A Blade in the Dark (1983)

i must have seen a different film!!

Don't listen to the negative reviews

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Lamberto Bava's second feature - after the head-in-a-fridge hijinks of MACABRE - is this passable giallo which manages to get most elements right. The main problem with the film in my opinion is that Bava borrows too hard from his predecessors, with elements and stylistic touches from Hitchcock/Mario Bava/Brian de Palma popping up all the while. His biggest inspiration is obviously Dario Argento, and stylistically this film is very close to the feel of classics such as DEEP RED and TENEBRAE. There's the same suspenseful music, the same hero who must unravel the clues on his own, the same explicit murders to beef up the plot.The plot is a sound one, making use of a small cast and an isolated location. The villa in the film is full of seemingly endless corridors for plenty of stalking to take place in. The film succeeds in being quiet atmospheric and even a little frightening, even if the thrills are second-rate. The acting is also all right, although the film lacks the presence of a big-name star to give it that extra edge. Andrea Occhipinti (also appearing in CONQUEST, the same year's lame fantasy flick from Fulci) is fine as the hero of the piece, although he is given little emoting to do, appearing more of a robot instead. The identity of the females in the film confused me as to their relationship with Bruno; a lot of girls just pop up out of nowhere to get murdered. Also lurking about is the familiar face of Michele Soavi, a staple of the Italian horror scene in this period before he went into directing.Italian horror fans will automatically expect the slow-moving nature of the story, the plot holes, the sometimes dodgy editing and cheesy dialogue (one bimbo character is called a "vacant nerd" by our hero) although these may make the film harder to take seriously for your average viewer. Thankfully, we have a great score here with lots of suspenseful music which made things a lot easier to take for me (the film cuts down on money by having Bruno as a composer of horror movies - that way we get to listen to his music as the film goes on).The all important gore is quite impressive, and surprisingly explicit in some cases (although the UK version shows some evidence of cutting in the second murder). Nasty! I especially liked the little stylistic touch of having the craft knife click from notch to notch loudly as the killer extended it. A BLADE IN THE DARK breaks no new boundaries and by following on from what has come before (unlike Bava's spectacular DEMONS) will never be very noticeable, but it's an interesting enough film for genre fans to sit through. My only complaint is the identity of the killer - it was far too easy to guess, even for me!

This is the second of Lamberto Bava's impressive string of horror films in the 80's. It followed in the wake of the excellent Macabre and preceded the highly entertaining Demons. This one was firmly in the slasher/giallo style of films. It's another polished effort from the director and is one of the best gialli of the 80's. Unlike the 70's proto-type Bava's film doesn't really focus too much on the mystery side of the story, although it is still definitely there. It's more a stalk and slash affair, although one with some style and suspense.It stars, amongst others, future director Michele Soavi. And it is basically about a film composer who rents a remote villa to create the music for a new thriller. While there vicious murders begin to happen.The story line is nothing out of the ordinary and I would even say things pan out a little predictably. In fact, it's a pretty pedestrian film when it isn't focusing on scenes involving tension or violence. The mystery itself is not especially well thought out and the film as a whole does not have a very good script. The dialogue isn't helped, though, by the particularly bad dubbing. But I can hear a lot of people asking so what, hasn't it ever been thus in this sub-genre of film? Well, this is true but these aspects are made more damaging by the fact that the movie is definitely overlong for what it is and consequently, there is too much padding. It could easily have been trimmed by twenty minutes without sacrificing anything important. If the editing had been tighter, focussing more purely on the horror content at the expense of much of the melodramatics, it would have been a considerably better film.But I have to say that where A Blade in the Dark really scores is in Bava's good handling of tension and horror. When the film does hone in on this, it's often really effective. I would even go as far as to say that it can be genuinely frightening at times. No mean feat to be honest, considering how most films of its type rarely are. The whole finale in the villa with the killer stalking around half-seen speaking with that creepy voice is really effective. While from a horror perspective there is a bathroom killing sequence that is particularly inventively nasty. The atmosphere throughout is helped by some good camera-work and a fairly decent, if repetitive, score. There are also some memorably stylish moments such as the scene in the pool with roaming underwater photography. The action rarely moves from the villa which probably hinders the story developing its mystery thread but it's a reasonably effective setting, even if it is a house that is for some reason fitted out with a somewhat disproportionately impractical number of cupboards. The characters themselves act completely stupidly throughout, however, and at any given opportunity actively ignore events that appear incredibly suspicious. For example, tape is ripped from a recording machine and pages in a diary are thrown in a fire indicating a house-invading intruder but our protagonist merely treats these occurrences with mild concern. And when a mysterious girl emerges from a cupboard in his house he doesn't appear to consider this very strange. But I suppose he subsequently then mixes up a spider with a cockroach and later repeats this strange mistake, so I suppose we are not dealing with a character with too much common sense in fairness.Overall, seeing as this is an 80's giallo I have to cut A Blade in the Dark some slack. Its daftness is sort of endearing to at least a certain extent and it's hardly alone in this when you consider other similar films from the time. But, at the same time, it is successful as a horror film. There's good tension generated at times and it does have a nicely stylish presentation for the most part. It's not going to trouble your brain too much but it's pretty good value as an entertaining example of 80's Italian horror.

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....

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.