MARIO BAVA IS WIDELY ACKNOWLEDGED AS THE GODFATHER OF ITALIAN HORROR, A TRUE CINEMATIC MASTER WHO DAZZLED AUDIENCES WITH HIS VIVID VISUAL STYLE.Bava set the standard for the Italian horror genre with the classic BLACK SUNDAY (1960), a film that defined the gothic thriller. Later HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON (1969) established the template for the "stalk 'n' slash" genre.
His baroque visual style continues to educate, impress and heavily influence horror filmmakers to this day. His two most famous "pupils" are Dario Argento (SUSPIRIA) and Tim Burton (SLEEPY HOLLOW).
This collection contains four signature titles from Bava. They are presented for the first time in Australia UNCUT and in pristine new WIDESCREEN transfers.
BLACK SUNDAY (1960)
In Bava's most famous film the undead demons of hell terrorize the world in an orgy of stark horror! Atmospheric and stylish, this terrifying tale established Bava as the undisputed master of the gothic chiller and launched the career of the ultimate scream queen, BARBARA STEELE.
BLACK SABBATH (1963)
Selected by Bava as his personal favourite of all his films, BLACK SABBATH stars horror legend BORIS KARLOFF in a trilogy of terror tales that take you beyond the boundaries of the supernatural to the half-world of the living dead!
HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON (1969)
In this striking psychological horror movie, Bava offers his own reworking of the classic "Psycho" plot - a young man with a severe maternal hang-up axes women in bridal gowns to death to help erase the childhood trauma of witnessing his mother's murder.
SHOCK (1977)
Boasting nightmarishly surreal set-pieces (that were favourably compared to Polanski's REPULSION), Bava's final film stars Argento regular Daria Nicolodia as a young woman conducting a beyond-the-grave sado-masochistic relationship with her dead husband.
MARIO BAVA: MAESTRO OF MACABRE (2000)
Bava's illustrious career is explored in this 60 minute documentary that features rare film clips (including footage from "DANGER: DIABOLIK" and "PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES") and revealing interviews with Hollywood directors Tim Burton , Joe Dante and John Carpenter.
