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After a passionate discussion of SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD, Dan Persons and Steve Biodrowski leave the recorder running as they delve deeply into the minutia of horror, fantasy, and science fiction. This week focuses on films that recycle plots and/or footage to create alternate versions and/or whole new movies:

THE EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING and DOMINION: [...]

Following up on the Cinefantastique Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction Podcast 1.26, Dan Persons, Lawrence French, and Steve Biodrowski delve deeper into the mysteries of director Mario Bava and BLACK SUNDAY, not to mention the distinction between giallo and Gothic horror. BLACK SUNDAY was Bava’s directorial debut, and its reputation is so grand among fans [...]

No new genre films hit theatres this weekend, but fear not: Dan Persons, Lawrence French, and Steve Biodrowski once again rev of the time machine and take you five decades into the past, for a look at one of the greatest horror films of all time, director Mario Bava’s masterpiece of black-and-white Gothic horror, BLACK [...]

Tim Lucas at VideoWatchblog points us to this YouTube clip of Mike Patton’s Mondo Cane performing “Deep, Deep Down,” the opening title song from Mario Bava’s excellent comic-book-based fantasy-action-adventure, DANGER: DIABOLIK (1968). I have always loved the song (which was composed by Ennio Morricone, who also scored the film) and regretted that it never appeared on a [...]

It’s a busy week for DVD and Bluray releases, with titles from such classic and cult genre names as Wes Craven, Dario Argento, Mario Bava, Barbara Steele and Tod Slaughter arriving in stores.
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Last House on the Left (MGM/UA DVD)
Wes Craven’s landmark 1972 shocker gets a second DVD go-around with a much more comprehensive [...]

BAY OF BLOOD is one of the least reputable films from the late Italian cult figure Mario Bava, a genre specialist best known for the black-and-white horror classic BLACK SUNDAY (1960). There is a tendency to compare Bava’s later horror films – which utilized colorful photography and lurid subject matter – unfavorably to his early masterpiece; this [...]

There have been a couple of additions to the guest list for the American Cinematheque’s Mario Bava festival, which resumes this Thursday with a double bill of DANGER: DIABOLIK and PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES. Actor John Phillip Law (who plays the titular master criminal in DIABOLIK) will appear between the films for a question-and-answer session. [...]

BEYOND THE DOOR II (titled SHOCK in its native Italy) is the last directorial effort from cult figure Mario Bava, the cinematographer-turned-director who created such horror classics as BLACK SUNDAY (1960) and BLOOD AND BLACK LACE (1965). Unfortunately, this is a weak swan song, a coda that reprises motifs from his earlier operas, but without the [...]

DANGER: DIABOLIK is one of the best films from the late Italian director Mario Bava. Although Bava was best known for his work in the horror genre (traditional Gothic exercises like BLACK SUNDAY, contemporary thrillers like BLOOD AND BLACK LACE ), he also directed many other types of films, including this slightly campy James Bond-style [...]

This is probably the last great horror film from Mario Bava (director of Gothic classic BLACK SUNDAY and the seminal giallo thriller BLOOD AND BLACK LACE) Unfortunately, LISA AND THE DEVIL, did not reach U.S. audiences in its original form for decades. When producer Alfredo Leone was unable to secure U.S. distribution in 1973, he [...]

[EDITOR'S NOTE: As part of our on-going celebration of Mario Bava this week, we enlisted the aid of Keith Brown, who writes voluminously - and, more important, fascinatingly - on the subject of Italian cinema.]
An Appreciation by Keith Brown of Giallo Fever 
If there’s one word which encapsulates the world of Mario Bava’s cinema for me it [...]

[NOTE: Our coverage of Mario Bava, timed with the American Cinemathque's festival Poems of Love and Death, continues with this look back on one of his most well-loved films.]
Director Mario Bava’s second Gothic horror extravaganza (after years of photographing and/or finishing other directors’ work) is another exercise in style and atmosphere from the uniquely gifted auteur, [...]

The American Cinematheque launches its film festival Mario Bava: Poems of Love and Death at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood tonight. Up first is a double bill of BLACK SUNDAY (a.k.a. “The Mask of the Demon,” 1960) and BLACK SABBATH (a.k.a. “Three Faces of Fear). Director Joe Dante (THE HOWLING, Showtime’s MASTERS OF HORROR) will introduce the [...]