| The Mario Bava Collection, Volume 1 (Black Sunday / Black Sabbath / The Girl Who Knew Too Much / Kill Baby Kill / Knives of the Avenger) | 
 enlarge | Director: Mario Bava
Actors: Leticia Roman, John Saxon, Valentina Cortese, Titti Tomaino, Luigi Bonos
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
Category: DVD
List Price: $49.97
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New (40) Used (13) Collectible (1) from $18.65
Avg. Customer Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 12656
Format: Box Set, Color, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Languages: Italian (Original Language), English (Published)
Rating: Unrated
Number Of Items: 5
Running Time: 430
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.6 x 1.7
MPN: DV14854
UPC: 013131485493
EAN: 0013131485493
ASIN: B000MV8ABI
Theatrical Release Date: May 20, 1964
Release Date: April 3, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW AND FACTORY SEALED
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Product Description
Black SundayA vengeful witch and her fiendish servant return from the grave and begin a bloody campaign to possess the body of the witch's beautiful look-alike descendant. Only the girl's brother and a handsome doctor stand in her way.Black SabbathA trio of atmospheric horror tales about: A woman terrorized in her apartment by phone calls from an escaped prisoner from her past; a Russian count in the early 1800s who stumbles upon a family in the countryside trying to destroy a particularly vicious line of vampires; and a 1900-era nurse who makes a fateful decision while preparing the corpse of one of her patients - an elderly medium who died during a seance.Coltelli del vendicatore I After the apparent death of her husband King Arald a viking peasant woman named Karin takes her son Moki into hiding from Aghen King Arald's enemy. But a mysterous stranger named Rurik begins acting as Karin's guardian which evetually leads to a brutal showdown between Rurik and Aghen.Kill Baby KillDr. Eswai is called by Inspector Kruger to a small village to perform an autopsy on a woman who has died under suspicious circumstances. Despite help from Ruth the village witch Kruger is killed and it is revealed that the dead woman as well as other villagers have been killed by the ghost of Melissa a young girl who fed by the hatred of her grieving mother Baroness Graps exacts her revenge on them. Dr. Eswai along with Monica a local nurse are lured into a fateful confrontation at the Villa Graps.The Evil EyeNora is a young tourist traveling through Rome which takes a sudden turn when she witnesses a murder by a serial killer that the police have sought for years for the so-called Alphabet Killings and Nora soon finds herself in way-over-her-head trouble when the police want her cooperation to catch the killer while the mystery killer soon targets her for his next victim.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR UPC: 013131485493 Manufacturer No: DV14854
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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 All Those Colours of the Dark August 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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 of light, has been imitated by others, yet many other filmmakers just haven't had the same panache. All of the films included in this first Bava box set, demonstrate all of the above points. "Black Sunday" and "Black Sabbath" have remained his two most celebrated and praised films, and for good reason, but I'd like to comment about other three lesser known films in this set.
"The Girl Who Knew Too Much", (1962) which was released in the states under the title "The Evil Eye", the Italian title being "La Ragazza Che Sapeva Troppo", has been noted as the first giallo, is the biggest surprise of the set and a real gem of a film, although it might simply play as quaint to contemporary eyes. It was Bava's final film in Black and White and yet it demonstrates what mastery he had of even that medium. The charming Leticia Roman stars as a visiting American tourist, while staying with her aunt and after a red herring at an airport involving tainted cigarettes, meets John Saxon, a doctor who is treating the sickly aunt. That night the aunt dies of a heart attack that Nora witnesses, under distress, she flees the apartment for the streets of Italy, after being attacked by a purse snatcher, she believes she witnesses the murder of a woman. She convinces Marcello (Saxon) to help her investigate the 'alphabet murders', Valentina Cortese plays a woman who may or may not be the sorted protagonist of this cat and mouse game. While the film is a satire on a Hitchcock thriller, it remains an innovative and fun film. Ironically, and of interest, it was released in 1963 in the States at the height of the Cuban Missle Crisis, and was his biggest commercial disappointment.
"Knives of the Avenger", (1966) going under the Italian title of "I Coltelli Del Veniccatore", is a lesser film. Bava was probably a director for hire on this project. It manages to be a fairly interesting Viking sword and sandal take on "Shane". Cameron Mitchell stars as Helmut, a drifter who was a ruler named Rurik, a man who was shunned by his people, and gave up his title to roam the earth, until he finds atonement. The main part of the story involves Karin and her son Moki, the wife and child of a rival king believed to be dead. Argon, who has taken over the kingdom through treachery, wishes to marry Karin at any cost, leaving the woman and the boy to remain in hiding until her husband, Arold, can return. Of course Helmut is intertwined with all of these characters and protects the mother and son. For a Bava film, the relationship between Helmut and Moki is touching. While there are some good action sequences, this film is far more introspective than you'd expect. Visually, it's a beautiful looking film.
"Kill, Baby...Kill" (1966), which is known under it's Italian title "Operazione Paura", is another exceptional gothic inspired ghost tale. Martin Scorsese used this film as an inspiration for some sequences of "The Last Temptation of Christ". A remote village is tormented by the ghost of a little girl who is driving people to kill themselves. Giacomo Rossi-Stuart is a coroner brought in under the advise of an inspector to uncover the mystery. Erica Blanc assists and may be the key to this whole matter. Some very surreal and innovative photography can be found in this film. Max Lawerence's role as Burgomaster Karl is strange yet effective, and Giana Vivaldi as Baronness Graps is memorable.
The flagship of this set is "Black Sunday (The Mask of Satan)" / "La Maschera Del Demonio" (1960), has probably been the most critically praised and, in some respects, over-analyzed film of Bava's career. It does live up to its hype of a masterpiece of Gothic horror. Bava's use of black and white photography is masterful. There's a real sense of bleak decay in every frame of celluloid. After a famous opening sequence where the witch princess Asa, and her Warlock brother Javutich are impaled with Masks, two centuries pass where two travelers, Professor Kruveian and Dr. Gorobec unwittingly break open the crypt of Asa, triggering her resurrection as an all powerful Vampire. After Asa calls back Javutich from the dead, Kruveian and Gorobec (John Richardson) are pulled into the castle of the doomed Vaida family, the decedents of Asa. Princess Katia seems to be the identical decedent of Asa and a romance develops between her (Barbara Steele) and Gorobec, in the midst of a day and night of supernatural murder and mayhem. This film took the Hammer films of the 50s to the next level with it's images of perverse sexuality and sadistic horror. Simply put, essential viewing. Arturio Dominici's Javutich is probably one of the most memorable henchmen to appear in horror, and Steele's Asa has become iconic. This is the English dub version of the film
After Bava followed up with "Hercules in the Haunted World" and "Erik The Conqueror" (1961), as well as the "The Girl", Bava returned to gothic horror in 1963 with an even more effective anthology, "Black Sabbath (The Three Faces of Fear)" / "I Tre Volti Della Paura". Film anthologies are hard to pull off, usually it requires a unified vision to make it work, for example, George Romero's "Creepshow", yet Bava manages another masterful job with three tales. "The Telephone" about a woman who is stalked by a caller at her home who threatens to kill her, "The Wurdalak", a tale of a doomed family fated to Vampirism and Mark Damon's character who is lured into this family, as well as "The Drop Of Water" about a nurse who is stalked by the ghost of a dead medium,.her former employer. Boris Karloff anchors this film as well as plays the Vampire in "Wurdalak" and it's considered one of his best performances. Fair warning, this isn't the AIP English print of the film, but the superior Italian language version.
The DVD's of "Black Sunday, Black Sabbath, The Girl Who Knew Too Much" includes a generous portion of extras. Excellent Audio commentaries from Tim Lucas, a good ratio of film and TV spot trailers, Bava biographies and biographies of other cast members, a retrospective of Mark Damon's work is included with the "Black Sabbath" set, as well as a very informative interview that's included in "The Girl Who Knew Too Much" DVD of John Saxon's experiences of working on that film. As far as their aspects ratios are concerned, the widescreen formats of these discs range from 1:66:1, 1:77:1, to 2:35:1. All will fit into the widescreen format's of 16x9 screens with ease. My only complaint is the absence of substancial credits for "Knives of The Avenger", it's fairly apparent they were added in post for the prints of "Knives" as well as "Kill, Baby...Kill", yet the quality of all of the prints are excellent, great color saturation, and a richness to the prints that shows an improvement from the Image DVD additions.
Highly recommended collection.
Great Bava Collection June 28, 2008
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.
A Great Box Set February 7, 2008
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.
Horrors! (and other stuff) November 10, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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., The Three Faces of Fear), we get another horror movie, in this case, one of the best horror anthologies I've ever seen. The Telephone is a short story about a (possible) call girl terrorized by phone calls threatening her death by dawn. Although the source of the caller is revealed in the middle of the story, there is still a twist or two left. This first story is actually the weakest of the three, but even it is good.
The second story (and the longest) is The Wurdalak, a vampire story with Boris Karloff (who also bookends the movie with a brief introduction and epilogue) as the family patriarch who may also be a wurdulak (a type of vampire). Mark Damon is a nobleman who encounters the family and gets entangled with their problems. Genuinely creepy, this story also seems to show the influence of Roger Corman, both with the use of Corman veterans Damon and Karloff and the look of Corman's Poe movies. The final story is also really creepy: in The Drop of Water, a nurse steals a ring from a dead woman and is soon being haunted by increasingly strange events. Is it all in her mind or is something supernatural going on? Only at the very end is an answer provided.
The boxed set version of Black Sabbath is the superior Italian version. The other version, described in the commentary, is not as good, with the stories in a different order and some editing that weakens the stories (particularly The Telephone). The only plus to the American version is some additional Karloff material introducing the individual stories. As a side note, this movie inspired the name of the famous music band.
The fourth film is the one real clunker in the set, Knives of the Avenger, a sort of Viking-Western hybrid with B-movie (at best) actor Cameron Mitchell as a Shane-like warrior who comes to a village seeking revenge against a bandit leader. Although it sometimes looks nice, there is little of the Bava touch in this forgettable film.
The final film is another horror film, Kill, Baby...Kill. It is a ghost story involving the specter of a strange little girl who somehow is killing people. A doctor called into the haunted village to assist in the investigation of some murders learns that something more sinister is going on, defying his disbelief in the supernatural. As with the other Bava horror films, the okay story is enhanced by the nice look of the film.
While Knives of the Avenger is just a one-star film, the others are all four or better, with Black Sabbath the best in the bunch. With three commentaries (on the first three films) and some other extras, this is a five-star set. If you're a horror fan, this is well worth adding to your collection.
Almost perfect but for one fatal flaw August 11, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I would have bought this set, being a fan of Bava and particularly of these films, but without Karloff's voice in Black Sabbath I personally consider it not worth having. I already have the version with the Italian actor's voice and it DOESN'T WORK. Sorry, Bava and Euro/Iti film fans, but the edited American Version is superior to the original for this reason alone (the other drawbacks are relatively negligable). Why else use Karloff if you don't get the full actor? The Italians never shot synch sound, anyway, so even the original Italian version is dubbed! Dubbing is NOT the issue - in fact, it's a non issue. In fact, due to the Italians use of non-synch, I think most Iti films shot this way often work better dubbed into the native language of the viewer, except where a fairly recognizable actor/voice is concerned, so learn that damn lesson and do things my way now!
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