In 1980, famed Italian horror director Mario Bava died at the relatively young age of 65. This left 1977’s Shock as his final cinematic effort.

After Dora Baldini’s (Daria Nicolodi) husband Carlo (Nicola Salerno) dies, she remarries to Bruno (John Steiner). Along with her son Marco (David Colin Jr.), they move back into the house she used to share with Carlo.

This doesn’t go well. When Marco misbehaves badly, Dora thinks supernatural forces control him, but Bruno believes she suffers from a mental collapse. The film explores the nature of these developments.

To my surprise, Shock acts as my first experience with a film directed by Mario Bava. I saw Demons and Demons 2 from son Lamberto Bava – who served as assistant director here – but nothing from Papa Mario.

Given the elder Bava’s legendary status, I must assume Shock fails to offer an adequate representation of his talents. This mediocrity can’t provide an example of Mario at – or within 100 miles – of his peak.

Not that I think Shock turns into a bad movie, as it offers occasional intrigue. However, it doesn’t explore its themes well and it fails to present much that I could regard as effective horror.

Like a lot of filmmakers, Bava tips his hand too early in terms of the tension related to the reality of the story. Many movies like to tease the audience in terms of whether or not supposedly supernatural events actually take place or not.

The majority think they leave the interpretation up for grabs but don’t. Most telegraph matters too much and give the viewer little space to decide for himself/herself.

That becomes a major issue in Shock. At its core, the film fashions itself as a psychodrama, one that revolves around Marco’s apparent Oedipal feelings and general creepiness.

However, nothing about Shock leaves much to the imagination. We figure out early on what the tale wants us to believe, so the attempted suspense never materializes.

Instead, Bava substitutes a lot of cheap scares. We get over-acted shots of Marco as he looks evil and plenty of “boo” moments that hope to frighten us.

They don’t. Heck, these elements don’t even startle because they occur in such predictable ways.

Even the Oedipal conceit doesn’t make much sense – at least not if Bava wants us to believe Marco’s actions occur due to rebellion and not something supernatural. Although the movie wants us to think Marco rebels due to jealousy connected to Bruno’s place in Dora’s life, this lacks logic.

For one, Shock tells us that Marco never knew his biological father. As such, he seems unlikely to resent Bruno since he never became aware of an alternate life.

Also, the flick relates clearly that Marco adores Bruno. Why would he suddenly turn on his stepfather like that?

Again, the answer lies in the supernatural realm, and Shock never finds a more reality-based exploration of these domains. This seems like a shame, as a story that revolves around Dora’s potential descent into insanity seems like one that might work.

As filmed, Shock doesn’t go much of anywhere. The movie relies on too many jump scares and fails to turn into a memorable thriller.

Shock appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The transfer gave us a good representation of the source.

Overall delineation seemed good. Due to the nature of the photography, some mild softness occurred, but most of the film offered reasonable delineation and accuracy.

I saw no jaggies or shimmering, and edge haloes remained absent. Print flaws also failed to appear.

Colors leaned toward a subdued amber feel. Though the hues didn’t impress, they felt adequate for the image as intended.

Blacks were fairly deep, and shadows demonstrated reasonable clarity. Nothing here excelled, but this still seemed like a solid presentation given the nature of the original photography.

Don’t expect a whole lot from the blah DTS-HD MA 1.0 soundtrack of Shock. Not that I expected much from a mono mix created 44 years ago, of course.

Like many Italian films, all the dialogue got dubbed later. The disc came with both Italian and English soundtracks, though the actors spoke English on the set.

Alternate performers did the looping, however, and the results never felt especially natural. The artificial nature of the dialogue left the lines as awkward and stiff, though they always remained intelligible.

The Italian version seemed no more natural. Since mouth movements didn’t match, the Italian presentation became the weaker of the pair.

Music showed decent reproduction, though the score seemed a bit flat and dull. Effects fell into the same domain, as they showed acceptable but restricted range. This became a passable mix for a movie from 1977.

When we shift to extras, we open with an audio commentary from film historian Tim Lucas. He offers a running, screen-specific look at cast and crew, genre topics, music, some production elements, and interpretation.

Overall, Lucas offers a pretty good chat. He gives us a useful array of notes that cover relevant domains.

As we shift to video programs, A Ghost in the House offers an interview with assistant director/co-writer Lamberto Bava that runs 30 minutes, 34 seconds.

Bava discusses the movie’s origins and development, story/characters, cast and performances, and aspects of the production. He offers a nice overview of the various subjects.

Via Dell’Orologio 33 lasts 33 minutes, 48 seconds and provides a discussion with co-writer Dardano Sacchetti. He looks at how he became involved in the project, story/characters/screenplay, working with Mario Bava and related areas. This becomes another informative reel.

Next comes The Devil Pulls the Strings, a 20-minute, 45-second “video essay” from critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. She examines symbolism in the film, with an emphasis on its puppetry motif. Heller-Nicholas contributes good insights.

Shock! Horror! goes for 51 minutes, 46 seconds and features a “video appreciation” :from critic Stephen Thrower. He discusses the movie’s history, some genre domains, cast/crew and the production, his experiences with it and his various views of it. Thrower tosses out a mix of intriguing comments.

After this we locate The Most Atrocious Tortur(e), a four-minute, 12 –second piece with critic Alberto Farina. He talks about a Shock-related cartoon that Mario Bava created for actor Daria Nicoletti.

We see this piece of art while Farina discusses aspects of it. Expect a fun little take on this unusual topic.

In addition to the film’s Italian trailer and six US TV spots, the disc concludes with three Image Galleries. We find “Posters” (7 frames), “Italian Fotobuste” (12) and “Japanese Souvenir Program” (11). These seem mildly interesting.

As the final film from horror legend Mario Bava, Shock earns a spot in cinema history. Unfortunately, the director left us on a limp note, as the movie fails to give us the engaging or disturbing experience it aspires to provide. The Blu-ray brings generally good picture along with mediocre audio and a nice mix of bonus materials. Shock doesn’t live up to its title.