A Mario Bava Moment.....

   Recently while watching the Anchor Bay DVD of  Mario Bava's Black Sabbath (I Tre Volti Della Paura/The Three Faces of Fear 1963), I paused the DVD at this point and just studied this shot in awe for a few minutes (a movie that I have probably seen at least a dozen times in the past). The housekeeper approaches the front door of the dead medium's house to let in the the nurse.

   Here was a relatively low budget Italian horror movie co-financed by A.I.P for the American drive-in market and horror double-bills. In this shot that lasts less then a minute Mario Bava creates this wonderful world. The high ceiling, ornate woodwork, scuttling cats, the set dressing and of course his lighting, this time purple & green.
  Some exciting blu-ray news is that Arrow is bringing out Mario Bava's Black Sunday, Black Sabbath and Baron Blood in deluxe packaging  They will contain the original Italian versions, but as a bonus they will have the American A.I.P. versions (that haven't been out since those old HBO laser discs).  The Black Sunday package will also contain I Vampiri (1956), the first Italian sound horror film which was directed by Riccardo Freda and Mario Bava.

One of my favorite movie posters of all time. The Spanish one sheet for I Tre Volti Della Paura.