A Blade In The Dark

In an effectively creepy pre-credits scene, three young boys (one being that annoying blonde from THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETRY) venture to a dark old building. Upon reaching a door opening onto stairs leading downwards into the darkness, blondie is tormented by the other two to walk down the steps. He does so - only to let out a piercing scream moments later. As his friends stand at the top of the stairs shell-shocked, a tennis ball flies past them, bouncing on the wall behind them and leaving a bloody stain.

This competent opening is soon revealed to be the opening frame of the latest horror film directed by Sandra.

Bruno (Andrea Occhipinti) is a young pianist hired by Sandra to score this horror film. He hires a remote villa hoping to soak in it's isolation as inspiration for his soundtrack-to-be.

Pretty soon weird things are happening.

Bruno is startled by the flirty Katja - found hiding in a closet in the villa, and talking about wanting to have sex with Bruno within minutes of meeting him (lucky man!).

Next, Bruno finds a mysterious whispered message on his master tapes - speaking of a secret, and making mention of the name Linda … which also happens to be the name of the villa's last tenant …

Worse still, Katja disappears as quickly as she arrived, and shortly afterwards the pianist finds blood in the garden. As if Bruno wasn't already paranoid enough, he spies the gardener Giovanni dragging a huge bin-bag out of his apartment …

When his actress girlfriend Julia (the gorgeous Lara Naszinski) turns up, Bruno tries to tell her that he thinks Katja has been murdered. She accuses him of making the whole thing up.

The next morning, pretty young Angela arrives at the villa, looking for Linda. She explains to Bruno that she and Katja are housemates, and would often come to the villa to use their friend's swimming pool. Bruno explains that Linda no longer lives there and that Katja has done a vanishing act, but welcomes Angela to use the pool. Well, you would.

Lo and behold, Angela is the next girl to go missing - with only a few drops of blood in the bathroom left for Bruno to ponder over.

Bruno tells Sandra about these strange occurrences. Initially sceptical, she agrees to help Bruno investigate a locked room in the villa basement that is said to house Linda's belongings …

This stylish whodunit story unfolds with it's fair share of suspects: Tony (Michele Soavi) the caretaker; Sandra; Julia; Giovanni … and, of course, the mysterious Linda. Just who is she …?

It's also not without an agreeable amount of gore, particularly during a cruel bathroom murder that plays like a tribute to Argento-esque overkill. Not to mention stabbings, strangulation, bludgeoning, throat-slashing …!

But as undeniably violent as Lamberto Bava's film is, A BLADE IN THE DARK is about so much more than stylised gore. Visually, the use of coloured lighting in the villa hallways evokes both Argento and Mario Bava. The music, too, is eerily effective during the film's many scare scenes.

In fact, overall this is a polished, effective and atmospheric chiller well deserving of your attention - one that could comfortably rest next to something like TENEBRAE in your collection (Bava and Soavi both acted as assistant directors on the latter).

My only reservation was the terrible dubbing. Awful!

EC Entertainment's remastered collector's edition looks very good. The 1.85:1 presentation has been anamorphically enhanced, looking solid and sharp throughout. What was previously dark and murky is now clear and crisp. The stereo soundtrack is satisfactorily hiss-free, loud and consistent.

The only extras on the disc are a small gallery of artwork from domestic releases the movie has previously enjoyed, and a great gore-heavy trailer that lasts 3 minutes 14 seconds.

The scene selection menu is drab, but offers access to 15 chapters.

A tightly constructed, stylish giallo that obviously attempts to move into Argento territory with it's numerous shock set-pieces (and succeeds for the most part). Definitely recommended - and this EC re-release certainly looks great. Value for money!

Review by Stuart Willis