Horror Movie Reviews

Compare at: $9.95 (New)
Buy Now: $8.99 (New)

You Save: $0.96 (10%)

Add to Cart

Title: A Blade in the Dark (2007)
Format: DVD
Score:
Starring: Andrea Occhipinti, Anny Papa, Fabiola Toledo, and Michele Soavi
Director: Lamberto Bava
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Runtime: 109 minutes
Hits: 196
Favorite:

Review of A Blade in the Dark

[ Back to Homepage | Back to Horror Movie Reviews Index ]

HellHorror.com not responsible for reviews/comments and they may be removed at any time.

Comments for A Blade in the Dark

• Posted on 2008-09-06
  "A Blade In The Dark" is Lamberto Bava's Giallo Masterpiece
  
  In an interview, Lamberto Bava explained that he quit directing gialli (Italian thrillers) because he disliked seeing women killed. This is unfortunate because the world probably missed out on some good gialli. "A Blade in the Dark" was his masterpiece. It exemplifies the Italian giallo because it has the following: 1) Gorgeous women; 2) Murder sequences that are creative and gruesome; 3) Numerous suspects and red herrings; and 4) A great rock-n-roll score that is literally heart pounding.
  
  A handsome musician, Bruno, moves into a large, secluded villa in order to compose the music for a horror script. In and around the villa, beautiful women are stabbed to death with the retractable blade of a box cutter. Soon Bruno fears that someone is hiding in the house, waiting to kill him or anyone who pays a visit.
  
  Lamberto is the son of the late Mario Bava, the Master of the Macabre. Mario was famous for taking a low budget film and making it appear as though it had a huge budget. Unfortunately, it is obvious that Lamberto's "A Blade in the Dark" had a small budget. The sets are few. The secluded "villa" is very modern, antiseptic, sparsely furnished and is situated within arm's length to similar structures. A large, spooky chateau in the country would've provided a nicer setting and the victims could've been other guests and the housekeeping staff. Lamberto's father would've filmed the movie at a crumbling castle with a gothic atmosphere.
  
  I enjoyed "A Blade in the Dark" much more than Lamberto's directorial premiere, "Macabre," which was too slow. The critics claimed "Macabre" wasn't violent enough. Therefore, Lamberto increased the gore and violence in "A Blade in the Dark." Later, the critics complained this film was too violent. You can't always please the critics. However, I was very pleased with the end product despite its low budget and minor plot improbabilities. I highly recommend "A Blade in the Dark" for fans of Italian gialli.
  
  
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
• Posted on 2008-02-19
  Solid, but flawed Giallo
  
  Despite having a pretty successful career it's not easy being Lamberto Bava seeing as his father is the legendary Mario Bava one of the most influential filmmakers to come out of Italy. Despite his success, Lamberto will always compared to his father and when Lamberto Bava started directing feature films Italian horror was still very popular and since he also worked under Dario Argento there is another filmmaker he will be compared to. For me, Lamberto Bava is very hit or miss and even in the films I liked by him I feel that he has this potential to reach greatness, but yet falls short.
  
  A Blade in the Dark is one of those movies that there is this potential for greatness, but yet just doesn't fully work. The general conception on A Blade in the Dark based on reviews is that it's an average Giallo and you know even though I did like the movie hence my 4-star rating it's quite difficult to make an argument for why it's better than the average reviews. This is one of those movies while it does lack there is just something I really like about it despite the flaws.
  
  The screenplay was written by Elisa Briganti & Dardano Sacchetti; both writers should be known to horror fans seeing as both have written many cult classics with Sacchetti being the more prolific of the two. As writers I do enjoy both, but in general their scripts can be silly at times, but yet work. I think this might be one of their stronger works. While some of the dialogue is a bit silly it's overall a well written mystery that is quite interesting. While it offers nothing new to the Giallo genre it works well and is mostly well written.
  
  Director Lamberto Bava takes a few cues from his father and Dario Argento and delivers a mostly solid movie with some decent suspense and some good tension and handles the mystery aspect very well. The pacing is a bit sluggish in some areas, while I can't say I was ever really bored the pacing can be quite slow. Not so much that the pacing is slow, which at times it is, but it's more that scenes are sort of dragged out and go on a little longer than need be. That's why I say this movie had the potential to be great, but just falls a little bit short.
  
  But there is a good sense of dread through the movie and the kill scenes are mostly well-done with the 2nd murder being quite brutal. Don't go into this movie expecting a high body count. The movie runs at about 104-minutes and features about 5-kill scenes, but here's the catch; the last 3 take place in the final 10-minutes. More focus is put on the mystery angle and Bava like I said does a good job there. The kill scenes aren't very gory; at this time in the Giallo the gore was stepped up possibly to keep up with the American slasher films. Despite the lack of gore the kill scenes are well done.
  
  Editing is very important and most people tend to forget how important it is; a really bad movie cannot be saved by editing, but a really good movie can. A Blade in the Dark just needed some trimming here and there. Any pacing problems could have been fixed with editing. Some scenes do drag a bit and it does take away some of the suspense. The first kill scene is a prime example of that. As the killer drags the body away Bruno played by Andrea Occhipinti hears a noise and starts to investigate. The scene just goes on a little too long and due to that the suspense level begins to drop. Basically in my opinion the biggest problem with A Blade in the Dark is mainly that some scenes just tend to go on a bit longer than they should. Had the movie been cut down it would have greatly helped.
  
  Overall I think A Blade in the Dark is a solid Giallo, but nothing great. Most people tend to find it about average and it's difficult to make a case for why it isn't. But there is enough happening to make the movie enjoyable. Worth watching, but don't expect a masterpiece of filmmaking.
  
  Cult Italian filmmaker Michele Soavi appears in the movie as Tony Rendina. And poor Giovanni Frezza best known to horror fans as Bob from House by the Cemetery and guess what? He's once again so poorly dubbed.
  
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10