A Blade In The Dark (Beyond Terror) [DVD] [1983]

stuart

at 6:07 pm

Review by stuart for A Blade In The Dark (Beyond Terror) [DVD] [1983]
Rating: (4 / 5)
Bruno (Andrea Occhipinti) decides to rent a house in the countryside to work on the score for a new horror movie. The house is huge, and he has a great time wandering around, getting inspiration to compose new music. When his neighbor Katia (Valeria Cavalli) goes missing after seeing him one night, he’s concerned about the former tenant who disappeared as well. When his girlfriend Julia, (Lara Naszinsky) shows up to spend time with him, Bruno starts investigating her disappearance, trying to solve it, which upsets Julia. As more disappearances occur around the house, Bruno tries harder to figure out the truth. When Anne, (Anny Papa) arrives to pick up the finished work for the film, they are all trapped inside with the killer.

The Good News: Even though this is a late-era entry in the world of giallos, it’s one of the better ones. It displays a lot of the stylish elements that made many of the early classics so memorable and compelling. We get a stylish killer, where we only get a small series of clues to his identity along the way, a great series of red herrings to play upon the viewer’s deductive powers, and, off course, super-stylized shots. A shot that really impresses me was watching a woman wander into a pool, and we scene the whole thing from below the water level, looking up. Pretty creative, as was the murder scenes, which are typical of giallos. One in particular, where the victim first encounters the killer outside the house and through a series of escapes and chases, winds up being killed inside, is pretty effective. Particularly effective was the fact that the killer’s shadow was used predominately in the scene, heightening the tension as it got closer and closer. The jump with the knife caps it off, and the bloody carcass that remains is a great cap on the events. It also played out in another areas, such as building suspense. The off-screen noises that we hear are masterfully delivered, especially the breathing that is heard during the climactic chase. That is undoubtedly the highlight, with a thrilling and suspense cat-and-mouse chase through the house that uses a wide manner of tactics to make it a real highlight: the lights strategically-timed that go off, the cutting off of escape routes, and finally a slow, carefully executed escape attempt through the interior. It’s a really thrilling moment that culminates in a great jump that makes it particularly exciting. There is lots more to this as well.

The Bad News: There is only one real complaint I have against the film: it’s too overlong. At times, it seemed to include scenes that unnecessarily stretch out it’s running time. The detective angle is well-played, but too many times it felt that it could’ve been trimmed and not harmed the movie or it’s plot too much. This is the only real thing I have against it.

The Final Verdict: It has some sequences that probably didn’t need to be in here, this is a pretty great giallo. It features a lot of the techniques of the genre, and a lot more for others. All giallo and Italian horror movie fans should look into this one, and the more adventurous should as well.

Anonymous

at 6:55 pm

Review by for A Blade In The Dark (Beyond Terror) [DVD] [1983]
Rating: (2 / 5)
‘A Blade in the Dark’. Firstly, some revealing home truths about this eerily titled effort. The majority of this sluggish flick takes place in broad daylight and the ‘blade’ is in actual fact a feeble cross between a blunt stanley knife and a nail file. That said, there are the occasional glimpses of genuine horror, but they are sadly outnumbered by countless shoddy moments. As with the majority of these Italien horror movies the acting is stereotypically desperate and the plot confusingly vague. This is to be expected, but what is lacking in substance is not made up by action or raw horror in this film. There is a modicum of a twist at the end, but even this was somewhat predictable. The rest of ‘A Blade in the Dark’ consists of strangers and strays visiting a man who lives alone in an appartment. Each is mutilated by the blade wielding stalker until the killers’ identity is finally revealed.
As far as gore goes there isn’t much to write home about, although the imfamous ‘bathroom scene’ is both bloody and brutal. Areas of unitentional comedy , typical of this branch of horror are fairly rife. They include the leading characters unbelievable coolness at the knowledge that a crazed attacker is somewhere in his residence. The tacky close ups of the killers pathetic weapon and more generally, the chronically mistimed English dubbing which really is poor.
For the true horror fan ‘A Blade in the Dark’is worth viewing for it’s few decent bits. But please, don’t expect a classic and furthermore don’t expect to be shocked.

P.L

at 7:11 pm

Review by P.L for A Blade In The Dark (Beyond Terror) [DVD] [1983]
Rating: (3 / 5)
A Blde in the Dark was directed by Lamberto Bava in 1983. The story is about a composer who has rented a villa to compose a movie score only to find all kinds of mysterious goings on including murder, women hiding in cupboards, all of which has something to do with the former occupant named Linda. While not the best giallo ever made it is good compared to some of the other late era giallos and the murders are well staged and quite graphic. One of the problems is that it is to long and it would be nice to have the 93 minute version on dvd one day.

Vipcos disc is one of their better efforts and contary to what some reffernce books like DVD Delirium say, the transfer IS 16:9 enhanced (1.77:1) (yes, really an anamorphic vipco dvd!) and looks fantastic. The audio sounds loud and clear. Sadly the disc has no meaningfull extras.