Over at Tim Lucas' Video WatchBlog, a big announcement has WatcHDogs, Euro-Cultists and Italo-film lovers rubbing sleepy eyes in the manner of dreamers unsure of the reality into which they have awakened.   

The Bava book is done. 

Thirty-two years in the making, 1,128 pages in length and weighing 12 pounds,  All the Colors of the Dark is a biography of Mario Bava (1914-1980).  The son of silent film pioneer Eugenio Bava, Mario grew up in a house overrun with his father’s creations, from mythical monsters to saints carved for local churches.  Trained as a painter and pressed into service as his father’s assistant, Bava  came into his own as a journeyman cinematographer and effects man during the Fascist era at the sprawling super-studio Cinecittà.   

Bava's debut as a solo director, La Maschera Del Demonio (Black Sunday, 1960), remains a primary text of Gothic horror.  While he worked in many genres, Mario Bava's reputation rests on such candy-colored cautionary tales as I Tre Volti Della Paura (Black Sabbath, 1963), La Frusta E Il Corpo (The Whip And The Body, 1963), Sei Donne Per L’assassino (Blood And Black Lace, 1964) Terrore Nello Spazio (Planet Of The Vampires, 1965) Operazione Paura (Kill, Baby… Kill, 1966) and Diabolik (Danger: Diabolik, 1967).  His “body count” thrillers Il Rosso Segno Della Follia (Hatchet For The Honeymoon, 1970) , 5 Bambole Per La Luna D'agosto (Five Dolls For An August Moon, 1970) and Ecologia Del Delitto (Twitch Of The Death Nerve, 1971) influenced the nascent “slasher” subgenre and Bava himself inspired the likes of John Carpenter, Tim Burton, Joe Dante and Guillermo del Toro.

Mario Bava’s legacy suffered in the years after his 1980 death.  In America, his films were recut, rescored, dubbed clumsily into English and stuck onto double bills with comedies like McHale's Navy (1964).  On video, cut prints and panned and scanned transfers made hash of Bava's painterly compositions.  The maestro found a new audience with the advent of DVD and even now his seminal works are returning to the digital marketplace. 

Tim and Donna Lucas began accepting pre-orders on All the Colors of the Dark in 2000.  Fans have waited patiently as the Lucases endured technical setbacks, feathered-in late breaking news and suffered the contumely of professional rivals who questioned every decision, derided every update and sat on their hands while a three decade dream became a reality.  All the Colors of the Dark  lives and breathes and makes flesh of 100 years of film history.  More than the story of one man's life, it is a biography of Italian filmmaking itself.   

The book ships this July.  Start clearing shelf space.