Macabre Visions: The Films of Mario Bava [Blu-ray]

Mario Bava is a director who I hadn't seen much of until very recently. At the time of purchase, my knowledge of his work and influence came mostly from Black Sabbath and the influenced it had on the legendary heavy metal band. After seeing that movie, I felt the need to discover more of his work and that was perfectly timed with the release of this Macabre Visions: The Films of Mario Bava box-set.Macabre Visions: The Films of Mario Bava is a stunning nine disc box-set. This delightful set contains some of the director's more popular works, loaded with suspense, beautiful cinematography and enough atmosphere to melt your mind. Each film is presented on its own separate disc, each one with a high definition 1080p transfer. The film transfers have been treated well for the most part. The results are a little hit or miss, nothing unusual for films of this age. Some look clear and sharp with lots of great tones. Others look a little beaten up and have more signs of wear. Being Italian, the films that feature their native tongue are all presented with easy to read subtitles. There are subtitles for the hard of hearing too, which some will appreciate. As a bit of a bonus, the international/alternative versions previously released back in the day are also featured here. Providing us with whatever cut takes our fancy or whatever you have grown up with over the years.The collection is housed like a lot of Arrow Video collections. The outer box features some lovely green and black art work and is made of hard cardboard. Inside the box you will find two booklets. The biggest of the two features each film presented with a synopsis and a run down of all the extras provided on the disc itself. The smaller book features a written essay for each film and some lovely poster art work. I would have preferred it if the discs were held in by something a little more sturdy than a foam stopper, but the quality seems pretty solid. It certainly looks like something that'd appeal to collector's.Personally speaking, I found the movies a bit hit or miss but I didn't find any of them particularly bad. Just not to my taste. The movie Black Sabbath still remains as one of my favourites and I particularly enjoyed the first film of the set, Black Sunday. I loved it's almost Hammer film like charm and excellent set design, cinematography etc. But with a set like this, the chances of loving each film is slim and I bet a lot of fans out there have their own personal favourites too. Even with the varying quality of the films, I still find this was an excellent way to get into the Bava's films.Macabre Visions: The Films of Mario Bava, has a lot to offer those who don't already own these films on bluray. I personally didn't want to spend £15 per film and this is a much more practical offer. Apparently these are the same discs from previous releases and I can understand if fans don't want to re-buy these discs. With all that said, the actual product looks great and is definitely one for collector's.

I had already been a fan of Mario Bava ever since I saw Danger: Diabolik over a decade ago, but up to this point, I'd still only seen a few of his films. Buying this box set seemed like a no brainer to me because I only owned Blood and Black Lace (not in this set), The Girl Who Knew Too Much, and A Bay of Blood. I had been wanting to pick up Black Sunday for a little while and went this set was announced I figured I'd roll the dice to just get them all in a nice compact case. Thankfully, I was extremely satisfied when I finished blasting through this set last weekend.This is sadly missing Bava's best two films in my mind (Danger: Diabolik still has no blu-ray release, and Blood and Black Lace does, but at least I own the fancy steelbook), but the rest of the films in this set are all fantastic. I think even the weakest one for me, Baron Blood, was still enjoyable. The rest though are varying shades of good to great.Sadly this is out of stock, so my review is meaningless, but for those who are interested in blind-buying any of these titles individually, I've broken them down by my own preference.Great:Black SundayLisa and the DevilKill, Baby... KillThe Girl Who Knew Too MuchBlack SabbathPretty great:Rabid DogsA Bay of BloodGood:Five Dolls for an August MoonBaron Blood

Love this box set. Natty little book and nice extras. Picture quality is great. A tiny bit disappointed Blood & Black Lace isn't included here but great to own nevertheless. Probably already a rarity.

The set is gorgeous and I cant speak on the Bava films as this was a blind buy. However, the terrible flimsy 1 sheet cardboard shipping box allowed the internal box to be damaged pretty bad. I'm not sure what to do here as this is already sold out and OOP. I need amazon to comment. This sucks.

An excellent opportunity to pick up Arrow's releases as they are losing the rights soon. Informative book with great art and insights.

And... of course, the best versions available worldwide of the fantastic movies from one of the best fantastic directors ever.

True, that. Or you could look at it as a chance to pick up nine of Bava's best films on a quality company's blu-rays for a good price. If you already have them, this set doesn't offer much that is worth an update, and those repetitive commentary tracks are a definite negative, though I do look forward to hearing more details about the booklet. If you don't have them, however, this is an attractive bit of consumer goods. And we are consumers, yes?

This is only a stunning must-read critique of the blurb hype that passes for reviews these days.All blu-ray releases now are "Stunning" "Must haves.""Stunning" is a neurological effect where the brain is put on hold by shock that paralyses the senses. All sleeve notes writers and reviewers using "Stunning" have put their brains on hold just so, just at the point where their brains are required to make an assessment. You are being advised by someone who is comatose."Must have" speaks to the acquisitive consumer society and its obsessive-compulsive disorder."Must have" is a dysfunctional knee-jerk directive to buy the product, as brazen and reflex as the consumer messages revealed by special sunglasses in THEY LIVE.MUST HAVE!STUNNING!Your brain has just been bypassed.