This is the unfinished film, of the Godfather, of Italian horror, of Mario Bava.  The film was halted from production when the producer died.  The court took seize of his entire estate and the unfinished copy of the film.  The film was later released after 23 years but Bava had unfortunately passes away.  The film was finished by Bava’s son and the producer, this version in under the title Kidnapped (Bava, 1997).

This film is not a horror movie, but a euro-crime thriller and from what I have read it is the most startling of his career.  I can believe this.  The title sequence was made special for this version of the film. The title sequence of this film is great and fits well for this movie, I am not sure who created them, but I applaud them. The titles really match the pace and tone of the film. I did watch the first five minutes of Kidnapped, which feels very different from Rabid Dogs (Bava, 1974).

Rabid Dogs is bursting with style and tension. This film concerns a posy of criminals who botch a heist.  This Posy soon turns in to a trio.  During their escape the criminals are tailed by the police because of this they take a hostage.  Eventually they change cars and take another man hostage who is trying to take a sick boy to the hospital.  This hostage ride turns in to a ride of cruelty and tension.

This film burns with tension from scene to scene.  This is great and also the down side of the film, because it holds such high tension for a long time, it somewhat gets monotonous.  This is small minus to the film. There are different things happening from situation to situation to keep ones attention.  This would be from fender benders to picking up a hitch-hiker.

These criminals remind me of the criminals from Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left (1972).  There is a similar scene in Rabid Dogs as in The Last House on the Left. The scene includes bodily urination.  If you’ve seen Wes’ film you’ll understand.

This film is not for the faint at heart, it is an intense film.  If you’re willing to take a long car ride down human cruelty, then hop right in.  I enjoyed this film from beginning to end. I also feel it would be more popular if it was finished and had a proper release.

Trailer here

I forgot to mention the awesome score, which is in the trailer