Rabid Dogs (1974) User Reviews

A harrowing, exceptionally directed thriller

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 5 April 2017]

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.

brutal outing from the master

[christopher-underwood · 8/10 · 14 May 2007]

Far better than I remember from a viewing a few years back, this is a taught and most assured thriller from Bava. What it lacks in colour and theatricality from a lot of his work it certainly makes up for in down right dirty gritty realistic nastiness. These ruthless robbers are quite clearly capable of anything and we never for a moment doubt the sincerity of their various threats of violence and worse. For most of the film the action is confined within a car and with these mixed and varied characters, becoming more desperate all the time, the tension is considerable. George Eastman is at his most manic and some of the close-ups of him and his immediate sidekick are really scary. Riccardo, beautifully underplayed, in contrast to the rest, is hijacked in his car and together with a sick child and a woman hostage are forced to endure a remarkable journey, incredibly well paced. Full of surprises, but nasty all the time, this brutal outing from the master is well worth seeing.

Brava, Bava

[Bezenby · 7/10 · 5 December 2018]

There's a long troubled history behind this one, about how it wasn't released until 1996 due to legal problems with the financiers and such like, but the saddest thing is how the world let Mario Bava slip through its fingers as a master filmmaker. How could Alfredo Breschia make five films in 1979, yet Bava had to fire his cinematographer just so he could afford to make this film?

Let's get to the film: Four nasty armed gunmen violently rob a firm of it's wages and during the getaway their driver is killed and car immobilised. After a stand-off with the police that results in a woman being stabbed in the neck, our three remaining bad guys grab another woman for a hostage and in a hurry jump into a car containing a sick child and his father. Get used to the inside of this car because about two thirds of the film takes place in it.

We also get to know our bad guys a bit more. There's the calm, intelligent Doc (Maurice Poli), the not-calm, violent Blade, and the really not-calm psycho and potential rapist Thirty-Two (George Eastman). They want to get out of town avoiding all roadblocks, whereas the man just wants them to leave him and the kid alone. The woman, understandably, is terrified, especially of Thirty-Two and his not-too-subtle sexual innuendo.

You can't write much about a plot like this without spoiling stuff, but needless to say its a horrific road trip full of anger and tension. Don't expect Bava's colour schemes here though, because he plays things one hundred percent legit, letting the sweaty actors scream at each other to keep the mood anxious and unpredictable. The tone is relentlessly nasty throughout. Riccardo Cuicolla is as good as he was in The Case Is Closed: Forget About It, and a good choice to play the man who just wants to protect the sick child he has with him.

This is Bava mind you, so don't think thing play out the way you think they will. After this he only made the creepy Shock, and I've read that film was mostly completed by his son Lamberto. With the right money and recognition, what else could the man have achieved?

A Car-Jacking Tour de Force

[joeydoa · 10/10 · 9 July 2005]

In only the first half hour, Rabid Dogs has more tension and psychological insight into the criminal mind than all of Reservoir Dogs making Tarrantino look like an amateur. Even Scorese has admitted the influence of Bava, this movie has Mean Streets starting to look pale in comparison. The master cinematography, confined setting, brilliant camera angles, and editing brings to mind some of Orson Welles best laid out scenes. This all presides over a backdrop of overwhelming despair abundant in nihilism which begs yet another comparison to another admitted admirer, David Lynch, who looks like a student to the teacher - the breadth of brechtian super realism truly achieves it peak, of which an entire generation of filmmakers have aspired to, including Fellini - all of whom had never had the chance to see the film until the late nineties. The movie crashes through the fourth wall and the viewer becomes a passenger in this unfortunate circumstance. The film is a tribute to the genius of Mario Bava and in a way the culmination of all his talent and influence neatly compacted into a ninety minute film school. One of the finest crime dramas ever made. The intricate dialog which illustrates a pure hatred of life and total lack of respect of all that is good - even makes one start to question if Coppola missed the boat with the Godfather a little bit in making his characters a little too heroic and romantic, rather than the base individuals they are supposed to portray. One comes from this film with a horror of the criminal rather than a wish to emulate. In this real time robbery, murder and car-jacking, Bava takes us to the precipice, the edge of reason and finally beyond all semblance of humanity.

Remarkable film-making- Bava's darkest, most nihilistic film

[Super_Fu_Manchu · 10/10 · 2 September 2005]

Rabid Dogs is a heist film from director Mario Bava (Black Sabbath, Hatchet For The Honeymoon, Diabolik). It tells the story of a dangerous gang of criminals - Doc, Blade and Thirtytwo, who hijack a car in the aftermath of a heist to find themselves with three hostages: a woman, a child, and an innocent man. Much of the drama plays out within the claustrophobic setting of the car as its heads out of the city. The attention is focused on the child, who is sick and requires a hospital, as well as the tension within the gang, and the sexual abuse which one of the gang members subjects his female hostage to. It's truly a roller-coaster of a thriller- a pulpy little crime tale that deserves the attention of modern crime/horror audiences and critical acclaim.

The film exhibits Bava's skill for cinema aesthetics, with its stylized editing and artifice. His skill for pacing results in a thriller which keeps the audience on its toes throughout. The moral ambiguity of all of the characters that inhabit his world creates a story that continually catches us off guard, shocking us with lashing of visceral violence and nihilistic cruelty. Surprises too come from the remarkably modern vibe; from the Tarantino-esquire dialogue and graveyard wit, to the blacker than black final twist. These postmodern touches place Bava firmly ahead of his time- as if further proof was needed after his horror masterpieces Black Sabbath, The Mask Of The Demon and Bay Of Blood.

Until recently, Rabid Dogs was thought to be a 'lost film', likely to have been destroyed or damaged beyond repair. Luckily, actress Lea Lander who starred in the picture, raised the money to restore the print 20 years later, based upon Bava's written notes and work print. The film also has the addition of one newly shot opening, which was nicely done, and filmed in accordance with Bava's specifications. What results is the closest product to Bava's complete vision that cineastes have been able to see. The film was briefly available on DVD, but went out of print quickly. It is now available as a copy (with menus and a limited supply of extras) from eBay and various websites.

It's highly recommended for fans of Bava's work, as it shows us a darker side of his art in a new genre. Fans of edgy cinema everywhere will certainly enjoy this film, particularly those who enjoyed films such as The Hitcher, Reservoir Dogs, Hitch-Hike and The Taking Of Pelham 123. Bava is to my mind a cinematic genius- his controversially dark approach, his skill and confidence with the camera and his stylish aesthetic compensating for his film's lack of superficial 'Hollywood' sheen or budget.

A Realistic and Gritty Crime flick

[eibon04 · 24 February 2000]

Cani Arrabiati/Rabid Dogs is a terrific crime drama from the usually horror film-minded Mario Bava. This movie shows why he has been admired by directors around the world for many before and after his death. It is well done because of it's closed atmosphere that entrap the main characters of the story. Rabid Dogs gives an indication that he could succeed outside the horror genre. It's different from his other films because he goes for realism instead of fanstasy.

A couple of things it does have in common with some of his other feature films is it deals with the themes of human nature, greed, and the sheding of the skin to reveal the true self of the person. This film is more closer to Dog Day Afternoon(1974), then The Last House on the Left(1971) when it comes to story. Until recently, this film was lost to the public due to be unfinished for over twentie years. Rabid Dogs could be consider a companion piece to his film A Bay of Blood(the first slasher flick) in that they share some of the same themes and philosophies. It would be one of the last films Mario Bava would direct(the next two would be Shock(1977), and a made for TV movie) before his death at age 66 in 1980.

A different side to Bava

[BandSAboutMovies · 7/10 · 27 January 2018]

Lisa and the Devil was shelved after a negative reception at the Cannes Market. A Bay of Blood was a box office disappointment. So Mario Bava decided to do something unlike any of his other films - developing a "poliziotteschi" film.

According to Roberto Curti's Italian Crime Filmography, 1968-1980, poliziotteschi films "generally featured graphic and brutal violence, organized crime, car chases, vigilantism, heists, gunfights, and corruption up to the highest levels. The protagonists were generally tough working class loners, willing to act outside a corrupt or overly bureaucratic system."

Bava filmed the entire film in chronological order, but the shoot was filled with issues. Original star Al Lettieri (The Getaway) was replaced after three days, mostly for showing up drunk. The replacement, Riccardo Cucciolla, spoke no English and had to read his lines from a script hidden inside the car (so Wikipedia says, but my copy is n Italian, so I have no idea why this was an issue).

Additionally, Bava's son Lamberto, who was the assistant director on the film, has claimed that producer Roberto Loyola bounced all of the checks to the crew, who still finished the film within three weeks. All that remained were some cutaways and a pre-credit sequence, but Loyola went bankrupt and the film was lost in the courts.

There are numerous versions of this movie that were released in the mid 1990's. For the interests of this article, we'll focus on the Anchor Bay release of Kidnapped that was assembled by Alfredo Leone and Lamberto Bava.

After four crooks rob an armored truck, their getaway car is damaged and one of them is killed. The three that remain - Doc, Blade and Thirty-Two (George Eastman! Do I really need to tell you how much I love every movie this guy is in? Our site is literally his entire IMDB catalog, with movies like Stage Fright, Blastfighter, Hands of Steel, 1990: The Bronx Warriors, Warriors of the Wasteland and more) - run into an underground garage, kill a woman and kidnap another named Maria (Lea Lander, Blood and Black Lace). They then steal another car driven by Riccardo (Cucciolla), who is trying to get a sickly child to a hospital before its too late.

The criminals force the man to drive them to their hideout. The film grows incredibly tense as Maria is on the verge of mania as she's kept under gunpoint the entire way. Somehow, Ricardo remains calm. The heat is on, meaning that both the cops are on their tail and that the city is in the middle of summer. Doc forces the windows up on the car, keeping the nerves inside high.

Maria tries to escape after asking to be allowed to relieve herself outside, which leads to Blade and Thirty-Two capturing her and forcing her to do the act in front of them. It's due to dogs, wandering the streets and barking, that she is caught (someday I have to do an IMDB list of movies that have dogs randomly wandering the streets).

These are base, horrible men who only know evil acts. After stopping for food and drink, Thirty-Two becomes drunk and attempts to rape Maria, an action that causes other motorists to notice the car. Doc replies by shooting his partner in the neck. The criminal lives, but now cannot move and is even more trapped than everyone else in the car.

The car stops to refill at a small town gas station, where the owner won't even wait on them until his lunch is up. Doc tries to threaten him, but the old man has a gun at the ready. Blade finally resolves the situation by showing the sick boy inside the car and the old man decides to get back to work. However, a hitchhiker shows up and asks for a ride. As she gets in the car, the old man sees Thirty-Two's bloody body, but he simply shrugs. It's not any of his business.

The hitchhiker will not shut up, annoying everyone. When she removes the blanket and reveals Thirty-Two, Blade killing her feels like a relief. Doc asks Riccardo to pull over and they dump the body. And Blade carries out his friend Thirty-Two's body and finally puts him out of his misery by shooting him.

Finally, they reach the group's hideout, where Doc has another car and the papers that will allow he and Blade to leave the country. Then he reveals that he planned to kill Riccardo, the child and Maria. Riccardo begs for the boy to live, but Doc refuses and asks him to get him from the car. As Riccardo holds the boy, he pulls the gun he had inside the blanket all along, killing Doc and Blade, whose machine gun burst kills Maria. He takes Doc's car and money, then leaves, only to reveal that he had been a kidnapper all along, holding the child for ransom. And the boy? Now he's inside the trunk.

While this film has none of Bava's trademark magic camerawork, it's still taunt and well made. For example, in the scene where Doc shoots Thirty-Two, Bava uses tight close-ups of Doc and Riccardo's faces, as well as the gun that Doc holds, then cuts to black as the car enters a tunnel. In that moment of no light or color at all on the screen - such a contrast to the dynamic hues we expect from the master - we simply hear the report of the gun being fired, stopping Thirty-Two's rape of Maria. As we return to reality, Blade deals with his rage against Doc by screaming at his friend, only to discover that he is still alive. The flashbacks are relayed to us via voiceover instead of some dramatic camera move. Again - out of character, but this proves that Bava was not all special effects and tricks. He is filming the story as it should be filmed. The action inside the car is claustrophobic. And it had to have been even more so as it was filmed, as there's real background zooming past behind the actors, so the camera was inside the car.

Also, this is a movie where you notice the acting so much more than in other Bava work. He takes a backseat to the true sense of dread and terror that his actors tell with their performances. I know that I'm a big Eastman fan, but he's great in this film, a gigantic man child devoted to the id, barely restrained by the adult in the car, Doc.

Following this film, Bava would only work on one more film, 1977's Shock. He would also do special effects work and uncredited direction on Dario Argento's Inferno before his death in 1980.

One of Bava's Best

[EdgarST · 9/10 · 23 April 2017]

I often say that «La maschera del demonio» (Black Sunday) is my favorite film. If I make an inventory of what I remember that I have seen in 66 years, it would probably be ousted by something else, but it was definitely the movie that made the first big impact on my mind. So excuse me, but I will first make a brief summary about its director. Mario Bava was extremely skilled at narrative, visual and budget economy. A master of cinematography, he saved more than one film by directing additional scenes of unfinished projects under the orders of Riccardo Freda, Raoul Walsh, Sergio Leone, Jacques Tourneur and others, for which --as a "prize"-- he was given the opportunity to direct the first film of his own. The result was the classic Italian horror film «La maschera del demonio» in 1960. Thirteen years later, after directing more classics («The Three Faces of Fear», «The Whip and the Body», «Diabolik») and cult movies («Hercules at the Center of the Earth», «The Girl Who Knew Too Much», «Terror in Space») and contributing to the emergence of the "giallo" genre («6 Women for the Murderer», «The Red Sign of Madness», «5 Dolls for an August Moon») that influenced the careers of his son Lamberto, Dario Argento and Quentin Tarantino, Bava went into decline and in 1973 set out to win again his place with this motion picture in which he would demonstrate that he was able to adjust to the times and make an effective police film, following the scheme of a road movie, according to the story "Man and Boy" by Michael J. Carroll. Unfortunately Bava faced great obstacles. The budget was so low that he also had to assume the cinematography, its producer went bankrupt and the courts seized the footage. When Bava died in 1980, the film was still incomplete and was not released until March 1996, at the Brussels Festival of Fantasy Films, thanks to the effort made by actress Lea Lander, Lamberto Bava and producer Alfredo Leone. I did not expect much, but believe me, what a good movie this is! As it has been written, it is a true journey to hell: a tense, cruel, violent, disturbing, repellent, virulent story of a brutal robbery in which the savage assailants take for hostages a man with a car, his sick son who needs urgent medical attention and a woman who went shopping. The number of dead and the humiliation of the hostages increase as the films advances guided by the firm hand of Bava, who introduces humor in the midst of the terror (in the character played by Maria Fabbri, for example), until he leads us to a surprise ending. Riccardo Cucciolla (Sacco in "Sacco e Vanzetti") is very good as the father, calm, explosive at times, unpredictable. There are at least six versions of the film, but certainly the best is the one close to the original screenplay, also known as «Semaforo rosso». Mind you, do not let anyone ruin the end. This is without question one of Mario Bava best films.

The Lost Film of Mario Bava

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 19 February 2013]

Following a bungled robbery, three violent criminals take a young woman, a middle-aged man, and a child hostage and force them to drive them outside Rome to help them make a clean getaway.

According to Bava's son Lamberto, Mario apparently considered the film his most important work, presumably because it showed he could "compete" with the other police thrillers out there. Unfortunately, of course, Mario never lived to see the film succeed or fail. Which is a shame, because this definitely ranks among his better projects.

Bava scholar Tim Lucas wrote, "Rabid Dogs is to Bava's career what Detour (1945) is to the filmography of Edgar G. Ulmer, a minimalist noir masterpiece that shows how much drama he was capable of conjuring on screen with little or no means." This is sort of unfair. While comparing those two films is legitimate, I would like to think that Bava's career as a whole had more high points than Ulmer's.

A masterwork of violence, irony and vulgarity.

[Billy Edwards · 9/10 · 18 March 2001]

The master of Italian Horror, Mario Bava, makes a heist film that is equal parts violent, ironic and vulgar, most of which takes place in the claustrophobic atmosphere of a small car. Three robbers shot their way out of a police blockade by taking a woman hostage. They soon hijack a small automobile with a man and a sick child. Tension builds as power plays amid the crooks and escape attempts by the hostages lead to a violent conclusion which is both unexpected and ironic. Ranks with Dog Day Afternoon and Reservoir Dogs as a unique and disturbing heist film, with several scenes designed to make you squirm. A must for fans of both Bava and the genre.

A cheesy but enthralling thriller

[PeterLormeReviews · 7/10 · 27 December 2016]

Rabid Dogs, or Cani arrabbiati, (1974) is a cheesy but enthralling thriller. While it may not stand the test of time due to how unintentionally funny it can be, this film has some of the best pacing I have ever seen. There is not a single boring moment in the entirety of its runtime. Everything is consistently being pushed in one singular motion, with no signs of ever stopping. As goofy as this may sound, Italian is somehow the perfect language for this film to be set in. There's just something so entertaining about Italian men frustratingly yelling at each other. The acting is also quite believable, and after a while, it didn't even feel like they were even acting in the first place. Like I previously mentioned, the biggest flaw in this entire movie is how dated it feels. The tension is still high, but it is extremely over-the-top. Nevertheless, 'Rabid Dogs' is still an exhilarating watch.

A Masterpiece of Tension and Suspense

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 10 July 2009]

After the heist of the payment of the employees of a chemical industry where the treasurer and a security guard are murdered, the driver of the runaway car of the criminals Dottore (Maurice Poli), Bisturi (Don Backy) and Trentadue (Luigi Montefiori) is shot and a bullet hits the gas tank. The car runs out of gas and the trio is forced to run to the parking lot of a mall where they kill one woman and kidnap her friend Maria (Lea Lander) and use her car to escape from the police. They are chased by the police but they carjack the car of the middle-aged Riccardo (Riccardo Cucciolla), who is driving his unconscious ill son to the hospital for an emergency surgery. They force the calm RIccardo to drive them out of the city using secondary roads to escape from the blocks in the highway. During the trip, the tension increases but Riccardo and Dottore manage to control the situation until an unexpected conclusion.

"Rabid Dogs" is a masterpiece of tension and suspense by Mario Bava. The immediate association that I made was with the famous Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" that is visibly inspired in this movie, but less realistic and tense. This is the first time that I have seen "Rabid Dogs" and the dialogs and situations are still very impressive; imagine thirty-five years ago the impact of this movie. The claustrophobic location inside a car where most of this feature was shot transmits the horror of Maria with the cruelty and sadism of Bisturi (that means scalpel and not blade) and Trentadue. The final twist is totally unexpected but makes a perfect sense to the plot. Now I intend to see the restored version "Kidnapped" also available on the DVD. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Cães Raivosos" ("Rabid Dogs")

Note: on 19 June 2020 I saw this film again.

Italian director Mario Bava conducts a serious study of three psychopathic criminals beyond cure in 'Mad Dogs'.

[FilmCriticLalitRao · 6/10 · 2 November 2015]

Italian director Mario Bava's cult classic 'Cani Arrabbiati' is a study of criminal minds in closed spaces. 'Mad Dogs' was considered to be lost but due to its leading lady Lea Lander's efforts, its glory has been restored enabling fans of horror and exploitation cinema to discover a lost classic. Director Bava shows the wickedness of criminals in closed spaces where they tend to be more vicious as there is no possibility for them to vent their anger through any outlet. As a heist film with utter disregard for human life, highest limits of cruelty are reached in 'Mad Dogs' when two criminals deliberately choose to unleash a fury of sexual violence against the lone woman occupant of a moving car. It is with bawdy jokes and sickening violence that ruthless criminals are able to subdue a weak woman. The film also raises a lot of questions about the inadequacy of police forces in Italy as three hoodlums are shown to have taken the entire city to ransom. Although the film boasts of a solid beginning and a fairly decent middle part, its ending was a huge disappointment as the 'dénouement' didn't match at all with what was being shown to viewers. In 'Rabid Dogs', something is fishy with the way the film progresses can be guessed immediately after the beginning of the film if an observant viewer chooses to watch with attention how the driver seemed to be utterly lost in his own preoccupations. Lastly, one must wait till the end of the film to find how the end as well as the beginning of this film were closely related.

Horrific

[kenjha · 2/10 · 16 June 2013]

Robbers take three civilians hostage as they make their getaway via a long cross-country drive. Bava is regarded as one of the masters of Italian cinema, particularly when it comes to horror films. He supposedly is admired by Quentin Tarantino, and the influence can be seen in some of the latter's films. Unfortunately, it's these influential moments featuring repugnant violence that mar Tarantino's films. The problem with this film is not just the violence; it's inept in every way. The acting is dreadful. The camera work is annoying. The dialog is pedestrian. The characters are so one-dimensional that there are cartoon characters with more depth. The plot twist in the end is interesting, but not enough to save this turkey.

if only

[HEFILM · 10/10 · 30 November 2005]

If only this film had been finished at the time it was made it certainly would have been a success and allowed Director Bava to make more films in his final years than he was able to. But shaky funding left this in vaults for years. My 10 review applies not to the version that was edited by his son more recently. This version changes a key moment near the end of the film that in effect changes and cheapens the whole film. This is Mario Bava doing a Reservoir Dogs type of film and doing extremely well. Provocative, powerful, a text book example of how with a limited budget you can make something great. It's a nasty film told at a breathless pace and some things in it are still shocking. See the RABID DOGS version if you can. A real eye opening film for fans of Bava who think they know all he could do. Really tragic this is still hard to find but seek it out, especially Film Noir fans will enjoy this.

A gritty, realistic masterpiece.

[libertyvalance · 26 April 2001]

It is ironic that Mario Bava, master of Italian fantasy, should make a gritty, realistic thriller as his last film. Gone are the atmospheric lighting that made films as Lisa and the Devil and Kill, Baby, Kill! so unforgettable. The claustrophobic scenes in the getaway car are expertly handled. The increasing hysteria of the gangsters and the anxiety and despair of the kidnapped woman are, in true Italian fashion, slightly over the top. It works, though. Bava never loses his grip on the situation and one is kept on tenterhooks throughout. This, then, is classic 70's low budget filmmaking and it is a shame we had to wait for more than 20 years to finally see it. Rabid Dogs is up there with Edgar G. Ulmer's Detour and Ida Lupîno's The Hitch-Hiker as one of the best examples of this exciting subgenre.

Tense, under-appreciated work from Mario Bava

[tomgillespie2002 · 7/10 · 14 January 2015]

Although his best-known work lies within the horror and giallo genre (leading to the nickname 'maestro of the macabre'), one of Mario Bava's finest works, Rabid Dogs, rests firmly in the poliziotteschi, or Eurocrime, sub-genre. Shelved for decades after the death of the film's main investor, it resurfaced in 1998 and was eventually re- edited and re-scored by Bava's son Lamberto (director of the sub- standard Demons (1985) and Demons 2 (1986)), and re-titled as the vastly inferior version Kidnapped. Bava's original vision remains the best, and it's a shame he didn't get to dabble more in the genre before his retirement, as Rabid Dogs is a thrilling exercise in tension.

Starting with a robbery of an armoured truck that leads to the fatal stabbing of one innocent, three criminals escape by car after one of their own is shot dead by police. They arrive at an underground car park, where they stab a woman to death and take her friend Maria (Lea Lander) as hostage. On foot, they hijack a car stopped at a red light driven by the middle-aged Riccardo (Riccardo Cucciolla), and urge him to get them out of the city as fast and possible. The problem is that the police have set up road blocks and have every available officer searching for the gang. Riccardo also has his ailing infant son with him and the gang caught him on his way to take the child to the hospital.

Some of Bava's familiar touches are here, such as the black gloves and the stylistic flair, but Rabid Dogs has more in common with Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs (1971) that any of his own work. Throughout it's 90-plus minute running time, the film is relentlessly tense, exploding occasionally with acts of graphic violence and sexual threats. The most level-headed of the gang, Dottore (Maurice Poli), tries to keep his men in line, but Bisturi (Don Backy) and Thirty- Two (the enormous cult favourite George Eastman) have rape and violence on their mind, making Maria's life in the back seat a living hell. Backy and Eastman are both excellent in their roles. Although the climactic twist seems a little contrived, I didn't see it coming, and Rabid Dogs is certainly one of Bava's best, and most under-appreciated, works. Just don't see Kidnapped first.

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Bava's grittier side

[bensonmum2 · 8/10 · 16 February 2006]

I have now seen all but a couple of Mario Bava's films. I've always enjoyed the way Bava seemed to reinvent himself with each movie. But Rabid Dogs represents even more of a departure from the norm for Bava. It's more akin to something Sam Peckinpah might have made than it is to such seemingly varied films as the Gothic nightmare of Black Sunday or the Technicolor dream of Hercules in the Haunted World or the campy fun of Danger Diabolik. Rabid Dogs is gritty and brutal and rarely lets up on the tension. The story involves three small-time robbers/killers who think that with their latest job they've hit the big time. During their escape, they pick up a frightened woman who will become the target of their abuse and an older man with a very sick child. Together, these six people will go on a nihilistic journey with only death waiting at the end. The confined set (90% of Rabid Dogs takes place inside a car) adds immensely to the psychological tension and physical threat these three desperate men represent. There is no place for the captives to go to escape the overbearing fear they face. Bava films this small space with some remarkable camera angels that build on the hot, claustrophobic feel of the movie. Gone are the colored gels and dream-like lighting Bava seemed so fond of in his earlier movies. Instead, Rabid Dogs is filmed in such a realistic manner that you can almost feel the sweat, grim, and dirt that comes from being trapped in such small space. Finally, even though I was able to predict the movie's outcome in some detail, it's quite shocking to watch as the final twist unfolds.

If you're a Bava fan, Rabid Dogs may not be the kind of movie to which you're accustomed to seeing, but it's one that shouldn't be passed-up.

Are you gonna bark all day, rabid doggy, or are you gonna bite?

[Jonny_Numb · 7/10 · 6 April 2008]

One of the macabre fascinations of the "survival horror" genre is to see how far filmmakers will push the moral and ethical sensibilities of the viewer--contrasted against movies where some otherworldly monster is the main adversary (thus clearly defining the bounds of "good" and "evil"), something like "Last House on the Left" is more prone to pushing our buttons because the perpetrators are as flesh-and-blood as any human being. "Rabid Dogs" (aka "Kidnapped") falls nicely into this tradition, and could be the finest variation on the formula next to Wes Craven's landmark. As directed by Mario Bava, the film is a visually stunning and uncomfortably claustrophobic tale of three criminals who commit an early-morning robbery and take three hostages (a female pedestrian, and the father of a sick child) and embark on a road trip wrought with sleaze and violence. While most renowned for his period horror films, Bava brings his own sense of visual flair to the proceedings (note how he films the deserted "farm" like a Gothic castle), contrasting panoramic shots of open, seemingly empty highways and countrysides with invasive, cramped close-ups of the criminals and hostages (in a way, we begin to also feel like captives in a hot car). Bava is surprisingly fearless in his portrayal of amorality, but the script actually develops both victim and victimized beyond the usual genre predictability--by the time we reach the film's closing twist, "Rabid Dogs" has made a stinging indictment against the greed and violence of the modern world, wrapped up in an unapologetically nihilistic package. It's a good, hard-hitting genre piece that may just make you think a little.

Shocking and sadistic - Bava at his best!

[The_Void · 9/10 · 25 August 2006]

Rabid Dogs represents the only directorial teaming of the great Mario Bava and his son Lamberto, and it also represents a huge diamond in both directors' filmography. Mario Bava is probably most famous for his work on Gothic horror masterpieces such as Black Sabbath and Black Sunday, while Lamberto Bava made his name with trashy Giallo's such as A Blade in the Dark, and schlock horror the likes of Devilfish. Rabid Dogs, however, is a crime come exploitation flick, and even though this sort of film isn't either man's forte; it's still hands down one of the best movies of its kind. The film works principally because of the way the director's set up the situation and characters. The central plot is really rather thin, but anyone describing the film as 'deep' wouldn't be wrong, and it's down to the way the directors embellish it. The plot follows three criminals who, after botching a robbery, kidnap a woman, a man and his sick child hostage in the man's car, where they instruct him to drive them to safety. However, it's not going to be a smooth ride as tensions heat up between the guilty and innocent inside the car.

The way that the characters are set up is masterful, and it's thanks to this that the film works so well. After a while, we begin to be able to see the sorts of decisions that the characters are going to make, and the way that they're all so different ensures the action is always interesting. The vast majority of this movie is set inside a car, and Bava makes best use of his claustrophobic location and uses it well in order to rack up the tension. While Mario Bava is responsible for some of Italy's best horror films, it has to be said that a lot of them aren't all that 'nasty' - but here there is an exception. The director seems to delight in the shocking violence and ritual humiliation inflicted upon his lead characters, and several tense scenes are likely to shock and disturb the viewer. Even though the film doesn't have a lot of variation between its scenes, Bava manages to keep it interesting through the relentless pace and the intelligent dialogue between the lead characters. It all boils down to a superb ending, which while not entirely impossible to guess, does succeed in providing a nice shock. I had a rather difficult time tracking down this film - but it really was worth it, and I recommend every Bava fan do the same!

Saved by the end

[runamokprods · 7/10 · 29 November 2011]

Note; the US Anchor Bay DVD has two alternate cuts, one finished by Bava's son, called 'Kidnapped'. But almost all Bava fans and professional critics prefer the rougher edged, less polished original ;'Rabid Dogs', so that's what I watched.

It's a film that is saved by the rare truly successful twist ending, that changes everything you thought you saw. The acting is less than great, and the film has a definite misogynistic tone (although everyone in it is pretty awful on the humanity scale).

On the other hand, there's effectively high tension, as 3 murderous robbers take two innocent people and a baby hostage. Especially impressive that it never gets talky or visually dull, despite taking place almost entirely inside a car.

But the over-acting and clunky dubbing (and writing) really hurt. Then the end came and I was suddenly ready to forgive a lot.

Breathtaking Bava!

[Witchfinder-General-666 · 10/10 · 24 June 2008]

The great Mario Bava is mainly known as the supreme master of Gothic Horror Tales as well as the inventor of the Giallo. With the two aforementioned sub-genres being my favorites in the Horror genre, it is not surprising that Bava ranks among my favorite directors ever in motion picture history. Out of all Horror directors, Bava is arguably the one responsible for the most masterpieces - the man simply directed so many ingenious films that it is hard to pick out favorites. If I had to choose a favorite, it would be "La Maschera Del Demonio" aka. "Black Sunday" (1960), but there are various other flawless masterpieces in this brilliant man's repertoire that no Horror fan, no, no lover of film in general, could possibly consider missing, such as "Blood And Black Lace", "Kill Baby... Kill", "Black Sabbath", "The Girl Who Knew Too Much", "The Whip And The Body, or "A Bay Of Blood", just to name a few. Or this ingenious film. Even when dabbling outside of his most familiar Horror genre, Mario Bava outshines the rest, as "Cani Arrabbiati" proves. Bava obviously was in for something different with "Cani Arrabbiati" aka "Rabid Dogs" of 1974, and the outcome was an incomparably breathtaking mixture of stunning Crime/Heist flick and sadistic thriller. Even though violent crime flicks were immensely popular (and many of them immensely brilliant) in Italy of the mid 70s, "Rabid Dogs" is somewhat unique. Without exaggeration, the film, which runs by several aka. titles, such as "Semaforo Rosso", "Wild Dogs" and "Kidnapped" must be one of the most uncompromising, breathtaking and purely adrenaline-driven masterpieces ever brought to screen. Sadly, this ingenious film remained unreleased to the public for over 20 years. Due to the producer's bankruptcy, the completed film was withheld by courts until it was finally released in the late 90s, years after Bava's death.

After a robbery, three criminals, their leader being a cold thinker called The Doctor (Maurice Poli), the other two sadistic psychopaths named Thirtytwo (none other than exploitation-cult-actor Greorge Eastman) and Balde (Don Backy), brutally murder a woman and take another woman hostage, in order to escape from the police. In order to obtain a new car they also kidnap a man named Riccardo (Riccardo Cucciolla), and the sick child that he was about to bring to hospital... I am not going to give away more, but I can assure that the film is absolutely stunning. The tension and constantly menacing atmosphere never pauses for even a minute, and, at times the film gets quite shockingly sadistic. While Bava's goriest film is doubtlessly "A Bay Of Blood", this "Cani Arrabbiati" is easily his most disturbing one. All three of the gangsters are despicable characters, but while the leader is merely interested in getting away, Blade and especially Thirtytwo are mainly psychopathic. The acting performances are entirely great. Riccardo Cucciolla is excellent in the lead (if one can call it that, as the film is mainly set in a car, and all the characters have almost equal screen time). All three gangsters are brilliantly displayed as despicable as possibly imaginable. Maurice Poli, who plays the leader, had already worked with Bava in "5 Dolls For An August Moon" as well as in a small role in "Baron Blood". George Eastman enjoys a deserved cult status for starring in and co-writing various exploitation classics (most memorably Joe D'Amato's gruesome "Antropophagus" and the equally shocking follow-up "Absurd"), "Cani Arrabiati" is arguably the greatest film he was ever involved in. Don Backy is equally sadistic as the knife-specialist Blade, and Lea Leander is just great as the female hostage Maria. Leander does an outstanding job with her very realistic portrayal of the fear and distress of a hostage. The camera-work is ingenious, and Stelvio Cipriani's brilliant score holds the tense atmosphere up for every second.

I could go on praising "Cani Arrabbiati" for a long time, but I will just finish with the statement that it is a true must-see for everyone even remotely interested in 70s genre-cinema. This masterpiece was lost for many years, and while it is unfortunate that it never got released in Mario Bava's lifetime, it is more than great that it is available now. This may not be a typical example for Mario Bava's great repertoire, but it ranges among his most brilliant films. A true must! 10/10

Cheesy at times, but great tension

[gbill-74877 · 7/10 · 7 August 2022]

I admire just how tight the story Mario Bava gave us in this film, which has a group of criminals committing a robbery but needing to take hostages when things go a little sideways. At gunpoint they coerce a man with a sick child to take them on back roads to avoid the police, and have forced a woman along as well. A couple of the bandits are crude and rather cruel, leading to scenes of great tension as we're not exactly sure what they're going to do next. Aldo Caponi and Luigi Montefiori succeed in turning in seriously creepy performances. This is a cheesy but gritty film which marks it as a little different in Bava's filmography, and the story of how it wasn't released until 18 years after his death was interesting as well. It saves its best for last with a brilliant ending, so you'll want to stick around that.

Sick

[preppy-3 · 3/10 · 26 July 2002]

Three crooks commit a robbery and try to escape in a speeding car. Along the way they take a young woman, a man and his sick child hostage.

This was a "lost" film for many years. Unfortunately it was found.

Tough, brutal and very very disgusting. Virtually the entire movie takes place in the car and two of the crooks overact to an annoying extreme. Worst of all, the young woman is constantly being attacked, humiliated and sexually abused by one of the guys. Those scenes are next to impossible to watch. Also director Mario Bava is usually a master at creating atmospheric movies and having some incredible camera shots. They're all totally missing from this film. There IS a neat twist at the end, but it's too little too late.

The script is boring and sick and there's really no point in seeing this film. Avoid.