The Italians made some great thrillers in the 1970s and 1980s, but occasionally they would stumble badly in their efforts. This includes "A Blade in the Dark", directed by Lamberto Bava. I will admit that it's not a completely bad movie. Despite being made on a low budget, Bava uses the limited locations well so the audience is not bothered by the lack of settings. There are some striking images and occasional eye-catching direction. But all this good stuff doesn't help much against the sad fact that the movie is incredibly slow. It doesn't take long to realize that not much is happening, and the thin story is stretched out from the breaking point. Had the screenplay been more quickly paced and with a lot more happening, we might have had a nifty giallo thriller despite a few additional problems with the movie (like pretty wretched dubbing.) I would only recommend the movie to die hard fans of the Italian giallo genre.
Review of A Blade in the Dark
