Like Rabid Dogs (Years of Lead: Five Classic Italian Crime Thrillers 1973–1977) – Arrow Video (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1976
Director: Mario Imperoli
Writers: Mario Imperoli, Piero Regnoli
Cast: Piero Santi, Annarita Grapputo, Paola Senatore, Cesare Barro, Luis La Torre, Gloria Piedimonte, Mario Farese, Silvia Spinozzi, Mario Novelli, Anna Curti

Release Date: June 21st, 2021 (UK), June 22nd, 2021 (USA)
Approximate Running Time: 97 Minutes 45 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: 18 (UK), NR (USA)
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Italian
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region A,B
Retail Price: £59.99 (UK), $99.95 (USA)

"random acts of violence committed by vicious young sociopaths threaten the fragile fabric of respectable society." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "The HD master was created and supplied by Rewind."

Like Rabid Dogs comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 46 GB

Feature Arrow: 23.3 GB

Feature Camera Obscura: 30.5 GB

Though Arrow Video gave No, the Case is Happily Resolved it’s own disc. The other four films in the Years of Lead: Five Classic Italian Crime Thrillers 1973–1977 box set are two films on a disc. Arrow Video pairs Like Rabid Dogs with Savage Three.

For this release Arrow Video uses the same master used for Camera Obscura’s Blu-ray. That source is in excellent shape and Arrow Video’s encoding looks solid.

Audio: 4/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in Italian and included with this release are removable English subtitles. The audio is in great shape, dialog comes through clearly and everything sounds balanced. This audio track is on par with the Italian language track that Camera Obscura used for their Blu-ray release.

Extras:

Extras for Like Rabid Dogs include reversible cover art for Savage Three, a poster gallery for Like Rabid Dogs, two tracks from Like Rabid Dogs score (6 minutes 1 seconds), a trailer for Like Rabid Dogs (3 minutes 49 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Italian with English subtitles), an archival interview with assistant director Claudio Bernabei titled It's Not a Time for Tears (32 minutes 55 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with English subtitles) and an archival interview with cinematographer Romano Albani and film historian Fabio Melelli titled When a Murderer Dies (51 minutes 57  seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with English subtitles).

Like Rabid Dogs is part of Years of Lead: Five Classic Italian Crime Thrillers 1973–1977 a box set released by Arrow Video. The other films in this box set are No, the Case is Happily Resolved, Savage Three, Colt 38 Special Squad and Highway Racer. This box set comes with a sixty-page booklet that comes with cast & crew information for each film, an essay titled Don’t Trust The Man: No, the Case is Happily Resolved and Italian Genre Cinema Written by Troy Howarth, an essay titled Animal Instinct: Savage Three and the Ideology of Violence written by Michael Mackenzie, an essay titled Fighting Fire with a Colt 38: Law and Order in Colt 38 Special Squad written by Rachael Nisbet, an essay titled Like Rabid Dogs: Class, Privilege, and Sadeian Women written by Kat Ellinger, an essay titled The Car’s the Star: Highway Racer, Tribute Elegy and a Whole Lot of Burning Rubber written by James Oliver and information about the transfers.

Extras from Camera Obscura’s Blu-ray release not carried over for Arrow Video’s Blu-ray release include a photo gallery, an audio commentary with film historians Christian Kessler and Marcus Stiglegger (in German with English subtitles) and a sixteen-page booklet with an essay titled A Muzzle for Rabid Dogs written by Kai Naumann. This essay is presented in dual text, English and German.

Summary:

Content wise, this film owes as much to House on the Edge of the Park, as it does to widely popular in Italy at the time Poliziotteschi genre. And according to the excellent audio commentary that comes with this release, there was a real life crime that both films clearly draw inspiration from. Also though this film feature a law enforcement character in a prominent role. His investigation takes a back and at times almost feels like an afterthought as the three delinquents manage to stay a few steps ahead of him. And when his moment to shine finally arrives things take a very bad turn that provides for one of the most unusual, albeit entertaining finales.

From its openings moments it is crystal clear that the three delinquents are the main attraction and the narrative focus is always on the sadistic acts of cruelty which always lead to murder. With that being said, though they stay their actions remain the focus, the film only glosses over their back-story and their motivations are not as forefront as they are in other similar themed films. Fortunately the acts which they partake in are so heinous that this lack of back-story is not as fatal as it could have been. Needless to say these are not mere random acts of youthful indiscretion.

Another area where this film often excels is how it unflinchingly explores social classism and in the case of the three delinquents, who all come from wealthy families. How this allows them to get away with things that someone of lower class system get locked up for and without hesitation. This social divide is further accentuated by  diversifying who's victimized by the three delinquents. A few of the victims include a prostitute, a wealthy Gay couple and one of the delinquents own father are just a few of those who they target.

From a production stand point there is not a single area where this film is lacking. The visuals are consistently strong and they lend themselves effortlessly to the capturing a in the moment vibe that runs throughout this film.

A few of the more striking moments include the death of the first victim who the delinquents toy with for a few minutes before calming her down only to shoot her point-blank in the back of the head. The other moment is a scene where the three delinquents invade a home and out of nowhere one of them appears in blackface! This latter scene also serves as the moment that their world is final shattered.

Pacing is never an issue as things are always moving along briskly from one shocking moment to the next. Also the moments involving carnage are all well executed and spread out just far enough for greatest impact.

Performance wise the entire are more than adequate in their respective roles. With this film’s stand out performance coming from Cesare Barro (Deported Women of the SS Special Section) in the role of Tony Ardenghi, the ring leader of the trio of delinquents. He gives a brooding performance that is utterly convincing. Another performance of note includes Annarita Grapputo (Hallucination Strip) in the role of Silvia. And though her character is the only female member in this trio of delinquent psychopaths. When it comes to cruelty and bloodletting, she more than holds her own and then some.

Though four of the five films included as part of Years of Lead: Five Classic Italian Crime Thrillers 1973–1977 have already had solid English friendly Blu-ray releases. This collection from Arrow Video is a solid release that gives anyone who missed out of Camera Obscura’s releases a chance to get them in a very affordable collection, highly recommended.

Note: The top screenshots are Arrow Video and the bottom screenshots are Camera Obscura.

Written by Michael Den Boer