| "A Blade in the Dark" is one of the best of the later entries in the giallo cannon.**SPOILERS**Bruno Andrea Occhipinti decides to rent a house in the countryside to work on the score for a new horror movie. The house is huge, and he has a great time wandering around, getting inspiration to compose new music. When his neighbor Katia Valeria Cavalli goes missing after seeing him one night, he's concerned about the former tenant who disappeared as well. When his girlfriend Julia, Lara Naszinsky shows up to spend time with him, Bruno starts investigating her disappearance, <more> trying to solve it, which upsets Julia. As more disappearances occur around the house, Bruno tries harder to figure out the truth. When Anne, Anny Papa arrives to pick up the finished work for the film, they are all trapped inside with the killer.The Good News: Even though this is a late-era entry in the world of giallos, it's one of the better ones. It displays a lot of the stylish elements that made many of the early classics so memorable and compelling. We get a stylish killer, where we only get a small series of clues to his identity along the way, a great series of red herrings to play upon the viewer's deductive powers, and, off course, super-stylized shots. A shot that really impresses me was watching a woman wander into a pool, and we scene the whole thing from below the water level, looking up. Pretty creative, as was the murder scenes, which are typical of giallos. One in particular, where the victim first encounters the killer outside the house and through a series of escapes and chases, winds up being killed inside, is pretty effective. Particularly effective was the fact that the killer's shadow was used predominately in the scene, heightening the tension as it got closer and closer. The jump with the knife caps it off, and the bloody carcass that remains is a great cap on the events. It also played out in another areas, such as building suspense. The off-screen noises that we hear are masterfully delivered, especially the breathing that is heard during the climactic chase. That is undoubtedly the highlight, with a thrilling and suspense cat-and-mouse chase through the house that uses a wide manner of tactics to make it a real highlight: the lights strategically-timed that go off, the cutting off of escape routes, and finally a slow, carefully executed escape attempt through the interior. It's a really thrilling moment that culminates in a great jump that makes it particularly exciting. There is lots more to this as well.The Bad News: There is only one real complaint I have against the film: it's too overlong. At times, it seemed to include scenes that unnecessarily stretch out it's running time. The detective angle is well-played, but too many times it felt that it could've been trimmed and not harmed the movie or it's plot too much. This is the only real thing I have against it.The Final Verdict: It has some sequences that probably didn't need to be in here, this is a pretty great giallo. It features a lot of the techniques of the genre, and a lot more for others. All giallo and Italian horror movie fans should look into this one, and the more adventurous should as well.Rated UN/R: Graphic Violence, Brief Nudity and the off-screen death of a child <less> |
