Die Farben der Nacht

Tutti i colori del buio or All the Colors of the Dark (also released as Day of the Maniac and They're Coming to Get You!) got some good points - a nice soundtrack (including some good psychedelic rock tunes), some well crafted scenes/settings and psychedelic shots, some beautiful ladies. Where this movie lacks is in providing an interesting story line and the elements of horror or terror are rather on the weak or tame side. The occult scenes with some trippy elements are well shot and spiced up with some softporn elements. Is it bad? No. Is it good? Not so much. Only recommended if you want to watch some movie deep rooted in the 70s style of Italian movie making - but for a real giallo movie this one is too tame in my opinion.

You do know that in the real world, the chances of encountering women like Edwige Fenech, Susan Scott, and Marina Malfatti in the space of even a YEAR are almost zilch, right? George Hilton encounters them all in one day. He's an old man now, but I doubt he's got any regrets, and probably still has one of the most enviable wank banks in existence.

Edwige does a lot of 'startled over the shoulder glances' in this one, so if you're a big fan of that you will like this, a quasi-giallo involving that early seventies obsession: the satan worshipping cult. But I'm getting ahead of myself there. The main question of the first half of this film is: If Edwige has flashbacks to witnessing an OLD Ivan Rassimov killing her mother when she was a child, then why does she think a YOUNG Ivan Rassimov is stalking her now?

Needless to say when we first meet Edwige she's a messed up girl (in her head, she still looks immaculate no matter what happens to her) - she witnessed her mum being killed, she lost a baby in a car crash caused by husband George Hilton, and now she can't get it on with him due flashbacks. What's a girl to do? Go see a psychiatrist like her sister Susan Scott recommends? Or join a Satanic cult, drink the blood of a sacrificed dog, and get it on with some smelly hippies? If you thought Edwige's character in Anna, the Mafioso's Punching Bag was gullible, you aint seen nothing yet!

The Satanic cult element is introduced fairly early, but the main mystery of the film is who can Edwige trust? Probably not Ivan Rassimov, as she spends most of the film running away from him, but was is George Hilton up to? Is he a travelling salesman or is he something else? What about psychiatrist George Riguad? Or why does Susan Scott hate George? And what did lawyer Luciano Pigozzi want to talk to her about? Sergio Martino does a good job here of making everything as trippy as possible. The film starts with a bonkers dream sequence involving a floating man in drag and a pregnant woman rubbing blood on her stomach. He chops up the editing at several points so things repeat themselves, shows scenes that may or may not have happened in Edwige's head, and also has Edwige having visions of things that haven't happened yet. You can't go wrong with a good rooftop chase so Sergio throws one of them in too, and actually manages to explain most of what's going on before the end of the film! Except those visions.

That's it - I've now watched every Edwige giallo film (Top Sensation, Five Dolls for the August Moon, Strange Case of Mrs Wardh, Your Vice is a Locked Room and only I have the Key, The Case of the Bloody Iris, All the Colours of the Dark, 1975's Strip Nude For Your Killer and 1988's Phantom of Death). Apart from those, Edwige would appear in a whole lot of 'sexy comedies' that were seemingly the most popular genre in Italy in the late seventies. She would also appear in a couple of Euro Crime films, including Mean Frank and Crazy Tony, which I switched off after ten minutes due to the horrible comedy.

All The Colors of the Dark is a combination of a giallo, an occult horror and a Roman Polanski style claustrophobic apartment-based thriller. It's possibly director Sergio Martino's most ambitious film from a period when he produced a series of excellent pictures. Unlike Martino's other gialli, this one is much more psychological in approach. It doesn't have a series of murders or anything like that but instead focuses on the troubled world of its female protagonist played by cult actress Edwige Fenech. She is recovering from a car crash which claimed the life of her unborn baby, shortly after this she is menaced by a mysterious man and is introduced to a black magic group by an enigmatic neighbour. The story isn't all that great to be perfectly honest it's the style in which it's presented that's its strength. It's consistently photographed in an interesting way, with unusual angles and good colour schemes. The disorienting camera angles do add to the overall theme of a psychologically troubled woman. The London settings are also used very well indeed – the apartment block and country manor are both very effectively shot. It would also be deeply remiss to not mention Bruno Nicolai's soundtrack. It's a really nice psychedelic piece that adds to the atmosphere very nicely, it comes into its own in the scenes of the cult indoctrinating Edwige Fenech's character into their circle; this scene is one of the best that Martino ever directed, it's pure 70's psychedelic delirium. It's only matched in this movie by the very creepy and bizarre opening dream sequence which includes things like a murdered pregnant woman and a hideous old crone dressed like a child's doll.

The movie is immeasurably helped by the presence of Edwige Fenech. She looks like the definitive giallo heroine here, with her gorgeous mane of long black hair, porcelain skin and big eyes. She is certainly a welcome character to base the movie around and does play the vulnerable victim very well it has to be said. Her co-star, the always excellent Susan Scott, who plays her sister, is sadly underused but at least she's there. The male stars don't particularly shine but Ivan Rassimov has a fairly memorable role as the blue-eyed psycho. Overall, Sergio Martino produced another fine Italian thriller with this movie. I'm not convinced it's his best necessarily, and perhaps it sometimes promises more than it actually delivers. Nevertheless, this one should most certainly please fans of this kind of thing.

Though typically billed as a traditional giallo, All The Colors of the Dark owes more to Rosemary's Baby than it does The Bird With the Crystal Plumage. The stunning Edwige Fenech plays the lead character who finds herself getting wrapped up in a bizarre cult after a neighbor tells her that it might help her get over some of her issues. Naturally, things don't end well when she starts suspecting that this cult doesn't have the best of intentions.

For those expecting buckets of blood, you'll be disappointed, but the script for All The Colors Of The Dark and much smarter and more thoughtful than a lot of other giallo scripts and is filled with twists, turns, and even some honest-to-God suspense.

Having recently watched and loved Sergio Martino's two other gialli "Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh" and "Your Vice is a Locked Room and only I have the key", I decided to rewatch this one, which I always thought to be a pretty average film, and I ended up loving it. It's probably the director's best tied with "Strange Vice". Highly atmospheric and suspenseful, the film opens with a bang and never lets go. It's nightmarish, dreamlike feel is about as good as anything done by David Lynch, and is enhanced by Bruno Nicolai's lovely soundtrack and Bava-style cinematography. Also, Edwige Fenech proves that she actually can act, giving a tremendous performance of a sexually frustrated housewife who may or may not be going insane.

The film is often criticized for being a rip-off on "Rosemary's Baby", and while I can see an influence of Polanski's classic, both films very different in style and substance, and if anything, "All the Colors of the Dark" plays much more like an acid version of "Repulsion" than anything else.

One thing that may put some people off is that the film has a very strong 70's feel, which makes it slightly campy at times, but still, I think it only adds to it's charm and 'grooviness'.

Overall, a highly entertaining and stylish giallo. A must-see for genre fans.