KIDNAPPED is now in there as well. It looks like quite a set.

Book ... so big... DVDs... so many... so much Bava... can't breathe...

I'm glad I passed on buying KIDNAPPED, then. Any idea which ones will feature commentaries? Hopefully, LISA AND THE DEVIL...

Tim tells ya what he knows here.

I'm a little concerned by the lack of RABID DOGS as an explicit part of the line-up. Hopefully it's not been supplanted by the KIDNAPPED cut...

There goes my Halloween...

Why isn't HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON on either set? It was originally released by Image with the other films in the sets as part of the first wave of Bava films.

My best guess -- and it's only that -- is that Alfredo Leone didn't have viable materials to allow for a perfect remaster. As I remember, the Image disc was a composite of two prints, one hard-matted 35mm and the other cropped 16mm.

There was a beautiful re-mastered version of HATCHET released by Anchor Bay UK released about 2 years ago.

And I'd love to know where I can find a copy...

Wouldn't you though...

Xploited Cinema.

Ha! In your *face*, Mariano!! :lol:

It's considerably cheaper at HMV, assuming they can source a copy.

Ha! I saw that version listed but didn't bother to check it out because the box art made it look like just another public domain crap disk. I'm guessing the other Region 2 HFTH is the same picture transfer but the UK disc is preferrable? I already have that Bava documentary recorded off IFC.

Oh, and the second box set is part of a big Anchor Bay horror sale at Deep Discount right now, for about $30.

Looks like you will! This version also has the documentary Mario Bava: Maestro Of The Macabre as a bonus - a nice package.

Tim is promising to serially review some of the discs in the new box over at his blog. He feels the remasters "..have indeed been conspicuously improved " over previous versons, and discusses the new LISA disc. Woo! His comments about the LISA disc are actually a relief considering how his book leaves the availability of the sharp, colorful Carlos Sylva restoration up in the air. The new Anchor Bay remaster matches it, indicating that they've gone the extra distance to locate superior source materials, have worked hard in the transfer process to maximise what they have, or both.

Questions to be answerered include, I suppose, whether the BAY OF BLOOD audio has been improved, and whether FIVE DOLLS has that 'missing' scene (I forget the details but I recall it was a sideways tracking shot across some scenery) reinstated. Lovely news about LISA though and I'm very excited about the upcoming box, which in a quiet way seems set to become one of the most luxurious and bountiful Eurocult releases ever.

http://www.videowatchdog.blogspot.com/

A preview for my friends at Mobius: Based on the audio spot checks I made, the BAY audio has been considerably improved. Depending on your home audio set-up, I suppose it's possible that you might hear some very muted imperfections if you listen hard, but most of it sounds very clean. Its only in the wake of very loud noises, like bird cries or fuzz guitar stings, that I can hear the slightest afterburn of that noisy distortion that you couldn't help but hear all over the Image track. So while still not perfect, it's remarkably less distracting and more listenable. And the transfer looks dee-wish-us.

Tomorrow's WatchBlog will again address LISA because I made some wonderful, heretofore unsuspected discoveries about the movie and its surprising relationship to another Bava classic. This stuff isn't even covered in my book because I only now noticed it! :o

All sounds awesome, but are you really trying to get RHS to make goo-goo noises? You are an inveterate and shameless panderer, Mr. Lucas! ;)

Just read Tim's new blog entry and enjoyed his description of the new LISA transfer - I highly doubt the phrase 'financially successful, frog-barfing twin' will crop up anywhere else! ;)

However, I do have a follow-up question regarding the transfer: How does it look in motion? For me, AB's KILL, BABY... KILL! looked promising in frame grabs, but utterly fell apart when I actually watched it. It's obviously video-sourced, and I'll bet it's not true anamorphic either. I think it's the same flat transfer as the German disc, re-scaled for 16:9.

Obviously LISA doesn't use the same base transfer as the earlier Image disc, but does it appear to have had the benefit of a fairly direct transfer from film element to digital master?

I think so. It looked absolutely great from where I was sitting, and I'm told that more was spent on its restoration than on any other title in the set.

I've already pre-ordered the set (and ERIK THE CONQUEROR) but I'm wondering if any attempt was made to restore Sylvia Koschina's death scene digitally to LISA. I can see how it would have been difficult with a film restoration given the splice one would get to the soundtrack. Did the Carlos Sylva print have the uncut death scene?

The Sylva print did have it. That print seems to have disappeared after its screening -- probably back to France, but all knowledge of its whereabouts seem to have perished with Carlos.

I'm really not authorized or properly informed to speak for Anchor Bay/Starz or why or how they did or didn't do certain things, so I won't. But I can confirm, as I said on my blog, that the Koscina murder scene wasn't restored for this release. It can still be seen in HOUSE OF EXORCISM. When the Image disc was in production, I suggested this be done and I was told that there was something about the soundtrack that made it impossible to simply extract the material from HOUSE and insert it in LISA.

I like the sound of that! Thanks Tim, really looking forward to this set - more so than the last, even.

It's o'kay, Tim. There's always the 2nd edition to do ;)

"Listens for the sound of Tim falling backwards and hitting the floor"

On the subject, I thought this quote from Film Freak Central's recent review of BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA on Blu-Ray was noteworthy.

Beat me to it, ya bastige! ;)

So, does this mean there are complete High-Def masters of these Bava titles waiting for some undetermined launch on Blu-Ray (or whatever)? One of the reasons I decided to double-dip with the Anchor Bay box was that I figured High-Def versions didn't exist.

PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES also exists in HD -- it appears regularly on Monsters HD -- and in more complete form than the domestic MGM DVD release. It's actually intoxicating. I hope to see HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD in HD someday.

I'm not sure that many (any?) of the AB transfers could be considered "HD Ready".

For the grand most part, they're culled from the transfers used on the older Image releases, and cleaned up a bit digitally to remove egregious print damage and to stabilize the appearance of grain (which unfortunately takes away a bit of texture in the process). In some cases, additional color work looks to have been done. They were probably transferred at NTSC resolution.

The new set appears to contain some from-scratch transfers, however. Here's hoping.