Cani arrabbiati (Rabid Dogs) 1974 Ages 18+
When
6.00pm, Wed 27 Sep 2017 (96 mins)Where
Gallery of Modern Art & Cinema A
About
A film of sweat and savagery, Rabid Dogs is arguably Mario Bava's final masterpiece. The horrors contained here do not come from supernatural forces but merely the abject amorality of its characters, revealing a black void at the heart of civilisation. That which was once supernatural has become all too human.
The narrative concerns three criminals who find themselves on the run after a disastrous robbery turns deadly. After taking a young woman hostage, they then force their way into the car of a father on his way to the hospital with his deathly ill child. What remains is a white-knuckle journey in which the loathsome crooks and their hostages sweat through the overbearing heat as tensions rise in fatal and unpredictable ways.
The action of Rabid Dogs rolls out almost in real time, with audiences given no reprieve from the boiling tension and deep ignominy on display. Bava may have been towards the end of his career by the mid-1970s, but this is a forward-looking film with a down-and-dirty approach to its construction, sharing similarities with neo-realist triumphs like Salvatore Giuliano 1962 and the muddied ethics of New Hollywood crime flicks. An unmissable descent into the heart of darkness.
Ages 18+
Production Credits
- Director: Mario Bava
- Script: Alessandro Parenzo, Cesare Frugoni
- Cinematographers: Emilio Varriano, Mario Bava
- Editor: Carlo Reali
- Production Companies: Spera Cinematografica, International Media Films
- Print Source / Rights: Naor World Media Films
- Screening Format: 35mm
- Year: 1974
- Runtime: 96 minutes
- Country: Italy
- Languages: Italian, (with English subtitles)
- Sound: Mono
- Colour: Colour