ferbs54 Lamberto Bava's first film as a director, 1980's "Macabre," was supposedly a bit too tame in the violence department to satisfy all the gorehounds out there, so in his next picture, 1983's "A Blade in the Dark," the son of the legendary "Father of the Giallo," Mario Bava, created a bloodbath that might well have made papa proud. Filmed on the cheap in only three weeks at the country villa of producer Luciano Martino, the film is yet surprisingly effective and looks just fine. The plot centers around a young composer named Bruno (appealingly portrayed by Andrea Occhipinti) and the four stunning-looking women in his life. Sandra, a film director (Anny Papa), has just hired him to compose the score for her latest horror film, and has ensconced him in a secluded country villa to get the job done. Bruno, as the viewer soon learns, in not untalented, and the score that he comes up with--and that crops up regularly throughout Bava's film--is quite an eerie one. His work, however, is constantly interrupted by the arrival of his actress girlfriend Julia (Lara Lamberti) and by his two hottie neighbors, models Katia and Angela (Valeria Cavalli and Fabiola Toledo). And when these last two mysteriously disappear, apparently by homicide, and other strange events begin to transpire in his lonely rental pad, Bruno finds himself in a real-life horror situation that puts Sandra's fictional one to shame...."A Blade in the Dark" takes its time creating atmosphere and delivering shocks. Its deliberate pace has proved offputting for many viewers, it seems, but I found the picture to be consistently suspenseful and interesting. The film's shocks are well placed and the body count is fairly high, although there are a bit too many "false scares" and red herrings for this viewer's taste, cleverly integrated as they are. It is, as I mentioned up top, a fairly violent giallo, and some of the slayings are quite gruesome to behold. In the worst (if I may spoil things for you/prepare you a bit), the victim has her hand impaled by a kitchen knife, her head wrapped in a plastic bag and battered to a bloody pulp, and her neck pierced through with that same blade. Yikearoo! This killer sure does know how to do a thorough job! And I haven't even mentioned his/her weapon of choice: a retractable box cutter that clicks open, segment by excruciating segment. "I find doing scenes in which women get stabbed to death repugnant," Lamberto says in one of this Blue Underground DVD's extras, but that surely did not prevent him from getting his picture made in an effective manner! The slaying just mentioned is one of the most difficult to watch that I have seen in any giallo, and would fit right into papa Mario's gorefest "Bay of Blood" (1971). Lamberto's later giallo film, "Delirium" (1987), was far less sanguinary, by the way, while his two "Demons" films of the mid-'80s combined the gore with a goodly leavening of humor. "Blade" also features a clever script from the remarkably prolific Dardano Sacchetti, although his psychological explanation for the killer's motive is a flimsy one, at best. Indeed, if everyone had a similar reaction to such a paltry stimulus, 1/4 of all human beings would be homicidal maniacs! As for this Blue Underground DVD itself, the print looks just fine, but has been horribly translated and dubbed (resulting in such lines as "Is it possible you're such a vacant nerd?"); subtitles would have been infinitely preferable. Modern-day interviews with Bava and Sacchetti make for nice extras, however, and, in all, the film is a must-see for all gorehound and giallo completists. When it comes to Lamberto and Mario, it would seem, the apple did not fall far from the tree; or perhaps it would be better to say that the blood did not fall far from the vein....

morrison-dylan-fan Being left bored by Lamberto Bava and Stanko Molnar muddling first collaboration Macabre,I entered their second collaboration with greatly decreased expectations.and since having learned that Bava had a three year break between his first and second film,the gap in time seems to have made Bava much more focus,with his second effect being a tense,speedy Giallo/Slasher-hybrid.The plot:Scoring a horror film in a rented villa,Bruno asks the director to give him the final reel of the film for him to score,which she weirdly seems keen on holding on for herself.Later on that night,Bruno meets a woman at the villa called Katia,who he cant remember having ever met before.With having enjoyed his chat with Katia,Bruno looks all over the villa to find her again.Falling to find Katia, (who,unbeknown to him has been vicusly murdered)Bruno instead stumbles upon a deranged looking diary.Suspecting that something nasty is accruing at the villa,Bruno goes to meet the director to find out the truth about the villa and her horror film.Eventally she caves in,and starts to tell Bruno that one of the main infolances of her film was her sister,who was also the previous tente of the villa,until she had suddenly disappeared.Returning to his recording studio,Bruno begins to fear that he is not alone in the villa,when he finds that the diary and the reels of film have been cut to bits by a very sharp blade... View on the film:On the making of included on the excellent Blue Underground DVD,Lamberto Bava mentions that with having been given only six weeks to shoot the film,he had to rush like crazy to complete the film on time,which surprised me quite a bit,due to Bava showing a lot of attention to creating a tense film which moves at a strong,brisk pace.For his vastly improved directing,Lamberto uses a good number of great tracking shots,which helps to give a strong creeping sensation that the killer may be about to appear from any corner of the isolated villa.Along with the tracking shots,Bava turns the film into a fantastic Giallo/Slasher genre mash-up!,with the scenes of the killer slowly heading down to the next floor where Bruno is attempting to hide being truly edge of the seat stuff,with Bava cranking the tension up to as high as he can.Along with the Giallo murder mystery side,Lamberto shoots most of the great,gory murder scenes with a strong "Slasher" eye,with the blade constantly shimmering in the scenes,as the murders are shoot in a more impact-focus way,and a noticablely less pop-art stylised way.For the screenplay writers Dardano Sacchetti and Elisa Briganti cleverly make sure that you never have a moment to step back from the movie,to notice that 90% of the film is taking place in one building.To cover any signs of budget/shooting limitation's,Sacchetti and Brigant create a Giallo that keeps branching out sections of the story into new,scary area's.And although some of the characters are disappointingly under- written,Sacchetti and Brigant include a brilliant sting in this Giallo/Slasher tale,which completely got me by surprise,and had a good impact on me due to the tense mystery which Bava had been building up since the start of the film.Final view on the film: An extremely brisk,well-paced Giallo/Slasher mash-up,with a good cast,a tense,tightly-written screenplay and stunningly improved directing from Lamberto Bava.

chrichtonsworld This movie has almost everything a giallo should contain. Sexy women,a brutal killer and gore. An observant and experienced viewer may be able to predict the identity of the killer early on but there are more than enough red herrings to make you doubt your self. There are lot of scenes in which cheesy clichés could have ruined the experience. Somehow the director manages to overturn these clichés into real tense scenes. And for once the main character is not a complete moron. This guy is real charismatic in the movie and his seriousness about all of the events make the movie even work better. Of course this movie has it's share of flaws where plot and logic collide. Especially in the rushed ending. But it didn't bother me in the slightest. Effective giallo!

Woodyanders Handsome young music composer Bruno (amiable Andrea Occhipinti) secludes himself in an isolated villa so he can devise the score for an upcoming horror film. A vicious psycho starts brutally butchering assorted lovely young women in the immediate area. Bruno investigates the savage homicides in order to find out if the killings have something to do with the movie he's working on. Director Lamberto Bava creates a reasonable amount of tension, maintains a grim, brooding tone throughout and stages the shockingly gory and sadistic murder set pieces with effectively ferocious go-for-it flair (the bathroom kill in particular is positively gut-wrenching). Moreover, there's a downright delectable bevy of beauteous ladies who are real easy on the eyes: Lara Naszinsky as Bruno's fetching blonde girlfriend Julia, Anny Papa as perky horror director Sandra, Valeria Cavalli as alluring neighbor Katia, and Fabiola Toledo as enticing brunette fox Angela (Toledo has a much-appreciated gratuitous topless scene). Occhipinti makes for an engaging lead, with solid support from Michele Soavi as friendly real estate agent Tony and Stanko Molnar as creepy sleazeball handyman Giovanni. Both Gianlorenzo Battaglia's slick cinematography and the elegantly eerie score by Guida and Maurizo De Angelis likewise hit the satisfying spot. The killer's true identity is both genuinely surprising and admirably perverse. Good, gruesome fun.