THE FILM:
You can’t create a phenomenon. It has to happen organically. You can’t force people to flock to your film, buy millions of copies of your album, or tune in to the latest installment of your celebrated TV series. Sure, it today’s tech savvy social media world, a fad is much easier to manufacture (it’s now called “going viral”) but the effects are almost always short-lived and anticlimactic. So when a couple of kid show producers wanted to craft something new, something Barney, something Teletubbies, something The Wiggles, they decided to go big, or go home. No PBS or small market broadcast basis from which to build. No cute or cuddly toy line from which they could pull from and profit. No collection of direct to DVD titles that have parents yanking out their hair while their ADD-addled ankle biters play them over and over and over again. No, in this case, producer Kenn Viselman and director Matthew Diamond came up with the Oogieloves, a cinematic disaster guaranteed to give nightmares to those guardians who find the Backyardigans and Yo Gabba Gabba filling up their sleepless dawns.

Yes, they made a movie, and boy oh boy what a movie it is. The Oogieloves are three human sized puppets so brightly colored and simplistic in shape that zygotes would find them crude. Goobie is the brainy one. Toofie is the “totally rad” athletic one. Zoozie is the token girl. They live in Lovelyloveville in a gadget-filled playhouse ala a brain damaged Pee-wee and are friends with a talking goldfish named Ruffie, an all seeing window named Windy, and a Hoover vacuum cleaner named…wait for it…J. Edgar. While planning a birthday party for a pillow, the aforementioned appliance looses five magical balloons. Using Windy’s ability to find things, the Oogieloves head out to locate the missing favors.

In each case, they run into a proposed comical character. There’s Dottie Rounder (Cloris Leachman) who is obsessed with circles, Marvin Milkshake (Chazz Palminteri…yes, you read that right) as a diner owner who can make a refreshing ice cream beverage out of anything, Bobby Wobbly (Carey Elwes, about as tortured as he was in Saw) who loves to shake and shimmy, the diva like Rosalie Rosebud (Toni Braxton) who sings a song about having a cold, and Mr. and Mrs. Sombero – Lero (Christopher Lloyd) and Lola (Jamie Pressly) – who enjoy a bit of flamenco dancing. With their help, the Oogieloves gather their balloons, which turn out to be magical, and return to their home. There, they have a big to-do for a throw cushion.

It’s easy to see that if you were three, incapable of wholly rational thought, still developing the cognitive skills to help you “know better,” and had 80 minutes of free time between naps and your next BM, you’d be up swinging from the chandeliers to the Oogieloves noxious “interactive” idiocy. Yes, when this played in theaters (for about a minute back in the Spring of 2013), it offered ways for the already unsettled spawn in the audience to get up, get buz-eee, and bust a move. Preserved here to make Moms and Dads and StepMoms and StepDads and unfortunate baby sitters and angry adolescent siblings’ lives a living Hell, a group of CG butterflies appear on the screen commanding kids to get up and dance/sing/embarrass themselves along. When they want said sugared and hyper bratlings to simmer down and follow the story, a group animated turtles arrive to put the preschoolers back in their place. That’s about the extent of the creativity involved here. Whenever the movie needs a placeholder for the plot, call out the cartoons and get the already distracted kids up and moving.

As for the rest of the film, well, it’s hard not to hate everything about it. For instance, the joke about J. Edgar, the Hoover, requires some actual thought, which is clearly above the average member of the demo’s mental pay grade. Similarly, the arrival of Leachman, Palminteri, and Lloyd scream for a cult conceit that the movie will never achieve. Some have argued that this could be the next Rocky Horror or Eraserhead, but only if you stripped both of those manic midnight movies of anything remotely entertaining or enticing…and another thing. Was Mr. Elwes Southern drawl so offensive or bad that he had to be dubbed, or was his work so poorly captured, technically, that all of his dialogue had to be done in post It’s outrageous in its obviousness. Granted, one could imagine some kids enjoying this sprawling, spastic mess. After all, serial killers gotta get their start somewhere.

THE DVD:
While we are being a bit harsh, The Oogiloves in the Big Balloon Adventure really is nothing more than product, and the digital presentation of same shows. The extras include an interactive brain game (so easy even a dope smoking frat boy could figure it out) and an introduction to the characters, which is unnecessary since the first five minutes of the movie covers this is a solid, sledgehammer to the cranium fashion. As for the more technical elements of the release, the 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen image is sharp, colorful, and like crack for the synapses. You can audibly hear your brain cells screaming ala George C. Scott in Hardcore, “TURN IT OFF, TURN IT OFF.” It’s all cone and rod overload. The sound will drive you equally insane. The Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround mix is not what you would call immersive, but it does deliver some decent multichannel elements. But the Oogiloves dialogue and voice work is like tinfoil on your teeth while scraping your nails on a chalkboard. OUCH!

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Back in the days of exploitation, nudie cutie and gorehound filmmakers like Herschell Gordon Lewis and Barry Mahon created some of the most crazy crackpipe kiddie productions EVER. With names like The Magic Land of Mother Goose, Jimmy the Boy Wonder, The Wonderful Land of Oz, and Jack and the Beanstalk, they represented the baser, bottom feeder level of meaningless Saturday matinee fodder, until now. Each of the aforementioned is “Mrs. Falbo’s Tiny Town” compared to The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure. If you hate your offspring, buy them this junk. If you actually want your children to grow up well adjusted, socially interactive, and contributing to the civilization, avoid this electronic babysitter at all costs. If you don’t care, then Rent It, and when the world comes to a crashing end a generation from now, we’ll know who, and what to blame.

Want more Gibron Goodness Come to Bill’s TINSEL TORN REBORN Blog (Updated Frequently) and Enjoy! Click Here

On the outskirts of Austin, Texas, Ashley (Abbie Cornish) lives a limited life, working a minimum-wage job in a chain grocery store. She’s desperately trying to get enough money and resources together to get her son back from Child Services, but she’s got a bad attitude and a messy apartment filled with open cans and liquor bottles. After a particularly stressful day at work, her father (Will Patton) takes her on an impromptu trip across the border for some relaxation, but on the way back she learns his newfound cash flow comes from transporting Mexicans into the US in the back of his trailer rig. Without any other way to improve her financial situation, she recklessly offers to pick up a group of people on the other side of the river for $500 a head, but a helicopter buzzes the group, and Ashley ends up responsible for a little girl named Rosa (Maritza Santiago Hernandez), separated from her mother.

While it’s true that there are plenty of dramas about the brutal experience facing Mexican people who hope to cross the border into the US, it’s awkward how director / writer David Riker turns the emotional focus away from those people and onto Cornish, a young white woman who clearly made a hasty mistake. Admittedly, Riker’s previous feature film, La Cuidad, appears to focus entirely on Mexican characters, so maybe he was just looking for a change of pace, or he wanted to create a film that didn’t box itself in as a story about a single culture, both in terms of the subject matter and the audience (Riker draws some connections between Ashley’s corner of Austin and the Mexican city where her father lives), but it doesn’t quite sit right as the movie progresses.

Ashley is presented as a woman with an attitude problem, resentful of anyone who comes between her and her child, which she basically defines as “everyone”: the store manager who won’t give her a raise or a promotion, the woman who drops by to check out whether the living conditions in her trailer have improved, and the woman with Child Services who is taking care of the boy in the meantime are all villains in her mind, conspiring to keep them separated. Riker refuses to really pick a side; Cornish plays the role with perpetual irritation, but has lines like “find a poor person in Texas who doesn’t have these same problems,” which Riker backs up with his parallel. On one hand, few movies have the courage to follow a truly flawed, unlikable protagonist, but it doesn’t sit well with the redemption story he has in mind.

The one prominent bright spot in the film is Hernandez, who is lovely as Rosa. The introduction of a cute kid can be a cheap trump card for a movie, but Hernandez creates a pleasing matter-of-fact chemistry with Cornish that never feels overly manipulative or overwrought. Mostly, her role is to try and goad Ashley into taking responsibility, which she does well, offering the kind of blunt assessment of the facts that children plainly see, even when adults try and talk up excuses. Will Patton is fine in his small role, another character in Riker’s world who doesn’t offer traditional cinematic charm. His advice to Ashley is cold and simple, and Riker doesn’t linger on it enough for the audience to feel much sympathy.

Eventually, the film builds to some confrontations, both emotional and literal, but Riker hasn’t prepared for the moment properly. The deck against Ashley is firmly stacked, and it’s entirely possible that she doesn’t deserve any of the pleasant outcomes to the scenario. Even if she managed to bond with a little girl, she remains responsible for a number of other people and incidents, which are apparently not as important as the question of whether or not she’s learned how to grow up and be a better adult. The title of the film is The Girl, but it’s disappointing how much this ends up referring to Ashley instead of Rosa.

The DVD
A generic title and small, white fonts sort of vanish inside a cloudy gray, overly pretentious piece of artwork, making this a rare example of a poster I wish had been re-designed in some way for home video. I’m sure an alternative design would’ve just been big heads of the cast, but this cover feels like a poor summarization of what the movie’s about: the “feather” imagery is kind of irrelevant, and the girl in question is hardly noticeable at a glance. The disc comes in a cheap, non-eco DVD case, and there is no insert.

The Video and Audio
Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, this is a decent SD-DVD effort. Colors are very nicely saturated. There is some softness to the image, but it feels natural, working with the colors to create a film-like appearance, although grain is only occasionally visible. Banding is minimal; artifacting is a more significant issue, frequently popping up in the darkness. Aliasing is also obvious on the burned-in English subtitles for the Spanish-language dialogue. A Dolby Digital 5.1 track is fairly unremarkable, mostly providing ambience as background for the dialogue; there is a minimal amount of music in the movie, so there’s not much for the track to tackle. English captions for the deaf and hard of hearing (for the English-language portions) and Spanish subtitles are also provided.

The Extras
“A Filmmaker’s Journey: The Making of The Girl” (20:50) doesn’t make a great case for Riker, who talks about seeing the true conditions in Mexico for those hoping to cross. He makes a good case for a movie about “the myth of the American dream,” about those trying to get across into America, and about an American citizen who lives in America but faces the same struggle against poverty. Were The Girl more even-handed, fully illustrating the characters trying to cross, the film might’ve been more successful. An original theatrical trailer is also included.

Conclusion
Technically, The Girl is impressive. Riker paints a great backdrop of Mexican culture behind Ashley’s attempts to reunite Rosa with her mother, in a way that feels effortless and natural. Sadly, the writing lets down his skill as a director, painting himself into a corner with his protagonist that the viewer may not want to let her out of. Hernandez is wonderful, and the A/V quality is strong, but this is a rental at best, thanks Riker’s failure to find a balance between his two leads.

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The TV Series

Warning: this review contains spoilers.

It must be tough to compete against Sharknado. If anything, Universal’s DVD collection of the fourth season of the silly yet fun artifact hunting saga Warehouse 13 exists as a brick-like monument to the fickleness of the cable biz. After Warehouse‘s first three seasons proved to be a solid hit, SyFy ordered an extra helping of episodes for this 2012-13 season, bringing the total up to twenty. Bad move. The silliness and appealing cast camaraderie is still there, but mostly this season stands out for its bloat, whiplash-inducing changes in tone, and frustrating, awkward multi-episode stories. By the time this season finished its run last month, SyFy announced that Warehouse 13‘s fifth season will be its final one – a shortened six-episode arc, to wrap things up.

This season of Warehouse 13 opens with a cliffhanger of monumental proportions – the warehouse has blown up, destroying everything within! A massive bomb blast has vaporized the contents of the cavernous Warehouse 13, a storehouse for several centuries’ worth of artifacts (supernaturally possessed objects, usually connected with a historic figure or event, which have an adverse effect on whomever touches them). A crispy death is spared for Warehouse caretaker Artie Nielsen (Saul Rubinek) and his agents Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock) and Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly), however, thanks to the self-sacrificing efforts of sexy time-traveling agent H. G. Wells (Jaime Murray). Outside the warehouse, other devastating things are happening. New agent Steve Jinks (Aaron Ashmore) has been killed by artifact-wielding interloper Walter Sykes (Anthony Michael Hall). Meanwhile, the Warehouse’s intimidating yet benevolent Regent overseer, Mrs. Frederic (CCH Pounder), has dissolved into a pile of dust – with hippie-girl innkeeper Leena (Genelle Williams) and cyber-girl agent Claudia (Allison Scagliotti) looking on in horror. All of these situations gets resolved quickly (and absurdly), although Artie’s efforts to un-do the warehouse’s destruction results in him being hounded for several episodes by an evil priest named Brother Adrian (Brent Spiner). Adrian has a way of burrowing himself into Artie’s psyche – eventually causing a shocking tragedy to occur at mid-season – but he’s a paltry excuse for a villain.

Aside from the overreaching, uncharacteristically dark story arc threaded throughout this season, the Warehouse 13 episodes compiled here consists of more of the same stuff you always loved/hated – only much lazier. Perhaps the increased load of seven extra episodes took a tool on the writing staff, but it seems like they’re relying too much on the cliche-ridden aspects of the lead characters without bothering to give them much depth (only Artie gets an opportunity to stretch). Several times, Myka spouts off the most arcane of historic tidbits, as if she were a walking, talking Wikipedia (at least they’re not making her a bizarro-world karate expert as often). The frat-boyish Pete is made to appear even dumber this season, making him the Homer Simpson of the outfit. Claudia’s rapid-fire hipster witticisms are more annoying than ever, as well. The sense of fatigue carries over into the plots themselves, which mostly concern Agents A and B getting assigned to an artifact hunting mission while Agents C and D trek off on a similar trip, split evenly down the middle. There are some good episodes this season, particularly the self-contained ones which allow the cast to loosen up and have some fun (Personal Effects, Parks and Rehabilitation, and The Sky’s the Limit stand out in that regard).

Of course, there’s an elephant in the room when speaking of Warehouse 13‘s fourth season, and that’s the mid-season offing of a regular character. Normally, I’m all for surprise developments that shake up the balance of a long-running series, but this one is handled in a manner that’s both pandering and ineffective. With his brain scrambled under the influence of Brother Adrian, Artie accidentally shoots and kills Leena – who was there to help him through his psychotic episode. Artie’s subsequent guilt over the incident allows for some excellent work from Saul Rubinek, but the whole thing seemed kind of random and unnecessary. That it involved one of the few “normal” characters, one that didn’t have enough to do or much in the way of a back story, stings all the more. Adding insult to injury, the writers quickly replaced sweet Leena with a good looking yet utterly bland psychiatrist, played by actress Kelly Hu. Makes you wonder if there are any shark tanks in the warehouse to be jumped over.

On a more positive note, this particular W-13 season is packed with guest stars, mainly from actors known for other sci-fi television shows. Making return appearances are Faran Tahir, Lindsay Wagner, Rene Auberjonois, Kate Mulgrew, Roger Rees, and Jeri Ryan. Also appearing are Polly Walker (Caprica), James Marsters, and Anthony Head ( both of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as the artifact hunters’ new adversaries, along with enjoyable single-episode turns from Joel Grey, Dee Wallace, Laura Innes, Sam Huntington, Nora Zehetner, Missi Pyle, and Cherie Currie of The Runaways (as herself).

Warehouse 13: Season Four consists of the following episodes, spread over five discs:
Disc 1
4-01 ____ 23/Jul/12 ____ A New Hope
4-02 ____ 30/Jul/12 ____ An Evil Within
4-03 ____ 06/Aug/12 ____ Personal Effects
4-04 ____ 13/Aug/12 ____ There’s Always a Downside
Disc 2
4-05 ____ 20/Aug/12 ____ No Pain, No Gain
4-06 ____ 27/Aug/12 ____ Fractures
4-07 ____ 10/Sep/12 ____ Endless Wonder
4-08 ____ 17/Sep/12 ____ Second Chance
Disc 3
4-09 ____ 24/Sep/12 ____ The Ones You Love
4-10 ____ 01/Oct/12 ____ We All Fall Down
4-11 ____ 29/Apr/13 ____ The Living and the Dead
4-12 ____ 06/May/13 ____ Parks and Rehabilitation
Disc 4
4-13 ____ 13/May/13 ____ The Big Snag
4-14 ____ 20/May/13 ____ The Sky’s the Limit
4-15 ____ 03/Jun/13 ____ Instinct
4-16 ____ 10/Jun/13 ____ Runaway
Disc 5
4-17 ____ 17/Jun/13 ____ What Matters Most
4-18 ____ 24/Jun/13 ____ Lost & Found
4-19 ____ 01/Jul/13 ____ All the Time in the World
4-20 ____ 08/Jul/13 ____ The Truth Hurts

The DVDs:

Video

With twenty episodes spread out over five discs, this season of Warehouse 13 visually fares slightly better than the previous season set. The digitally shot 16×9 widescreen picture is cleanly mastered with a pristine, bright picture. The photography is typical of most made-for-cable fare, but the nicer production on this particular season lends itself to a more polished looking presentation on disc.

Audio

Like the previous season set, Warehouse 13: Season Four contains a good 5.1 Dolby Digital English soundtrack as the only audio option. It’s a clearly mixed, pleasant track with dialogue and sound effects given equal prominence. Optional English subtitles for the hearing impaired are also offered on all of the episodes.

Extras

A generous amount of extras are included on each disc here, although the goods number a little less than what was on the Season Three set. The commentaries on previous seasons have been replaced with similar, descriptive podcasts with lesser-quality audio. All of these casually done tracks have observations from executive producer Jack Kenny, who is joined on certain episodes by Scagliotti, Kelly, McClintock and an assortment of other behind-the-scenes folks. Deleted and/or Extended Scenes are offered on half the episodes here, along with the ever-amusing Gag Reel (3:44) on Disc Five. That disc also contains Grand Designs, a five-part web-only series. Strangely, the Greatest Gift holiday episode from the previous season is not included here, which is a mystery since it was already released on the European third season set. Previews on Disc One round out the bonus content.

Final Thoughts:

Is it time for the agents to hang up their purple gloves Year four of Warehouse 13 expands the SyFy series to more episodes a season (from 13 to 20), which has an exhausting effect on a show that was already struggling with getting a good balance between the goofy and the serious. The artifact hunting format leads to a few worthwhile self-contained episodes, but mostly this season is defined by how sprawling and messy it’s become. Rent It.

Matt Hinrichs is a designer, artist and sometime writer who lives in sunny (and usually too hot) Phoenix, Arizona. Among his loves are oranges, going barefoot and blonde 1930s movie comedienne Joyce Compton. Since 2000, he has been scribbling away at Pop Culture weblog Scrubbles.net. One can also follow him on Twitter @4colorcowboy.

The Series:

Adult Swim’s completely odd but enduringly popular series Superjail! is now back on DVD in its third volume. Produced by Augenblich Studios, the studio that brought us the ultra-twisted Wonder Showzen and the thoroughly enjoyable Nickelodeon Series, Yo Gabba Gabba, this is yet more of the completely unpredictable and random insanity that was spawned in the first two volumes.

The basic ‘formula’ for each episode hasn’t really changed much from the first season, but for those who haven’t seen the show, what the Hell is Superjail! all about Each episode starts off with a running gag (kind of like the first few seasons of Aqua Teen Hunger Force did) where a white trash hillbilly crook named Jackknife (Christy Karacas) commits some sort of crime only to be captured and whisked away to a massive super jail by a robot named Jailbot. Once Jackknife is in the super jail, all bets are off and the episodes don’t generally revolve around him but instead tend to focus on The Warden (David Wain), his right hand man named Jared (Teddy Cohn), and a transvestite prison guard named Alice (Christy Karacas again). There are a few other recurring characters who appear in the series, such as the German Doctor who tends to use the inmates for experiments, and two odd twins (both voiced by Richard Mahler) who have powers all their own and sort of just wander around the jail causing various problems. There are also two gay inmates, a black guy and a white guy, who, along with Jackknife, seem to somehow manage to not get killed by the end of each episode. The rest of the inmates Well, they’re more or less cannon fodder.

There’s a bit more story development this time around compared to the first season, a trend that started in the second season and which obviously continues here. That’s not a bad thing at all, if it tones down the absurdity ever so slightly it results in a little bit of continuity and gives us a bit more to latch onto in some regards. For the most part though, it’s business as usual and fans of the series likely wouldn’t have it any other way.

Superjail! Season Three includes the following episodes:

Stingstress
Superfail!
Uh-Oh, It’s Magic
Sticky Discharge
Special Needs
The Trouble With Triples
Nightshift
Oedipus Mess
Planet Radio
Burn Stoolie Burn

A few stand out episodes from this season Okay, sure. Let’s start with the opener, which takes up where the last season’s final episode left off. Lord Stingray and Mistress have taken over the prison, no co-ed, and The Warden winds up Mistress’ plaything once Stingray dumps her. This is a fine plan until The Warden shows his true colors and instantly turns her off. It’s a fun episode, kinky and chaotic and violent as the best episodes in the show tend to be. The Warden also plays a key role in Superfail. When Jerry knocks him out, he has to takeover running the prison lest it fall into complete chaos. He’s not good at it, and things go from bad to worse very quickly. In Sticky Discharge one of the prisoners, for the first time ever, is let out on parole and the staff of the prison don’t quite know what to do about all of this. In Special Needs The Warden shows his politically correct side when he tries to make the prison more hospitable to those with handicaps and then after that as he tries to set into motion new plans for the prison The Twins get some surprise visitors that once again throws a wrench into his plans. By the time Burn Stoolie Burn hits your screen, if your mind hasn’t melted well, you’ll be treated to an episode in which our friend The Warden learns a little bit about the importance of kindness.

If you’re not already a fan of the series, this isn’t the season that will change your mind. Even with the slightly more involved character development it still feels very much like the two seasons that came before it. So with that said, if you’re already a fan or new to the series and wanting to give it a shot, this should float your boat. Watching each and every episode back to back can be a chore and like most Adult Swim series, it’s best enjoyed in the short doses it’s broadcast on TV in rather than marathon style. The character design is still both disgusting and remarkably detailed, there’s loads of stuff going on in any given set up that the series has a bit more replay value than you might at first think. There’s a lot of great use of color here too, and the music is also a big part in what makes this work. The voice actors all perform with enthusiasm and at this point in the game, they have their character quirks nailed down.

The DVD:

Video:

Superjail! Season Three arrives on DVD in a series of good 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen transfers that look pretty much exactly the same as the first season episodes did – which is a good thing. The episodes look decent on this set with some noticeably strong color reproduction and black levels. There are no problems with edge enhancement or mpeg compression at all thought some very obvious aliasing and line shimmering is hard not to notice. Aside from that, this is a pretty nice effort and the series looks about as good as the animation style employed will allow. No problems with print damage, dirt or debris are evident and aliasing aside, this material looks nice.

Sound:

The English language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix on this set is quite good. Dialogue is clean and clear and there are no problems with hiss or distortion. The music and Cheeseburger’s opening theme song sound great with some very distinct electric guitar noticeable in the track. Everything is properly balanced, the levels are fine. You’ll notice some pretty channel separation in a few of the more chaotic scenes featured in each episode and some rear channel action as well. The directional effects add to the insanity of it all. Subtitles are provided in English only.

Extras:

Extras are a bit on the slim side but we get eleven minutes worth of animatics for two episodes (episodes one and seven). As well as some Rough Cuts which is basically test footage for another two episodes (episodes six and ten). Aside from that, there an Introstring highlight reel which is six minutes long and is a compilation of the ten different sequences that precede the opening credits of each episode in which Jackknife gets arrested. The disc also contains static menus and episode selection. A ‘play all’ button is also there off the main menu for those who want it.

Overall:

It’s a little short on extras compared to seasons past but the audio and video presentation are still pretty solid. As to the show, it’s chaotic and crass and crazy and all over the map, but its unpredictability keeps it fun to watch and the art and use of color is consistently wild. It won’t change your mind if you don’t already dig the show but if you’re a fan of the series consider Superjail! Volume Three recommended.

Ian lives in NYC with his wife where he writes for DVD Talk, runs Rock! Shock! Pop!. He likes NYC a lot, even if it is expensive and loud.

THE PROGRAM

Before “Creepshow,” “Three Extremes,” , the tremendously underrated “Trick ‘r’ Treat,” or “VHS” entertained audiences with an anthology presentation of horror stories, Mario Bava’s 1963 horror classic, “Black Sabbath” was offering audiences three tonally different and incredibly distinct genre shorts. Filmed in Bava’s native Italy, the film found itself edited for US audiences in 1964, moving the order of the films, dropping the very amusing and memorable introduction and conclusion by genre master Boris Karloff, and in the most egregious case of tinkering to “appease” a mass audience, editing the film’s most stylishly and narratively slick stories to remove “risqué” elements for the time. Now, Kino offers “Black Sabbath” uncut and remastered on DVD in its original Italian release format, so American audiences can finally view Mario Bava’s brilliant original vision.

The film begins with the completely supernaturally devoid “The Telephone,” the film’s most beautifully shot sequence, which follows a terrorized woman, Rosy, through her small apartment as she is continually menaced by ominous phone calls that clearly indicate to her that someone can see what she’s doing. The film’s narrative structure is completely utilitarian, allowing Bava’s camerawork to build the level of dread to a fever pitch, only to up the ante even further with a mid-segment plot development that takes an already sinister tone up a notch. Bava never rushes things and the two actresses tasked with carrying the weight of the film do a lovely job of conveying more than just raw fear. Running less than 30-minutes, the segment’s shocking ending sets the bar for the remaining films so high, that I’d almost agree with the original US release’s choice to make it the middle story, however seeing the segment uncut, the changes (focused around a lesbian relationship) are unfathomable to even comprehend and I can’t see how it worked any other way than what is presented here.

Following “The Telephone” is the film’s most sizable segment, running around 35-40 minutes in length. Leaving the posh confines of a swanky apartment behind, “The Wurdulak” sets viewers into 19th century Russia to tell what is essentially tale of a vampire. The film is far less atmospheric than “The Telephone” or the final segment, relying on a more straightforward, traditional narrative. The film mixes a familial relationship quite admirably with the general fear of the unknown, personified by the mysterious Gorcha (Boris Karloff), but the slightly longer runtime ends up offering a final product that feels lacking; slightly more judicious editing would have given us a great short, a little more narrative embellishment, could have provided a brief feature. Karloff’s performance is a huge draw, but more than that, Bava’s directorial skill and the cinematography of Ubaldo Terzano, which radiates atmosphere off the screen, giving a heightened sense of reality to the icy, dark countryside.

Last, but certainly not least is “The Drop of Water,” which stands toe-to-toe with “The Telephone” in my book for one of the best short horror tales committed to celluloid. Considering the element of the supernatural contained within “The Drop of Water,” I’d give it the edge of the straightforward suspense trappings of “The Telephone.” Splitting hairs aside though, “The Drop of Water” is an exercise in pure atmosphere, with beautiful interior cinematography and expert pacing, in a tale of a corpse, a nurse, greed, and revenge. Bava has an obviously fun time building the atmosphere and ratcheting up the suspense to a conclusion that may be obvious but is no less thrilling and ominous. Running right around 20-minutes, “The Drop of Water” is a textbook example of the genre and the short film format and sends “Black Sabbath” as a whole off on an a very high note.

THE DVD

The Video

The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is a very sound technical remastering of a now, five decade old film, with consistently above average detail levels and unfaltering balanced contrast. There is some controversy regarding the color timing and comparing this version with previous versions, I’ll say the film has a much more moody color palette. That said, on a strictly technical level, the color palette heightens the emotional state of each story and is incredibly distinct; stylish, but not terribly realistic. It may not be the intended color scheme, but it’s a technically sound one.

The Audio

The Dolby Digital Italian mono soundtrack has definite signs of age with regular, low-level crackle and minor hiss; high-end distortion is kept to a minimum, but prevalent. For a mono offering, it’s at worst, merely satisfactory. English subtitles are included.

The Extras

The only extras are a gallery of trailers for other Mario Bava films.

Final Thoughts

Controversies surrounding the new transfer aside, this release of “Black Sabbath” is a solid offering, presenting Mario Bava’s masterpiece in anthology horror to a whole new audience, proving you don’t need inane dialogue, pointless titillation, or classless gore to give people a scare. Recommended.