Overview: In a career spanning four decades and encompassing virtually every genre under the sun, Mario Bava inspired multiple generations of filmmakers, from Dario Argento to Martin Scorsese and Tim Burton.

Best remembered for his gothic horror movies, for his final feature, Shock, he eschewed the grand guignol excesses of Black Sabbath or Blood and Black Lace for a more intimate portrait of mental breakdown in which true horror comes from within.

Dora (Daria Nicolodi, Deep Red) moves back into her old family home with her husband, Bruno (John Steiner, Tenebrae), and Marco (David Colin Jr., Beyond the Door), her young son from her previous marriage.

But domestic bliss proves elusive as numerous strange and disturbing occurrences transpire, while Dora is haunted by a series of nightmares and hallucinations, many of them involving her dead former husband

Is the house itself possessed? Or does Dora’s increasingly fragile grip on reality originate from somewhere far closer to home?

Blu-ray Verdict: Released in the United States as a sequel to Ovidio G. Assonitis’s Beyond the Door, Shock more than lives up to its name, proving that, even at this late stage in his career, Bava hadn’t lost his touch for terror.

Now restored in high definition for the first time, the Maestro of the Macabre’s chilling swansong disturbs like never before in this feature-laden release from Arrow Video.

Mario Bava’s final movie Shock may be far from his finest work, and will never gain the cult following of his classics like Black Sunday or Planet Of The Vampires, but it is still a very strong and effective thriller.

Dario Argento’s former lover and leading lady Daria Nicolodi (Profondo Rosso, Tenebre, etc.) plays Dora, a young woman getting over a breakdown and the aftermath of the suicide of her first husband.

With her young son Marco (David Colin, Jr the only tenuous link to Beyond The Door, which this movie was sold as a sequel to in the US), and her new husband airline pilot Bruno (Euro-horror regular John Steiner) she returns to live in her old house.

Despite the bad memories that surround it, she attempts to get on with her new life, and make a fresh start. Sadly, this is not to be. Odd things start to happen, the normally cheerful Marco begins to act out, and Dora becomes increasingly disturbed by her surroundings, believing an evil force is lurking around and attempting to drive her insane. Bava manages to create a disturbing atmosphere throughout, which escalates as young Marco goes from disobedient to downright scary. We may have seen many basic elements of Shock before, but they are approached freshly and originally, and the incestuous undercurrents in Dora and Marco’s relationship is very rarely seen in Hollywood horror.

On a visual level, the film has more in common with other late ’70s Italian horror films than it does with the aesthetic choices Bava is typically known for, but it is no less a visually dazzling movie.

The cinematography is gorgeous, and there are a handful of brilliant camera tricks throughout, most memorably toward the frenetic and terrifying finale.

On top of (and in some cases, because of) that, the film is just legitimately creepy, from the premise itself to the way Bava visually represents the horror on screen.

The appearances of Dora’s deceased husband are bizarre, startling, and sinister, and become increasingly disturbing as the film progresses; the visual flair Bava employs in these instances has been obviously influential on a slew of contemporary films.

In closing, sure, I won’t argue that this movie is flawless, but it has more than enough interesting touches and genuine scares to make it worth watching. Bava’s reputation is increasing with every year and Shock definitely deserves another look (especially now it is here on Blu-ray via Arrow Films!) This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.78:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:

High Definition Blu-ray™ (1080p) presentation
Brand new 2K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative by Arrow Films
Original Italian and English front and end titles and insert shots
Restored original lossless mono Italian and English soundtracks
Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
New audio commentary by Tim Lucas, author of Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark
A Ghost in the House, a new video interview with co-director and co-writer Lamberto Bava
Via Dell’Orologio 33, a new video interview with co-writer Dardano Sacchetti
The Devil Pulls the Strings, a new video essay by author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
Shock! Horror! – The Stylistic Diversity of Mario Bava, a new video appreciation by author and critic Stephen Thrower
The Most Atrocious Tortur(e), a new interview with critic Alberto Farina
Italian theatrical trailer
4 US “Beyond the Door II” TV spots
Image gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Christopher Shy