Diener der Dunkelheit

I'm wondering if the low ratings on here are from people who don't like subtitles.

You do really have to watch this as it switches back and forth a bit, and if you don't understand Italian you need to read the subtitles, but it is interesting and engaging.

I got Alice in Wonderland vibes from this, it was quite surreal and you're not sure what is real or not but it just about ties up in the end.

I liked this so much I've bought the Donato Carrisi book this is based on. Never heard of him before and never read his stuff so I am looking forward to reading this book.

All in all, a great and mindbending film with good actors and an engaging plot. Don't blink, you will miss something.

I am not usually leaving reviews here but i honestly think that this movie is underrated. It kept me excited for the full 2 hours, something that nowadays hardly a movie manages.

A kidnapped girl is found 15 years after her abduction. A celebrated psychiatrist is trying to deal with her trauma and a retired detective who only has hours to live is ready to put it all on the line to find a vicious killer. Will he be able to succeed? And who is the real villain?

Donato Carrisi adapts his rather complex and at times convoluted plot to a film that makes surprising sense. That alone is an achievement. This is chronologically the third book in the series which makes it a particularly difficult adaptation. The good news - it works out well.

Writers rarely makes good directors. Carrisi is an exception. Choosing carefully his colour pallet he nods to the "giallo" sub-genre of the 80s and draws inspiration from the likes of Dario Argento (Suspiria). The whole movie feels like a dream-like sequence, although it is more procedural crime fiction than anything else.

What makes the movie feel focused is its great performances. Dustin Hoffman as Dr Green who is trying to get into the mind of a beautiful victim and Toni Servillo (THE GREAT BEAUTY) as a dying detective who has made it his life goal to catch the killer, carry the film on their shoulders. The story has an episodic structure and echoes heavily the SAW franchise, although, I am sure, Carrisi would be devastated to hear of the comparison. What he has been trying to create with his books (and films) is a serial killer cinematic universe. INTO THE LABYRINTH may not be the best start, but it definitely has the potential to becoming a mystery to remember.

Seems logical for the most part, but at the end some twists makes it very confusing to fully understand... You have to think afterwards to try to figure it out, I think that this problem occurs when tou want to squeeze in 2 hrs a complex book.

In another 10/10 review you can read that bad reviews are ' from people who fell asleep or didn't understand', a thiller that makes you sleep or completely confused isn't what I call a good one.

Whether you can figure out where the movie will lead you or whether the split narrative excites you enormously ... well that will be up to you. The movie has great actors for sure - and there are hints I reckon that are telling you where it goes. Because you may second guess certain things, but the movie also hints if you are right about that - or your suspicions in general.

The structure is well thought of, but it also leaves certain things on the floor. No pun intended ... there is a lot of mystery and I feel the movie had way more potential that it actually was able to dig out and really explore. Even so, it is well told it is more than a decent thriller and it is "fun" to watch.