gibturk We first see the Italian production's unnamed villain sitting at a computer while a male victim lays bleeding to death. The violence in this sequence is overt and detailed. Note how the director filmed the killer's bloody feet being inserted into his tattered sneakers; the very image makes clear the grimy, thoroughly engaged nature of the murderer's pathology and, thus, makes it difficult for the audience to become attached on a personal level.While Almost Blue appropriates the psychology of other cinematic antagonists (Red Dragon comes to mind), the filmmakers chooses to invest less in the killer as an individual, and instead reveal key aspects of his personality through harsh details. For example, the antagonist walks the streets with grating, generic heavy metal music blaring into his head via a pair of earphones. This device becomes unsettling only when the camera assumes his POV and the music obliterates all other diagetic sound. The effect is to reveal his thoroughly detached nature, as well as to provide a cruel metaphor for the killer's mentality. The director seems to be saying, "This is what's inside his head." Almost Blue ultimately bears the distinction of showcasing one of the more interesting serial killers in the movie canon.

The_Void I actually had really high hopes going into this thriller as the fact that it was made in Italy made me expect a Giallo, and because I'd heard good things about it; I was expected a quality modern example of one. This film is not a Giallo; there's police and a hunt for a killer, but it's clear that director Alex Infascelli wanted the focus more on the 'psychological' elements of the story; but instead of coming off like 'Seven', the film is more like the Seven rip-off 'Taking Lives' - just not as good. I guess the killer's name - 'The Iguana' should have made me guess that this film was going to be crap as the last Italian film I saw that mentions an iguana was Riccardo Freda's awful 'The Iguana With the Tongue of Fire' - but actually, said film is better than this one! The plot is entirely mundane and simply follows a string of brutal killings. The cops can't seem to find the killer, because unbeknownst to them he constantly changes his identity. Blah blah blah, the only lead is some blind kid who likes a song called 'Almost Blue'.The film actually gets off to a decent start as we see the killer typing on a keyboard smeared with blood while his unfortunate victim sits chocking in the same room. it's all downhill from there, however, as the mundane and routine plot is almost completely devoid of interest; the part that sees the main character work out why The Iguana is so difficult to catch is the only real moment of intrigue, and director Alex Infascelli seems keen on spoiling the atmosphere at every turn by using lots of dreary rock music. A psychological thriller really needs a good atmosphere for the story to flourish...it's a shame that Infascelli didn't realise this. The only thing I liked about this film was the lead actress. Lorenza Indovina is always nice to look at, and if it wasn't for her, I'm not sure I'd have been able to make it all the way through the short, but boring, running time. It's always obvious where the film is going, and indeed the ending contains no surprises, which is yet another shame. Overall, I'm not sure why this film has gotten positive write-ups, but it certainly doesn't deserve them and Almost Blue is not worth tracking down.

sgurgolo Worst acting ever, i mean, even worse than the couple Dionisi/Caselli in Argento's NonHoSonno. Even Santamaria who is a good actor is totally unfit with his role. But if you look at it again, even if he is not directing actors at all, Infascelli took his chance on making a movie with a very strong visual impact, and there it is!! The cinematography is neat and hard. Alex should work on his big skills by making a more solid thriller/horror movie, this was just a decent first try. 6 out of ten

massimo.gianni The film tells the story of a hunt for a serial killer in Bologna, Italy. "Almost blue" is closer of "Manhunter", by Michael Mann, than many other "serial killer movie". The story focuses more on the psychology of the three main characters, the police officer who leads the search, the disturbed killer, and the blind guy that somehow helps the police, than on action and intrigue. There's a lot of violence and disturbing images, but, it seems to me, they were functional to the feeling of anguish and anxiety of the movie and they were not at all put in the movie just to shock the audience. An unusual feature for an Italian movie, the film has a very high cure for its visual and sound style and for keeping a coherent narrative tone from the beginning to the end.