Rabid Dogs/Kidnapped – Arrow Video (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1974
Director: Mario Bava
Writers: Alessandro Parenzo, Cesare Frugoni
Cast: Riccardo Cucciolla, Don Backy, Lea Lander, Maurice Poli, George Eastman

Release Date: October 27th, 2014
Approximate Running Times: 95 minutes 51 seconds (Rabid Dogs), 95 minutes 29 seconds (Kidnapped)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Both Versions)
Rating: 18 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono Italian (Both Versions)
Subtitles: English (Both Versions)
Region Coding: Region B/Region 2 PAL
Retail Price: OOP

"Rabid Dogs begins as $70,000 of wages are being transferred when the Ajaccio gang hit. With a hail of bullets in a quick raid they speed off in their waiting getaway car. Tough, violent and realistic, Bava s film ramps up the tension and doesn't stop as hostages are added and the film builds to its dizzying finale." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 3.5/5 (Rabid Dogs), 4/5 (Kidnapped)

A quick reference to these two versions is included with this release: "Rabid Dogs – Bava’s original version posthumously completed from his notes; and Kidnapped – the re-edited, re-dubbed, and re-scored version, supervised by Bava’s son and assistant director Lamberto Bava, and producer Alfredo Leone."

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

Disc Size: 41.6 GB

Feature: 19.4 GB (Rabid Dogs), 17.7 GB (Kidnapped)

The transfer for Kidnapped exhibits nicely saturated colors and flesh tones that look accurate, the black and contrast levels look very good, and the details look crisp. And in order to create that transfer for Rabid Dogs, standard definition source material had to be used since the original negative for these moments no longer exists. And when these inserts happen, there is a noticeable difference in quality when compared to the bulk of the transfer, which is taken from the same source that was used for the kidnapped transfer. Fortunately, the end result is a strong presentation of Mario Bava’s preferred cut of the film.

Audio: 4/5 (LPCM Mono Italian Both Versions)

Rabid Dogs and Kidnapped each come with one audio option; a LPCM mono mix in Italian and removable English subtitles have been included for both versions. Dialog always comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced. Of these two versions and their audio tracks, the audio track that accompanies Kidnapped is easily the stronger and more robust of the two audio tracks.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an alternate Semaforo Rosso opening title sequence (1 minute 32 seconds, Dolby Digital mono), an interview with director Umberto Lenzi titled Bava and Eurocrime (9 minutes, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with non-removable English subtitles), a featurette titled End of the Road: Making Rabid Dogs and Kidnapped (16 minutes 33 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian and English with non-removable English subtitles), an audio Commentary with Bava biographer and expert Tim Lucas for Rabid Dogs, reversible cover art and a 40-page booklet with cast & crew information, an essay titled Fear By Noon-light, Mario Bava’s Rabid Dogs written by Stephen Thrower, an essay about Rabid Dogs first official release titled A Young Lizard Wrestles an Old Dog written by Peter Blumenstock (Lucertola Media), the short story Man and Boy that inspired Mario Bava to make Rabid Dogs, information about the difficulty of finding usable source materials for this release titled In Search of Rabid Dogs written by Helen Mullane, information about the additional work that went into creating the subtitles that are used for this release titled A Note on the Translation and information about the transfer.

Included as part of this combo release are two DVDs. One DVD contains Rabid Dogs, the alternate opening title sequence, the Tim Lucas audio commentary, and the featurette End of the Road: Making Rabid Dogs and Kidnapped, while the other DVD contains Kidnapped and the interview with director Umberto Lenzi.

Summary:

Far too often throughout the history of cinema genre filmmakers are not held in the same high regard for those who make Art House or big budget films for the masses. And this especially the case in regards to foreign filmmakers who work outside of the art house realm. With that being said, Mario Bava one of the most underrated filmmaker in the history of cinema. He was a gifted filmmaker who worked in just about every genre. With his most notable contributions coming from the horror genre, Black Sunday, Black Sabbath and Lisa and the Devil. He is also known for being one of the forerunners of the Giallo genre (Italian thrillers) with films like The Girl Who Knew Too Much and Blood and Black Lace.

He would spend the first two decades of his career honing his craft as a cinematographer before finally being given his chance to shine as a director with Black Sunday, and from there he would work steadily throughout the rest of the 1960’s. This now brings us to the 1970's, a decade that would see two of his most remarkable films mired in production-related woes. In 1973, he would make what is reportedly his most personal film of his career, Lisa and The Devil, a film that would be held back another two years from the public and would be finally released under the moniker The House of Exorcism. That other troubled film, Rabid Dogs, would suffer a much worse fate as it would be snatched from its creators' hands in its final stages and locked away for over two decades before it would resurface again, albeit under the new title, Kidnapped, with new scenes and a new soundtrack. For this review, we will only be focusing on the merits of the version known as Rabid Dogs, since it is the version that most represents what Mario Bava was trying to achieve.

Rabid Dogs would be Mario Bava's first and only foray into the Poliziotteschi genre. And, while Rabid Dogs contains many of the tropes that have become synonymous with the genre, the opening sequence, which includes a robbery, a car chase, and the kidnapping of hostages, is particularly memorable. It is, ultimately, where Rabid Dogs goes from there that truly sets it apart from its contemporaries.

Always the innovator, Mario Bava shifts that focus away from the criminals’ apprehension. Then he spends a little more than an hour with the criminals in a cramped vehicle with hostages in the middle of a heat wave. And by confining the story in this way, it gives the viewer a chance to know who everyone is and what their motivations are. Also, this setup lends greatly to the mounting tension that Mario Bava is so masterful at creating.

From a visual standpoint, this film always surprises since there are only so many places the camera can go due to the limited space of the shooting in a car. Fortunately, Mario Bava proves once again that he is up for the task as he creates what are arguably some of his most menacing moments on film. One scene in particular springs to mind. It involves two criminals and a female hostage who has to go to the bathroom. After she tries to escape, they force her to pee in front of them and up the ante by humiliating her with leering and making rude jesters.

When discussing Rabid Dogs, one must not overlook the contribution of its score, which was composed by Stelvio Cipriani, who had previously worked with Mario Bava on Bay of Blood and Baron Blood. Stelvio Cipriani contributed many notable scores to the Poliziotteschi genre, like Emergency Squad, Colt 38 Special Squad, and the Poliziotteschi/Giallo hybrid. What Have They Done to Your Daughters? He creates another superb for Rabid Dog's that is equally evocative of his most renowned scores. side note is that when this film was released in that aforementioned alternate version, the producer made changes to the score.

Performance wise, the entire cast is exceptional in their respective roles. The two most obnoxious characters are Blade and Thirtytwo, and they are portrayed by Don Backy and George Eastman (Absurd). These are also the two characters that spend the majority of their screen time tormenting Lea Lander’s character, Maria. The ring leader of this gang of criminals is portrayed by Maurice Poli (5 Dolls for an August Moon), and the fourth criminal in this gang died on the getaway. Rounding out the cast is Riccardo Cucciolla (One on Top of the Other), in the role of a man who is forced to drive a getaway car and who is also transporting a sick child. And though this character is the one that reveals the least about himself, When all is said and done, it is his character's final moments that resonate the strongest.

Though now OOP, Arrow Video’s release of Mario Bava’s Rabid Dogs is a solid release that gives this film its best home video release to date, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer