Bruno, an up and coming film composer, has been hired to write the score to a new horror movie. After moving into a secluded villa, life begins to imitate art as a vicious killer starts bumping off anyone and everyone who happens to pay him a visit.
House of the Dark Stairway, Λεπίδα στο Σκοτάδι!, Das Haus mit dem dunklen Keller, 暗闇の殺意, Cuchillos en la oscuridad, La maison de la terreur, Penge a sötétben, 血腥激情夜, Uma Lâmina no Escuro, Casa cu scara în întuneric
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Spooktober IV: Morte all'italiana
Lamberto Bava directs Michele Soavi in this slightly entertaining film that initially reminded me of "Blow Out" before reverting to a pretty conventional giallo film.
We got a few nice kills, including the one at the opening. It's clear that the film was made with a TV budget in mind, and this is reflected in the photography and overall quality of the movie, but this really works to the film's advantage at times. Soavi is a fantastic director, but a great actor he's not. The acting is mediocre at best, and the bad dialogue (which seems like it was lifted from a porn film) and dubbing just make matters worse.
All in all, even though it…
Familiar faces play here according to the well known Giallo pattern.
The result is a movie that is good.. but apart from the bathroom kill it can't boast because it's simply too harmless for that (and too long).
#SlasherSaturday
Ooof, this was frustratingly slow. Soooo much time is spent with Bruno (and at the end, Julia), inching at a f🤩king snails pace through the house. So much of this made no sense. Bruno was somehow 1000% convinced that two murders took place in the house despite barely a shred of physical evidence but apparently doesn’t want to call the cops. Julia, btw, was drop dead gorgeous. At times she looked identical to Margot Robbie, at others, Erika Eleniak. The first time you see the killer in those heels, that dress those painted nails, but an obscured face, I knew where we were headed 😬😬😬 and I knew it wasn’t going to be good. (It wasn’t). The bathroom kill…
Frig yes! This is the Italian cinema I know and love. Sorry Slaughter Hotel but too kinkay! I hadn't seen this in a while and I always forget how great it is. Other than Demons this is Lamberto Bava at his best. Top notch 80s giallo with awesome atmosphere, score, setting and overall intensity.
I love the plot of this film. Hiding away at a beautiful yet isolated school to score a horror film really resonates with me. Such a cool set up. Can't get enough of those synthesizers! Unfortunately our hunk (Eric Foreman deluxe edition) music producer isn't alone at his getaway. A killer is stalking the grounds and brutally murdering the women that live on the premises. A…
Lamberto Bava's first foray into the Giallo proper and he's channelling his inner Argento, with this film that also takes influence from Psycho and Brian De Palma. A Blade in the Dark focuses on a composer who is hanging out in a huge luxury villa while he makes a score for a horror film. However, it turns out he's not there alone as a homicidal maniac is also around to pick off the random women that visit. The plot is really standard Giallo fare - pretty much as simple as they come, but with a meta element playing out in the background to make things a little more interesting. The sparse villa where it all takes place and the slow…
Basically Italian Psycho, but the dubbing was so bad I was laughing throughout most of it.
"A Blade in the Dark" is a 1983 Giallo film directed by Lamberto Bava. It is Bava's second primary directorial film after "Macabre" (1980), but sequentially he has had a long-standing career working as an assistant director on numerous influential films beforehand. This involves workings with his father, the infamous Mario Bava, and other notables such as Ruggero Deodato and Dario Argento. Being intermixed with numerous prevalent projects, the opportunity to make an Italian four-part miniseries came up intitled "A Blade in the Dark" which Bava accepted. As the film grew to be more graphic than originally incepted, it was decided to reformulate the effort into a film. Ironically, I do find the history of reediting the film running respectably…
WHEN THE LIGHT GOES OUT, THE KNIFE GOES IN!
It certainly does dang! Gotta love a tag line that's straight to the point! Finally checking out this beautiful new Vinegar Syndrome release of this sneaky Italian classic. I'm glad it got the royal treatment as it's a film that's not always mentioned in the Italian horror discussion. It may be a little slower paced than some if it's counterparts but what it may lack in consistency it delivers with stylish dread and moody atmosphere. Bava Jr certainly knew how to utilize tension and dramatic flare. When the violence ramps up it goes from 1 to 10 resulting in several scenes of notorious brutality.
If there's such thing as a cozy…
I'm having an off October and this put my head back in the game. Just the right blend of silliness and violence. I've never laughed so hard as at the "it's a cockroach" line. The shampoo death is one of the most intense giallo deaths I've ever seen. Lamberto really had the touch in the 80's. The worlds he creates are ones I want to stare at, even in their lesser moments.
This was a surprisingly great giallo/slasher from Lamberto Bava.
The story follows Bruno, a film score composer, who rents out a villa to work on his next project: a horror film.
Soon enough characters are introduced and then killed off around the property and Bruno tries to figure out what exactly is going on.
At first I was a little challenged by the dubbing. The dry dialogue scenes brought to mind something like Witchtrap and with a lot of the daytime scenes I was seeing a similar look to some of the slashers that Vinegar Syndrome has been putting out.
This is not necessarily a bad thing though, as the Italian aesthetic also comes through at points like it's a…
Initially intended to be a TV miniseries, it was rejected for being too violent (whoever thought this was going to be TV-friendly was insane) and subsequently edited into a theatrical release. I opted to watch the shorter theatrical cut, which unsurprisingly suffers from some awkward editing and confusing plotting, but what was surprising was how poorly paced and overlong this edit felt. I don’t think I could’ve sat through 30 more minutes of this. The kills are fun but pretty standard fare for an early ’80s giallo, it’s the ending that irritated me most. It’s blatantly obvious where this was headed within the first 5 minutes, and when the twist is finally revealed, I literally yawned and rolled my eyes.…
"It's not a spider, it's a cockroach!" - Italian cinema's most befuddling line as it clearly is a fucking spider
A Blade in the Dark is not top tier giallo, but I dug the heck out of it. We get the always ridiculous Andrea "Donald Duck" Occhipinti in the lead, unacting his way through the film, pulling faces that make no sense in the moment. There's Bob from House by the Cemetery, and Fabiola Toledo, the red-eyed, green-vomming iconic demon from Lamberto Bava's one true masterpiece. Most importantly, this features director Michele Soavi's most involved participation as an actor, extending far beyond a cameo. The aesthetic is Tenebre-lite. The story is sleazy (and shockingly dated by today's standards). It's predictable yet fun. The dialogue is delightfully silly. There's a murder in a bathroom that is genuinely horrifying and stands alongside the best deaths in giallo history. A Blade in the Dark is definitely trash, and I like trash a lot.
