Danger Man... Danger: Diabolik (1968), Eureka Masters of Cinema 4K UHD + Blu-ray

 

The explosive opening to Mario Bava’s Danger: Diabolik that tells you everything you need to know about the film's mission statement. Our eponymous anti-hero - played with a ironic, arched-eyebrow cool by John Phillip Law* - returns to his subterranean lair, and speeds through numerous hi-tech corridors in his E-Type Jaguar revealing a secret base – oh how I love a secret base! – far bigger than even that underneath Wayne Manor. Welcome to the underworld of a supervillain with a heart of... who knows, maybe gold but certainly a sense of fun for this man is a likeable rogue as much in the tradition of Dr Mabuse and Goldfinger as Batman or James Bond. Welome to super spie adventure, Italian style!

 

Diabolik has just got the better of some very determined men trying to prevent his latest heist – just the $10,000,000 and once he parks up next to the unfeasibly mod living quarters, he still has the energy for some play with his partner in crime, the stunning Eva Kant (Marisa Mell). Both follow best practice and has a shower in glass cubicles that just about hide their dignity before rolling together on a bed covered with their ill-gotten gains – crime as a style statement! It’s a sequence that is so much substance as well as style under the guise of a 1960s Euro-decadence that feels like it was beamed in from an alternative future passed. How could we miss that?! 

I have dug through more than a few "dusty video boxes" of Italian genre cinema, and Bava has always been the gold standard. Whether he was inventing giallo with Blood and Black Lace, scaring us in new ways with Black Sunday, producing stylish space gothic opera in Planet of the Vampires and then tapping into the Seventies horror trend with Lisa and the Devil he always delivered and with his own high-content style.  With Danger: Diabolik, he finally had a decent budget (courtesy of Dino De Laurentiis), and the result is a psychedelic explosion that makes the contemporary James Bond films look a little reserved in comparison.

It’s been a long wait for a definitive UK release, but Eureka’s Masters of Cinema hit the spot with this stunning new 4K UHD and Blu-ray edition. Seeing Bava’s use of primary colours—those deep reds and comic-book greens—in 4K is genuinely making me feel my investment in this new technology is worth it - it is scrumptious. The clarity of the psychedelic mis-en-scene as well as the exterior shots and the vehicles, Diabolik’s Jaguar E-Type especially makes them jump out of the screen. And that outrageous rotating bed - or sofa? - with it's $10 million quilt is quite frankly more than most furniture suppliers can muster and at a price that will certainly not be discounted in the Spring Sales...

 The film itself puts many modern comic book adaptations to shame. It’s based on the fumetti neri (“black comics”) created by the Giussani sisters, but Bava strips away the darker, more murderous edges of the original character and replaces them with a sense of "anti-establishment" playfulness. Diabolik doesn't just steal; he humiliates. He makes a mockery of the police (personified by a delightfully flustered Michel Piccoli) and the government. There’s even a scene involving "Exhilaration Gas" that feels like a precursor to the 1966 Batman TV series, though with much better tailoring.

And then, of course, there is the score. Ennio Morricone’s music here is some of his most experimental and "pop" work—all twanging guitars, soaring vocals, and trippy sound effects. It’s no wonder the Beastie Boys used it as the blueprint for their "Body Movin'" video... the film has left its mark on the culture. It's director certainly a master of cinema!

The Eureka Set:

This is a real collector's item, limited to 2,000 copies, and housed in one of those lovely hardbound slipcases that Eureka does so well.

The Transfers: You get both a 4K UHD and a Blu-ray. The 4K restoration by Paramount is a revelation. 

The Extras: They’ve included a commentary from Bava biographer Tim Lucas and there’s also a new video essay by Rachael Nisbet and a discussion on the film's comic book origins.

The Book: A 60-page booklet with essays by Roberto Curti and others. In the world of boutique labels, this is the kind of scholarly treatment these films deserve.

 

Dusty Verdict:

Danger: Diabolik is a film of the sixties, for the sixties, but Bava’s genius ensures it hasn't aged a day. It is a sexy, action-packed piece of sunshine that stands as a bridge between the silent serials of Fantômas and the future of high-concept action. If you have even a passing interest in Italian cinema or just want to see Terry-Thomas look confused while things explode around him, this is an essential purchase.

The set is available from 20 April 2026 but pre-order it now before it vanishes into the night in a shiny black e-Type Jaguar…

*Barbarella was produced by Dino De Laurentiis at almost the same time so, a busy year in Europe for John Phillip Law