Anyone know anything about this?

I, er, may have had a hand in it.

Are you, um, allowed to share?

The only info Amazon are giving away, is that it is a 5 disc set????? What gives?

I'll ask to see if I can give any details.

BLACK SUNDAY
THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
BLACK SABBATH
KNIVES OF THE AVENGER
FOUR TIMES THAT NIGHT

:ph43r:

I don't think that's quite right, Henrik.

I'm hoping for:

5 DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON
HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON
TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE
BARON BLOOD
LISA AND THE DEVIL

...if there's really only 5.

TWITCH's audio corrected, the other 4 anamorphic this time, and all with Maximum Tim™.

Well, that's what it says here, Tim: www.dvdaficionado.com

Scroll down to the sixth title, "The Mario Bava Collection Vol. 1." Anchor Bay. Release date April 3.

What it should be:

Vol. 1

BLACK SUNDAY
BLACK SABBATH
THE WHIP AND THE BODY
SIX WOMEN FOR THE MURDERER
KILL, BABY... KILL!

Vol. 2

HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON
FIVE DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON
BAY OF BLOOD
BARON BLOOD
LISA AND THE DEVIL

Me, hiccup, too!

Just going off Henrik's listing, I would have assumed they would have stuck one of the needs-improvement titles in the first box (i.e a 16x9 LISA or an improved TWITCH), the same way that MGM have scattered the best Connery Bonds across all their recent box collections. I do remember a later HATCHET disc had a better transfer than the old Image one though... It's probably pointless to pick the selection apart until the actual contents are fully confirmed though, and it's tough to argue with the Amazon pre-order price, which almost makes this a 5 for 1 deal.

Richard and Tim, after a late-night bad pizza, do you guys ever have white-knuckle nightmares about being tied down and forced to create commentaries and liners for MONSTER DOG, FRANKENSTEIN 80 and GRAVEYARD DISTURBANCE?

Do VCI no longer have the rights to BLOOD AND BLACK LACE? How will KBK compare to Dark Sky's release?

Well, for one, it won't have my awesome box copy! ;)

What about ERIK THE CONQUEROR?

I happened to be visiting a couple friends over at Anchor Bay today (it's amazing how many people are there now that I have never met..and its only been 1 1/2 years since I left) and I saw the final Bava Set artwork...which is looking awesome BTW.

Anyway, the five titles are...

BLACK SUNDAY
BLACK SABBATH
THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
KNIVES OF THE AVENGER
KILL BABY KILL

Also a separate release of KIDNAPPED will be released as well (with RABID DOGS on there as well).

I sure do remember seeing Tim Lucas' name on the packaging alot...is he like into Bava or something?

As long as the cat is out of the bag to that extent, I might as well detail my involvement in these releases before someone else does.

You can expect new commentaries by me for THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, BLACK SABBATH and RABID DOGS. My commentary for BLACK SUNDAY is being carried over from the OOP Image disc. I'll also be recording others for Volume 2.

I'm sold.

Wait. I'm confused. Do we have dueling KILL BABY KILL's now, like the ZOMBI 2 decision from a couple of years back? Or is Anchor Bay working with Dark Sky by including KILL BABY KILL in this set?

I was wondering about that, too.

Yes, there will be two different KBK releases. I was invited to contribute a commentary to the Dark Sky release before Anchor Bay could give me any kind of confirmation about whether they would be releasing their own disc of the title, so I accepted the offer -- with the understanding of my friends at ABE. It would have been nice, I agree, to have everything with one label, but this time it wasn't possible -- and besides, I admire the work both labels have done.

My involvement with the Dark Sky disc shouldn't be taken as a sign that I prefered one transfer over another; I have no idea how the two transfers will compare even at this time. I can tell you, however, that the Dark Sky disc looks as good as any I've seen (see my blog today for grabs) and their featurette of Lamberto Bava revisiting the KBK locations is fabulous -- one of the best Bava extras yet. I know nothing about extras on the ABE disc, if any.

I heard there's going to be a word scramble.

Thanks for the info, Tim. Those grabs look great. I'll definitely be picking up the Dark Sky release of KILL BABY KILL. Judging from those grabs and the fact that it's got Tim's commentary, this is the one to get. It's a no-brainer.

This makes Anchor Bay's Bava set (Vol 1, at least) a bit of a dilemma. I already have BLACK SUNDAY and BLACK SABBATH, so it's not like I really NEED to pick them up again. But I'm sure---oh yeah, wait for it, no one's brought it up yet---BLACK SABBATH's gonna have the English track with Karloff's voice, isn't it?

This double-dipping NEVER ends!

I hope AB is still plannng to release ERIK THE CONQUEROR. Good news about Tim's new audio commentaries, and I would hope to have a commentary for ERIK as well.

Whoa... is this confirmed about the BLACK SABBATH audio? That's major news.

I am utterly in love with those screengrabs for KILL BABY KILL. The first one should make a wonderfully twisted wallpaper. The Dark Sky sounds like a home run and a must buy. I was going to do a "wait for high-def" hold-off on the Box Set, much like with the recent Bond boxes. But some of this news gives me pause. Tim gives good commentary.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Not confirmed!

That was just me bitching about how I know I'm gonna end up buying this thing and getting two KILL BABY KILL's in the process.

Once again, not confirmed. I have no idea what the audio situation will be. I'm a nobody in this equation.

But, uh.......I think we can assume ?

I wonder if the AB version will be the print Alfredo Leone had where the titles appear over the still shot of the gate spikes (as seen on the Japanese disc).

Are the non-anamorphic Image Bava titles going to be redone for the second set?

As for BLACK SABBATH'S English audio, isn't this one of the AIP Bava titles that are in some sort of legal limbo? If it was available, they'd have to include two versions on the disc or recut the audio track to match the Italian version which was edited differently by AIP (different Karloff introductions, different story order).

Hopefully, there will be a featurette discussing the differences between THE TELEPHONE in both versions.

I imagine that AB will make these available separately, as well. Getting their KILL BABY KILL would depend on how different it is from Dark Sky's release, which I'm sold on.

I wonder if BLACK SUNDAY is any different from the Image release in the way of extras. Maybe that small scene that's only present in the Italian could be included in a separate section?

At the end of the long, convoluted road that KILL BABY KILL has taken to reach DVD in a properly restored manner (in the Year of Bava) I'm left with feelings of deja vu, as a post I wrote onetime on the old, old, old Mobius (or was it Tim's original TV Guide forum?) was titled "Are Elite, Image and VCI all releasing KILL BABY KILL on DVD?". Now the disc is finally here (with Tim's book about to land around the same time), and this time Anchor Bay and MPI are doubling up on it. It just makes a 16x9 KILL BABY KILL that more emphatic a presence in Region 1, I guess (which is a good thing), and I don't have a problem in doubling up. Amazon's pre-order price for Anchor Bay's initial Bava box is close to a no-brainer, even though I have three of those films on DVD already.

All we need is for someone in the world to take care of FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET (and maybe for Warner to stop teasing and do THE DEVILS) and I can probably sit down and have a good rest.

I'd sure love a music-only track on GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH.

Tim, has the RSS feed for your blog disappeared?

I was surprised to see the above post – and your other January posts – because I subscribe to the blog's RSS feed and it hasn't been updated since the New Year's Day Parade post. I thought you'd decided to give blogging a rest for a while; happy to learn I was wrong!

If the GIRL disc doesn't receive a music-only track, VW has the soundtrack CD.

Embarrisingly, I've never actually seen a Bava movie. That is, I've never seen one he's directed. So I shall definitely buy this box as an introduction.

Doesn't have the theme song, though.

I've never seen the AIP version. How does the Les Baxter score compare?

Yes. Some people were abusing it, using it to repost my entire blogs on their own websites (without credit or copyright), so damn straight I shut down the RSS feed. It's very easy to bookmark the page and revisit.

In my own defense, I can only say that posting twice weekly on my own blog was a lot harder than I anticipated.

Yep. I remember when I was telling the story on my blog about how I recorded that Kill Baby Kill commentary and how excited I am about my upcoming Bava book. I occasionally even like to share the occasional anecdote about my wife Donna... Oh, good times.

I mean, but seriously... I've linked your blog (among many others) plenty of times, but I don't really understand this behavior. That's a shame.

I'm SO glad this is getting released, because the only one of these I have on DVD is KILL BABY KILL from the old VCI Bava Box, which of course I have no problems with (severely) upgrading...

What would make this box beyond perfection is if the AIP cut of BLACK SABBATH were included...

According to Tim's blog, we can now do a lot more than assume. The box set BLACK SABBATH will have both versions, Italian and English. I'm iffy about most of the other titles in the set, as I already own decent versions of a few and want to keep down the double dipping. But having a decent version of the AIP Vurdulak with Karloff's voice is worth it, to say nothing of new commentaries from Tim.

I must confess that the only ones I've seen are DANGER: DIABOLIK (on the big screen a couple of times at least) and FIVE DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON. Oh yeah, and I own the soundtrack CD to PLANET OF VAMPIRES.

So, Bava experts... would this box set serve as a good introduction to his work?