The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Story revolves around a rag group of robbers who are on the run from the policia. Instead of making a calculated plan to steal their loot they instead go for the guns blazing type of robbery. Yay for us! They do get the cash but they end up losing one of their own, the driver. With their plan unraveling they need a car and need it fast, and that's when they take a driver-by hostage and force him to drive them to their safe-house. All the while they have another hostage in the back who's easy on the eyes. And to make matters worse the car they took hostage also has a sick young child in it. Three violent robbers and three civilians in a tiny car while running from the cops makes one entertaining picture.The film premise is cool but to truly make this film work is the characters. And all do their job very well. Each character is memorable and have their own important parts to the film. The bad guys in Rabid Dogs were extra memorable as they played their parts in an over the top way, with wild eyes, maniacal laughing and mannerisms and just an energy that this film needed to keep the viewer enthralled.Rabid Dogs was a film I've been meaning to see for a while and I'm glad I finally did. I always got it confused with Straw Dogs, which I still need to see as well. But Rabid Dogs was a cool flick that instantly became one of my favorites in the crime/thriller genre.

"Rabid Dogs" is without a doubt, the best Bava film I've seen. I've seen a lot; if you read my other reviews you'll get a small taste. The pace of this film is unbelievable. You can't take your eyes away from the screen. The criminals are so good you forget at times that you're watching a movie. The nihilism with which Bava conveys the torture and mayhem on screen is a testament to his genius. Films nowadays can't touch the suspense and tension that "Rabid Dogs" builds in the viewer and it's all done with such insane creativity and with what appears to be a minimal budget. George Eastman, aka Luigi Montefiori is classic as 'Thrity Two,' a sadistic criminal who cannot be stopped until one of his own put an end to his carnal rampage.Then there is the ending. I cannot for a moment imagine a better twist and I never saw it coming. I bet you won't either unless you've been clued. Absolutely classic. Awesome music too! Tarantino wishes he was this cool...9 out of 10, kids.

The great Mario Bava is mainly known as the supreme master of Gothic Horror Tales as well as the inventor of the Giallo. With the two aforementioned sub-genres being my favorites in the Horror genre, it is not surprising that Bava ranks among my favorite directors ever in motion picture history. Out of all Horror directors, Bava is arguably the one responsible for the most masterpieces - the man simply directed so many ingenious films that it is hard to pick out favorites. If I had to choose a favorite, it would be "La Maschera Del Demonio" aka. "Black Sunday" (1960), but there are various other flawless masterpieces in this brilliant man's repertoire that no Horror fan, no, no lover of film in general, could possibly consider missing, such as "Blood And Black Lace", "Kill Baby... Kill", "Black Sabbath", "The Girl Who Knew Too Much", "The Whip And The Body, or "A Bay Of Blood", just to name a few. Or this ingenious film. Even when dabbling outside of his most familiar Horror genre, Mario Bava outshines the rest, as "Cani Arrabbiati" proves. Bava obviously was in for something different with "Cani Arrabbiati" aka "Rabid Dogs" of 1974, and the outcome was an incomparably breathtaking mixture of stunning Crime/Heist flick and sadistic thriller. Even though violent crime flicks were immensely popular (and many of them immensely brilliant) in Italy of the mid 70s, "Rabid Dogs" is somewhat unique. Without exaggeration, the film, which runs by several aka. titles, such as "Semaforo Rosso", "Wild Dogs" and "Kidnapped" must be one of the most uncompromising, breathtaking and purely adrenaline-driven masterpieces ever brought to screen. Sadly, this ingenious film remained unreleased to the public for over 20 years. Due to the producer's bankruptcy, the completed film was withheld by courts until it was finally released in the late 90s, years after Bava's death.After a robbery, three criminals, their leader being a cold thinker called The Doctor (Maurice Poli), the other two sadistic psychopaths named Thirtytwo (none other than exploitation-cult-actor Greorge Eastman) and Balde (Don Backy), brutally murder a woman and take another woman hostage, in order to escape from the police. In order to obtain a new car they also kidnap a man named Riccardo (Riccardo Cucciolla), and the sick child that he was about to bring to hospital... I am not going to give away more, but I can assure that the film is absolutely stunning. The tension and constantly menacing atmosphere never pauses for even a minute, and, at times the film gets quite shockingly sadistic. While Bava's goriest film is doubtlessly "A Bay Of Blood", this "Cani Arrabbiati" is easily his most disturbing one. All three of the gangsters are despicable characters, but while the leader is merely interested in getting away, Blade and especially Thirtytwo are mainly psychopathic. The acting performances are entirely great. Riccardo Cucciolla is excellent in the lead (if one can call it that, as the film is mainly set in a car, and all the characters have almost equal screen time). All three gangsters are brilliantly displayed as despicable as possibly imaginable. Maurice Poli, who plays the leader, had already worked with Bava in "5 Dolls For An August Moon" as well as in a small role in "Baron Blood". George Eastman enjoys a deserved cult status for starring in and co-writing various exploitation classics (most memorably Joe D'Amato's gruesome "Antropophagus" and the equally shocking follow-up "Absurd"), "Cani Arrabiati" is arguably the greatest film he was ever involved in. Don Backy is equally sadistic as the knife-specialist Blade, and Lea Leander is just great as the female hostage Maria. Leander does an outstanding job with her very realistic portrayal of the fear and distress of a hostage. The camera-work is ingenious, and Stelvio Cipriani's brilliant score holds the tense atmosphere up for every second. I could go on praising "Cani Arrabbiati" for a long time, but I will just finish with the statement that it is a true must-see for everyone even remotely interested in 70s genre-cinema. This masterpiece was lost for many years, and while it is unfortunate that it never got released in Mario Bava's lifetime, it is more than great that it is available now. This may not be a typical example for Mario Bava's great repertoire, but it ranges among his most brilliant films. A true must! 10/10

A trio of brutal criminals -- ruthless ringleader Doctor (superbly played by Maurice Poli), vicious psycho Thirty-Two (an incredibly feral and frightening performance by Luigi Montefiori), and his equally nasty buddy Blade (a memorably vile Aldo Caponi) -- barely manage to pull off a payroll heist. With one of their number shot down by the cops and every minute of the essence, the dangerous hoodlums are forced to take three hostages: middle-aged Riccardo (the excellent Riccardo Cuciolla), his sickly infant son, and lovely young lady Maria (the fetching Lea Lander). They all go on the lam in Riccardo's car. Director Mario Bava, working from a tight and bleak script by Alessandro Parenzo, relates the gripping story at a relentless barnstorming pace, does a masterful job of creating a hard, gritty, no-nonsense tone, and wrings plenty of nerve-wracking suspense from the claustrophobic confines of the constantly moving automobile. Moreover, Bava's trademark black humor is notably absent here; in its place there's a mean and unsparing nihilism that's a true savage and shocking wonder to behold. Stelvio Cipriani's thrilling, pulsating score further enhances the grungy excitement while Emilio Varriano's plain, yet polished cinematography likewise does the trick. Starting with a deliriously messy opening robbery sequence, given an extra stinging edge by several startling outbursts of raw, ugly violence, the extremely coarse dialogue, and the fierce sweltering hot summer day setting, and perfectly capped off with a great surprise bummer double twist ending, this simply stupendous crime thriller winner makes the grade with flying colors. Absolutely astounding.