Italian horror master Mario Bava’s lost masterpiece has finally seen the light of day, but you’ll need a DVD player to see it for now. Luckily, I know a videophile so depraved, HE BOUGHT A DVD PLAYER, JUST TO WATCH THIS MOVIE! Mark, ya nut, I LOVE YA! It’s good, too. Bava had nearly completed post-production on this film when one of the backers died. All of the film was then impounded, with the editing, and even the score, nearly complete. Star, Lea Lander saved the film and saw through it’s completion. The fine folks at Video Watchdog have made it available in the US at the URL above.
The dogs start running with a 100 million lira (I think around $40 American) payroll heist gone bad as Doc, ThirtyTwo, and Blade take a woman hostage, then a man and a sick child, as they try to run from the police.
A departure for Bava, “Rabid Dogs” is has no supernatural or impressionistic elements. Most of the film is set in a car. You really wouldn’t want to smell this film as it’s full of VERY sweaty Italians and other odors later on I won’t mention. This is Spaghetti western “Last House on the Left” with a little “Treasure of the Sierra Madre” when you least expect it. According to his son, Lamberto, Bava considered this his most important film, though at his death in 1980 there was no chance it would see the light of day.
