A Blade in the Dark Review

A Blade in the Dark (1983) (DVD)

a.k.a. La casa con la scala nel buio or House of Dark Stairs

Director: Lamberto Bava

**1/2 Rating

Being a big horror fan, I am more than familiar with the works of Mario Bava. In fact, I own two Bava DVD sets, so I will likely be reviewing his films very soon. Lamberto, though not his father, gives us an Italian giallo that is very thrilling and at times very graphic. Giallo, for those not in the know, is Italian for yellow and comes from the way the pages of Italian mystery novels would yellow. These films are yellow mysteries, heavy on suspence, much like noir characterizes films with an antihero and a femme fatale. This film was originally going to be a four part mini series with a death at the end of each chapter. The filmmakers simply added a central killer to the story.

The plot follows Bruno (Andrea Occhipinti), a horror film composer, who works in isolation on a new murder mystery. The murder mystery, the parts we see, involve a girl tormented by bullies to go into the basement of a house to find a ball. We next hear the girl scream and see the ball bounce away covered in blood. Sandra (Anny Papa), the films director explains that the story is based Linda, a girl that lived in a villa that is now experiencing murders of it own. By a woman. How is Bruno connected to this? He must find out. 

This film is a good mix of Alfred Hitchcock and Dario Argento. If I told you what Hitchcock it reminds me of, I would give away the "twist" ending. I, however, figured out the "twist" long before the movie seemed to though. That's not to say this isn't a good film. The killer's cat and mouse games are top notch and slow stalking scene with the killer and the prey are as good a Mario's. The Argento touch comes through with the gore and violence, which there is a lot of. My favorite part has to be the score. Very haunting and surprisingly good for a giallo. Almost a slasher film in a way and would be a good film to view during Halloween.

Fun Fact: Lamberto actually liked the American title A Blade in the Dark better than the Italian title the House of Dark Stairs. He felt the title captured the film much better.