Sunday, May 8, 2011

Solamente Nero (1978) aka The Bloodstained Shadow aka Only Blackness

3.5 / 5 Mar '10
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: Antonio Bido
Written by: Marisa Andalò, Antonio Bido
Actors include: Lino Capolicchio, Stefania Casini, Craig Hill
Genre: Horror, Giallo, Thriller, Mystery
Length: 109 minutes
Banned: Nope




Review:
Well unfortunately this starts out very slow, the gloomy serious nature of the film does add to it, and the cinematography is quite nice. However the restraint wasn't appreciated by me (this is a giallo film, I want sleaze!) and the cast for the most part is very unfortunate looking (and what was wardrobe thinking?). If you can get through the dull first half the second half is definitely more what one would expect from this kind of film. The soundtrack is one of the highlights though thanks to Stelvio Cipriani who's work creates tension and definitely adds to the film big time. Since a schoolgirl was murdered in the past (or the opening credits for us) and the murderer is never caught a young man named Stefano returns to his home (where the murder happened). He wants to try to figure out what happened along with his help of his seriously older brother (uh more like Dad) the local Priest. When another young girl is killed in front of the Priest and some ominous things start happening it's a rush to find out who is doing the killings. It does seem to borrow from better films like Profondo rosso [Deep Red] and 4 mosche di velluto grigio [Four Flies on Grey Velvet] and it's definitely not one of the best core gialli, but it's still worth a viewing for fans I'd say.

Availability:  On DVD

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