(*mild spoilers*)
Son of famous the Italian director, Mario Bava, Lamberto Bava directs his own giallo thriller.
'A Blade in the Dark' is a mildly (the emphasis being on mild) entertaining 'whodunit' thriller. It's by no means on par with some of Dario Argento's work but manages to succeed in its own way. Like most of these thrillers it is ridden with suspense, gore, red-herrings and the inescapable 'whodunit' element. There are some lovely camera-shots here especially during the 'bathroom' murder scene.
The death scenes are (moderately) fulfilling including a fair spill of blood. The ending however just seems weak. It doesn't take that long to piece together who has been committing the murders and the way in which killer dies is a big let-down.
The way in which diegetic sounds merge and fuse with non-diegetic sound is a rather nice inclusion too. The scene where composer 'Bruno' (Andrea Occhipinti) is playing a haunting theme on his piano and then stops only to have the score continue playing as part of the films soundtrack is a nice idea. The weakness is that 'Blade...' just doesn't quite manage to achieve the suspense, horror and atmosphere that is so common in Mario Bava or Dario Argento's work. However, taking 'A Blade in the Dark' as a stand-alone thriller is does work surprisingly well. -'6'-
Son of famous the Italian director, Mario Bava, Lamberto Bava directs his own giallo thriller.
'A Blade in the Dark' is a mildly (the emphasis being on mild) entertaining 'whodunit' thriller. It's by no means on par with some of Dario Argento's work but manages to succeed in its own way. Like most of these thrillers it is ridden with suspense, gore, red-herrings and the inescapable 'whodunit' element. There are some lovely camera-shots here especially during the 'bathroom' murder scene.
The death scenes are (moderately) fulfilling including a fair spill of blood. The ending however just seems weak. It doesn't take that long to piece together who has been committing the murders and the way in which killer dies is a big let-down.
The way in which diegetic sounds merge and fuse with non-diegetic sound is a rather nice inclusion too. The scene where composer 'Bruno' (Andrea Occhipinti) is playing a haunting theme on his piano and then stops only to have the score continue playing as part of the films soundtrack is a nice idea. The weakness is that 'Blade...' just doesn't quite manage to achieve the suspense, horror and atmosphere that is so common in Mario Bava or Dario Argento's work. However, taking 'A Blade in the Dark' as a stand-alone thriller is does work surprisingly well. -'6'-