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BLADE IN THE DARK (1983)Director: Lamberto Bava
Anchor Bay Entertainment
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BLADE IN THE DARK (1983)In Lamberto Bava's second feature film, the opening involves two boys daring a third one to go into a dark cellar to retrieve a rubber ball. The little blond sissy is afraid to enter, but the other boys badger him by repeating, "You're a female! You're a female! Nah Nah!"(something obviously got lost in the translation in the badly dubbed English version). Eventually, the boy goes down the stairs, but the only thing that returns from the dark doorway is a bloody bouncing ball. After the title sequence, we discover that this is a scene from a horror film being directed by a woman.
Young Andrea Occhipinti (NEW YORK RIPPER) is Bruno, a musician hired to compose the music score for the film. Bruno rents a large isolated villa to concentrate on his work. The environment seems calm at first, but is soon interrupted by a series of bizarre occurrences. Bruno discovers a strange voices on his tape deck, a mislaid craft knife, blood dripping in the bathroom, and a girl hiding in the closet. Visitors mysteriously show up on the property, and quickly disappear. He is certain that a woman has been murdered in the villa but no one seems to believe him. The director explains to him that her inspiration was the childhood of Linda, the villa's previous tenant, which may or may not explain the grisly episodes. But in typical giallo fashion (BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE, DEEP RED), the main character takes on the part of detective in order to expose the killer.
BLADE IN THE DARK is a passable thriller that relies heavily on Dario Argento's works as inspiration, so giallo fans should be pleased. Bava achieves some style which is intensified by gory killings (the murder of the girl in the bathroom is extremely brutal--one of the nastiest of its type). Not only does inspiration (or rip-off) stem from Argento (whom Bava worked with many times before and after BLADE), but there's shades of Hitchcock and DePalma as well. The film drags in spots and probably could've had 25 minutes edited out. By the way, the killer sounds a lot like Frank Gorshin's giggling Riddler!
Anchor Bay's DVD gives us a more than acceptable edition of the film. Letterboxed at 1.85:1 and 16x9 enhanced, the colors look very stable, with minimal hints of grain in the picture. The source material is in immaculate condition, and the mono sound is exceptional. Also included on the disc is a featurette entitled, "Behind The Blade" that contains interviews with the director and writer Dardano Sacchetti ("What have I learned from these 30 years? To not trust people in the movie business."). There's also bios on the two gentleman, a theatrical trailer, and a collector's booklet. (George R. Reis)