Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Edison Witt The first must-see film of the year.

jadavix "A Blade In the Dark" is a stupid, boring movie about a guy scoring a horror film in a villa where women drop in to be murdered. He also has a pervert of a handyman who hangs around spying on the women and providing an obvious red herring.There's very little nudity and no sex. Only one of the women takes her top off briefly.The "suspenseful" bits are handled moronically. A lady dives into a swimming pool and the music suddenly turns spooky. Is there something inherently scary about swimming in a swimming pool? No? Then why the music? As soon as she gets out, the music stops. What's the deal? If what's on screen hasn't given us any reason to be scared, scary music just seems bizarre and out of place.The murder weapon used for the first killing is also ridiculous. It's a Stanley knife with a plastic base. It looks like something you would find on a particularly OCD-having salaryman's desk: you know, the guy in the office who has all his pencils engraved with his name and won't let you borrow anything. It's not anywhere near dangerous enough to kill someone who could put up the least resistance.Later, a the handyman gets repeatedly bashed with his own spanner (ho ho) and all that comes from it is a bit of fake blood. So why doesn't he resist? He just stands there and let's his noggin get flogged.Anyway, there's no mystery in this movie. The killer turns out to be someone we haven't met and know nothing about. There are some scenes later on that could have been scary but happen far too late, and after far too many stupid scenes, to be as effective as they could have been in a better movie.Bava Jr. was apparently no better a filmmaker than Bava Sr., but at least he isn't ridiculously overrated.

Leofwine_draca Lamberto Bava's second feature - after the head-in-a-fridge hijinks of MACABRE - is this passable giallo which manages to get most elements right. The main problem with the film in my opinion is that Bava borrows too hard from his predecessors, with elements and stylistic touches from Hitchcock/Mario Bava/Brian de Palma popping up all the while. His biggest inspiration is obviously Dario Argento, and stylistically this film is very close to the feel of classics such as DEEP RED and TENEBRAE. There's the same suspenseful music, the same hero who must unravel the clues on his own, the same explicit murders to beef up the plot.The plot is a sound one, making use of a small cast and an isolated location. The villa in the film is full of seemingly endless corridors for plenty of stalking to take place in. The film succeeds in being quiet atmospheric and even a little frightening, even if the thrills are second-rate. The acting is also all right, although the film lacks the presence of a big-name star to give it that extra edge. Andrea Occhipinti (also appearing in CONQUEST, the same year's lame fantasy flick from Fulci) is fine as the hero of the piece, although he is given little emoting to do, appearing more of a robot instead. The identity of the females in the film confused me as to their relationship with Bruno; a lot of girls just pop up out of nowhere to get murdered. Also lurking about is the familiar face of Michele Soavi, a staple of the Italian horror scene in this period before he went into directing.Italian horror fans will automatically expect the slow-moving nature of the story, the plot holes, the sometimes dodgy editing and cheesy dialogue (one bimbo character is called a "vacant nerd" by our hero) although these may make the film harder to take seriously for your average viewer. Thankfully, we have a great score here with lots of suspenseful music which made things a lot easier to take for me (the film cuts down on money by having Bruno as a composer of horror movies - that way we get to listen to his music as the film goes on).The all important gore is quite impressive, and surprisingly explicit in some cases (although the UK version shows some evidence of cutting in the second murder). Nasty! I especially liked the little stylistic touch of having the craft knife click from notch to notch loudly as the killer extended it. A BLADE IN THE DARK breaks no new boundaries and by following on from what has come before (unlike Bava's spectacular DEMONS) will never be very noticeable, but it's an interesting enough film for genre fans to sit through. My only complaint is the identity of the killer - it was far too easy to guess, even for me!

happyendingrocks Boasting a steady throttle of well-orchestrated suspense, some solid jump-scares, one whopper of a gore set-piece, and a fantastic musical score, this Lamberto Bava vehicle is an uneven but satisfying offering.The film is centered around a composer who moves into an opulent villa to record the soundtrack for a horror film. He quickly finds himself living one when a series of strange events plunges him into a macabre mystery centered around the house's previous tenant, Linda. A series of female acquaintances of his predecessor begin showing up to provide him tantalizing clues, but then disappear just as suddenly when they are targeted and slayed by a deranged killer with a fondness for sharp objects. As he delves deeper into the cryptic saga of Linda's "secret," he learns that the movie he's working on may hold the key to discovering the dark, hidden truth.The classic Giallo whodunnit formula is firmly in place, and Bava wisely provides enough suspects, both male and female, to keep things intriguing. We're left to puzzle over the potentiality of the lurking handyman who decorates his walls with pornographic pictures, the slightly batty film director who we imagine may be crafting her own real-life slasher movie, and the jealous girlfriend who bristles at the idea of other women setting foot anywhere near the house. This guessing game isn't stymied until the climax, when our possibilities start getting offed one by one, so the film maintains its mystique throughout.The opening scene, in which two young boys dare their friend to descend into a creepy, shadow-strewn cellar and a grisly artifact plunges out of the darkness to announce his fate, gets the film off to a rousing start. From there, Bava sets a leisurely but effective pace, unfurling a piece at a time of the overarching enigma and punctuating each act with displays of the killer's prowess for carnage. Genre aficionados may find themselves disappointed by the meager body count leading into the finale, but the engrossing storyline renders this a minor complaint, and as the final act plays out, Bava makes up for lost time by whittling away his remaining cast in quick fashion.The most gruesome and memorable scene in the film, a deliriously blood-soaked rendezvous in a bathroom, is constructed with a meticulous Hitchcock-ian flair for tension, and the end result is one of the most harrowing clips in the Giallo canon. Bava never quite reached the Grand Guignol via art-house heights of his brilliant countryman Dario Argento, but as evidenced by this particularly stunning segment of Blade, it wasn't because he didn't try.Granted, there's plenty of silliness on display here, most of it a result of the dubbed dialogue, which at times clearly demonstrates some glaringly awkward translation ("Is it possible you're such a vacant nerd? Your satisfaction is to sit like a frog in the sun?"). Likewise, the concluding summation of the murderer's motivation is so rushed and dicey that the film ends on a fairly humorous note.The final twist works well enough, but Bava falters a bit there by trying to keep the audience guessing for too long at a point when the solution to the riddle is plainly obvious. By the time we find out who's been holding the titular Blade, there are are only a couple of characters left, so knowing who the killer ISN'T strips the reveal of its big "a-ha" moment.However, despite its flaws, A Blade In The Dark is an entertaining and cohesive thriller that delivers everything its premise promises. I'll let horror scholars debate whether this is Bava's best film or not; as for myself, I liked it a hell of a lot, and that's more than good enough for me.

Scarecrow-88 Film composer Bruno(Andrea Occhipinti)has the misfortune of adding his score to a horror film inspiring a sadistic killer to butcher various women who have a specific relationship with the mysterious Linda who resided in the place before he began leasing it from the owner(Michelle Soavi) for a short stay. Sandra(Anny Papa)is the female horror director and Julia(Lara Naszinsky)is his jealous girlfriend. The film will open doors for both ladies to possibly be suspects. But, if you are keen enough(..and really care enough), you might see, and hear, a few winks from the filmmakers who it actually might be. That's up for you to decide because it was awfully hard making it past the horrendous dubbing(some of the sorriest, no-account dubbing ever applied to layer Italian actors..so bad one actor's voice often interrupts or overlaps another's)and numbingly dumb dialogue.The film does have a visual flourish and the score(both the electronic, pulsing beat and loud sound effects within such as increasing heart beats, breathing, etc)is terrific. It has some stunningly sadistic violence(the oft-mentioned bathroom sequence which is brutal and the choking of a victim with missing film strip!), but labors along far too long holding the viewer at bay tediously. Instead of packing a punch in pacing the flick, it just goes on and on and on.. It lacks the frenetic energy Lamberto Bava would later inhibit in the far superior DEMONS. BLADE IN THE DARK just has too many numerous problems to overcome.