Search - Shock on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Graphic Violence, Not For Children, Adult Language Movie Release: 1977 DVD Release: 03/21/2000 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Audio Tracks: English, French, Italian SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 32 mins Studio: Anchor Bay Members Wishing: 2 Genres: Horror, Thriller, Supernatural Horror See Also: Shock

This effective occult horror film was the final feature directed by the legendary Mario Bava. Daria Nicolodi gives her most convincing performance as Dora, who moves back into her old house with a new husband, Bruno (John Steiner), after spending time in a mental hospital. Strange things start happening, mostly involving her young son Marco (David Colin, Jr.), who seems to be possessed by the ghost of Dora's first husband Carlo, a heroin addict who committed suicide. Dora suffers from vivid hallucinations, and it soon becomes obvious that she is going completely mad, and that Bruno knows more about Carlo's death than he lets on. Bava stages the hallucination scenes with his trademark visual flair, and his son Lamberto Bava's script, co-written with Francesco Barbieri, Paola Brigenti and Dardano Sacchetti, handles Dora's shifting sense of reality with great skill and a subtlety rare for Italian horror films of the period. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Anchor Bay Entertainment has done a fine job of rescuing this lesser-known Mario Bava effort from obscurity. =Shock reissues the film under its original title (it was dubbed Beyond the Door 2 for American audiences) and lengthens the film to its original running time by restoring some scenes involving a psychiatrist that were edited from the American version. The video transfer suffers from a few minor, age-related defects to the source materials, but otherwise presents a richly detailed and often stunningly colorful anamorphic widescreen image. The mono audio lacks the directional frills of a stereo mix, but still delivers a solid soundtrack that highlights the film's prog rock-styled score nicely. This Shock DVD also offers a few nice bonuses. The first is a set of trailers consisting of two American television spots (including an amusing double-bill spot pairing it with The Dark) and a fascinatingly arty European trailer. There is also a nice video interview with Lamberto Bava, the son of the director and the film's co-writer, that features Bava discussing several aspects of the production in a consise eight-minute format. All in all, Anchor Bay's DVD of Shock is a solid bet for fans of European horror and required viewing for anyone interested in the work of Mario Bava. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide