The son of acclaimed Italian horror director Mario Bava, Lamberto Bava got his start working as his partner. He was an assistant director on Planet of the Vampires, Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs, and Danger: Diabolik. After a chance meeting with fellow filmmaker Pupi Avati, Lamberto made his directorial debut with Macabre in 1980. This led to Bava working with Ruggero Deodato on Cannibal Holocaust and Dario Argento on Inferno and Tenebre. While working with Argento, Lamberto was approached by writers Dardano Sacchetti and Elisa Briganti with a new project. The initial plan was to film four 30-minute segments for a TV miniseries, each ending with a murder. However, the censors deemed the series too gory for television, so Bava re-edited the material into a feature film. Following its 1983 Italian release, the film was released in the US as A Blade in the Dark in 1986.
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Rating
Synopsis
Bruno (Andrea Occhipinti) rents a villa from Tony Rendina (Michele Soavi) so he can work on a horror movie soundtrack. While staying at the villa, Bruno is visited by Katia (Valeria Cavalli), a neighbor who stops by without revealing why. Soon, a mysterious figure kills Katia with a box cutter, which Bruno doesn’t realize until he finds blood stains. He soon discovers her diary, which mentions Linda, a mysterious woman who leased the villa and disappeared soon after. Later surprise visits include his girlfriend Giulia (Lara Lamberti), Katia’s friend Angela (Fabiola Toledo), and his director Sandra (Anny Papa). Unfortunately, just as these women come by to see Bruno, they get killed more gruesomely than the last. Bruno starts uncovering more about the mysterious Linda and her connections to Sandra’s movie as the bodies pile up. Just who is Linda, and who is responsible for all these murders?
Review
I wouldn’t say A Blade in The Dark is one of the best giallos ever, but it’s a decent watch. Like any good Italian horror film, this one has plenty of gruesome kills involving box cutters, knives, and plastic bags. There’s plenty of bloody carnage, though none of the kills are memorable, like in Tenebre or The New York Ripper. Also, the cinematography is solid, with plenty of POV shots, contrasting shadows, and a few tracking shots. The music from Guido and Maurizio De Angelis, aka Oliver Onions, is catchy, even if the same theme plays throughout. The cast has a few memorable faces in Italian cinema, including Andrea Occhipinti, Giovanni Frezza, and future director Michele Soavi. Plus, at roughly about 90 minutes in length, the movie doesn’t take up too much time and gets out quickly. It’s a shame this is a pretty average giallo/slasher film.
I’d say the movie’s biggest flaw is that, in between all the murder scenes, there’s tons of filler. There are many slow scenes of characters either fiddling with their equipment, swimming, or wandering around the villa. It doesn’t help that the sequences play out the same: a random woman visits, talks to Bruno, then gets killed. On top of that, we’re not given much character development, so there’s not as much impact when they die. I’m not saying every slasher film needs deep characterization, but this doesn’t give us much of anything. That said, as boring as this movie can be, it led to Lamberto Bava making more exciting genre fare. We wouldn’t have gotten incredible movies like Demons, Blastfighter, or Demons 2, so I give this film some credit. Overall, A Blade in The Dark has moments, but it’s best recommended for hardcore giallo fans.
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