RABID DOGS is an Italian thriller of the 1970s, directed by master of horror Mario Bava, and perhaps better known for the unfortunate production wranglings surrounding it than for being a top thriller in its own right. The movie's producer died, money dried up, and RABID DOGS never saw the light of day until after the director died in 1990. Since then, Bava's son Lamberto did his own version, KIDNAPPED, which was by all accounts an inferior work, and a French remake of the same name came out in 2015 which is probably better known than the original film.
Thankfully, Marc Morris and the team at Arrow have finally put together Mario Bava's original movie and released it onto a stunning Blu-ray which no doubt took a lot of blood, sweat, and painstaking work to achieve. The result is an edge-of-the-seat thriller that throws the viewer into a real-time story of crazed robbers and their hostages in exceptionally harrowing way. This low budget film is set in the interior of a car for most of the running time and yet the suspense never lets up. It's very adult, very gritty, and downbeat too; the performances of the larger-than-life characters are quite electrifying. The first twenty minutes of this film are as well directed and stylish as anything else I could mention. Elements of the movie are inspired by Wes Craven's LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, but Bava's palm-sweating style is all his own.
Thankfully, Marc Morris and the team at Arrow have finally put together Mario Bava's original movie and released it onto a stunning Blu-ray which no doubt took a lot of blood, sweat, and painstaking work to achieve. The result is an edge-of-the-seat thriller that throws the viewer into a real-time story of crazed robbers and their hostages in exceptionally harrowing way. This low budget film is set in the interior of a car for most of the running time and yet the suspense never lets up. It's very adult, very gritty, and downbeat too; the performances of the larger-than-life characters are quite electrifying. The first twenty minutes of this film are as well directed and stylish as anything else I could mention. Elements of the movie are inspired by Wes Craven's LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, but Bava's palm-sweating style is all his own.