BLACK SABBATH and BARON BLOOD coming from Arrow

[Horace Cordier Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Horace Cordier]

BLACK SABBATH and BARON BLOOD coming from Arrow

If Arrow does indeed release the AIP version of BLACK SABBATH, I'm buying it. You bet I am.

While the Italian cut is the better film, I cherish the additional intros with Karloff and his wonderful voice in "The Wurdelak."

Also we are spared the self-destructive, fourth-wall breaking twist at the end which isn't funny anyhow.

Exactly. This is a case where both cuts have artistic merit. The AIP cut of this in HD has been a holy grail of mine for years.

[Robert W Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Robert W]

Exactly. This is a case where both cuts have artistic merit. The AIP cut of this in HD has been a holy grail of mine for years.

Who owns the AIP cut?

[Ignatius Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ignatius]

Who owns the AIP cut?

MGM, off the top of my head. MGMHD is where the hi-def bootlegs have been recorded from, and they own the American rights to Witchfinder General which was also an AIP acquisition.

[Koukol Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Koukol]

I watched the Kino version of BARON BLOOD and I hope the Arrow will look and sound better.

[Derrick King Waterfall Puncher Find all posts View Profile Close Derrick King]

MGM owns the dub and score for the AIP version, but since they don't seem to own the home video rights to the film, they can't release it. Which is why it would make sense for them to license the dub and score to whoever has the dvd/blu-ray rights.

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

Paul, if you find that VHS recording and hit paydirt..please let us know.

I've dug out my VHS recording of the C4 broadcast, and it is indeed the English dub. Running time is about 77 mins.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

This just popped up on Facebook...

Pretty.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Arrow Video: Black Sabbath
Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD - £15.99
Cat No: FCD778

Released: 29 Apr 2013

Starring: Boris Karloff, Mark Damon
Directed by: Mario Bava
Rating: TBC
Duration: TBC

Overview: Black Sunday was such a huge hit that a follow-up was swiftly demanded, and horror maestro Mario Bava duly devised this three-part horror anthology blending modern and period stories.

In the giallo-style 'The Telephone', a woman is terrorised by her former pimp after his escape from prison, and tries to escape him with the help of her lesbian lover, who has a dark secret of her own. In the Victorian-era 'The Drop of Water', a nurse steals a ring from the corpse of a dead spiritualist, which naturally tries to get it back. But it's the 19th-century Russian story 'The Wurdalak' that comes closest to Bava's earlier classic, with the great Boris Karloff as a much-loved paterfamilias who might not be entirely what he seems.

Bava's direction is as stylish as ever, and Black Sabbath is almost a compendium of his favourite themes.

Special Features:
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of two versions of the film; 'I tre volti della paura' - the European version with score by Roberto Nicolosi & 'Black Sabbath' - the re-edited and re-dubbed AIP version with Les Baxter score, on home video for the first time
- English SDH subtitles for English Audio and a new English subtitle translation of the Italian audio
- Audio Commentary with Bava biographer and expert Tim Lucas
- Introduction to the film by author and critic Alan Jones
- A Life In Film - An Interview with star Mark Damon
- Three Faces of Black Sabbath - A comparison of the different versions of the film
- International Trailer
- US Trailer
- Italian Trailer
- TV and Radio Spots
- Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic David Cairns and a substantial interview with AIP Producer Samuel Z. Arkoff on his experiences of working with Bava, conducted by Tim Lucas, illustrated with original stills and posters

Region B/2
RRP £22.99

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Arrow Video: Baron Blood
Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD - £15.99
Cat No: FCD777

Released: 29 Apr 2013

Starring: Joseph Cotten, Elke Sommer
Directed by: Mario Bava
Rating: TBC
Duration: TBC

Overview: One of horror giant Mario Bava's biggest hits, Baron Blood returns to the all-stops-out Gothic atmosphere and the central theme of a witch's curse that fuelled his breakthrough film Black Sunday twelve years earlier.

This time, the curse was placed on Baron Otto von Kleist, Austria's legendarily murderous 'Baron Blood', whose corpse is inadvertently revived when an ancient incantation is read out as a joke by a descendant and his girlfriend. Naturally, the Baron decides to carry on where he originally left off, with the help of an entire vault of elaborate torture devices.

Joseph Cotten (Citizen Kane, The Third Man) has a whale of a time as the deceptively charming Baron, and is given sterling support from Elke Sommer (Lisa and the Devil), who is chased through fog-shrouded alleyways in one of Bava's most memorably atmospheric set-pieces.

Special Features:
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of three versions of the film: Gli orrori del castello di Norimberga with Italian opening and closing titles and Baron Blood with English opening and closing titles and the European English export version audio, and for the first time on home video, the AIP version with alternate score by Les Baxter
- Three audio versions: Optional Italian, European English and AIP English re-dub and re-score
- English SDH subtitles and a new English subtitle translation of the Italian audio
- Audio Commentary with Bava biographer and expert Tim Lucas
- Introduction to Baron Blood by author and critic Alan Jones
- Trailers for Baron Blood
- Baron Blood Radio Spots
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
- Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Oliver James, illustrated with original archive stills and posters

Region B/2
RRP £22.99

[Richard--W a straight arrow Find all posts View Profile Close Richard--W]

We really don't need the DVDs in these collections. People who want these films on DVD already have them.

Really looking forward to BLACK SABBATH with the Italian and alternative AIP cut on blu.

[Lee Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lee]

I disagree. I like the option of having both a newly remastered Blu-ray and DVD. I don't always have access to my Blu-ray player. My laptop only has a DVD drive. Many of my friends only have DVD players, so if I want to watch or share a film with them, Blu-ray alone is a no good. Having the newly minted DVD as a back-up option is nice.

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

I too like the inclusion of a DVD copy, for the reasons Lee has put forwards. (Often, I lend discs - especially stuff like the Bava titles - to my mother, who hasn't got a Blu-ray player.)

Anyone know what's happening with Arrow's BLACK SABBATH? Amazon UK now says BLACK SABBATH is 'currently unavailable' and has no release date for it - which is something you often see when a title has been cancelled or its release delayed to an unknown date: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Sabbat...dp/B00B5CTRV0/

[Horace Cordier Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Horace Cordier]

BLACK SABBATH and BARON BLOOD coming from Arrow

Groan.

Here we probably go again. Arrow may have not gotten their house in order in terms of the rights or something. Considering their appalling history of screwups I sadly always assume the worst with these guys.

My order at Amazon UK has disappeared.

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

Here we probably go again. Arrow may have not gotten their house in order in terms of the rights or something.

This is what I'm worrying about too, Horace, especially regarding the planned inclusion of the AIP cut. It may just be a simple mistake with Amazon, but who knows? I'm expecting the worst now.

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

Still no update on Amazon. I wonder what's happening.