So is Rabid Dogs, but in that film, it works, as the film is very gritty and dirty. That's another one I'd highly recommend checking out, just to see Bava do something totally out of his norm.