Solamente nero

Not unlike the previous years offering from the same director, Watch Me When I Kill, this giallo is somewhat different from the usual genre fare and despite being as complicated as his other and once more with a red herring on every corner and not the bloodiest of kills, this is most enjoyable. The added benefit here is the Venice setting and not the chocolate box, pretty, pretty Venice but the more realistic representation with dark narrow alleyways, cold mist rising from the dark waters and gloomy buildings in various states of decay. There are even more scenes set in the evocative, off the beaten track, Murano. But no delicate glass blowing to be seen, more the back gardens, back alleys and backwaters, all adding to the gloom of this evocative and fascinating picture.

In this heavily plotted Giallo from director / co-writer Antonio Bido, two brothers have a reunion that unfortunately goes sour when graphic murders begin to take place. Stefano D'Archangelo (Lino Capolicchio), the professor, works the clues while taking the time to romance Sandra (Stefania Casini), a new acquaintance, while his priest brother Don Paolo (Craig Hill) is worried that he will be among the victims when he witnesses an assault and soon starts receiving threatening notes.

Not all fans of Italy's Giallo genre may be too enamored with this one as it simply isn't as trashy as some of them. The murders do get fairly intense (one victim has their head shoved into a roaring fire), but the amount of bloodshed is minimal (title of the film notwithstanding). There is also a sex scene and nudity from Casini, but these are done in a tasteful manner, perhaps too tasteful for some viewers.

While Bidos' direction is good, he never lets style take over, preferring to concentrate first and foremost on telling the story. He lets his film unfold at a very deliberate pace; he devotes a fair amount of time to Stefanos' courting of the lovely Sandra, who works as a painter. As a result, one might grow impatient waiting for the next major set piece.

Still, when these set pieces come, they prove to be worth the wait, such as a sequence of Sandra being stalked as she heads home. The story twists are entertaining, and keep the audience guessing; there are of course red herrings, and the identity of the disturbed killer might come as a shock to some of you.

One of the strongest assets here is the way Bido utilizes the Venice setting; the sights and sounds are a pleasure to take in. The music score by Stelvio Cipriani runs hot and cold - sometimes it's quite atmospheric, at other times it's just too offbeat to really work, especially when it's used for suspense sequences.

The cast is solid, with Capolicchio and Hill making for a likeable sibling duo; Capolicchio is also a refreshingly different sort of hero as he has a real average Joe quality.

This isn't among the absolute best of its kind but it's still pretty good; aficionados should be reasonably satisfied. The ending is awfully abrupt, though.

Seven out of 10.

As fans of this particular genre, "giallo", knows there are some characteristics that have to be included: POV-shots from the killer, black gloves and grisly, graphic murders and so on! The gloves are missing here but everything else is! The story is set in Venice where bizarre events are unfolding, leading to death-threats and murders. And everything is connected to an episode many years ago, concerning the strangulation of a young girl. There are echoes from many other giallos, like the classic "Deep Red", but unlike so many other imitators, director Antonio Bido (who made the inferior giallo "The cat's victims") has a true feeling for setting up the set-pieces. His actors are also quite good even if the dubbing, as always, may distract from the viewers pleasure. His knows how to place his camera to enhance the suspense and atmosphere. To complain a little, I too found, like a previous reviewer here, that the episodes between Casini and Capolicchio are a bit squirm-inducing. They are simply put, very boring together, and even a nude scene fails to give any sparks. And the boat trip they take together is a scene that should have been omitted (I do HATE those sunglasses) because it seems to belong in another movie altogether, like some travelogue movie. But otherwise a nice exercise in suspense and horror, even if it is talky in places (most gialli are) and takes some time to get the pace going.

Watch Me While I Kill wasn't the best giallo in the world, so it's nice to Antonio Bido step things up a bit in this one, even though it's nearly two hours long.

In a place that isn't quite Venice but nearby, young Stefano returns home to stay with his brother, a local priest. Stefano suffers from flashbackitis, a disease where he keeps seeing a small crying child, but it's not all doom and gloom because it looks like local lass Stefania Casini is into him.

His priest brother is also a bit of a gossip, and fills Stefano in on the local freaks, including a phoney medium who may or may not be blackmailing her customers, which includes a backstreet abortionist with a dark secret, a doctor, and some rich gay guy who could also be a nonce. Then there's Andrea, the bereaved father of a girl we saw murdered at the start of a film, and Stefania Casini's crippled stepmother, who paints pictures, one of which sets off Stefano's flashbacks! Its like Eastenders, really.

After someone rather stupidly murders the medium in front of the priest's house, the priest starts receiving death threats, Stefano embarks on an investigation (while also putting the moves on Stefania Casini), and someone pulls on those old black gloves to do some murdering...

While overlong and very Argento-like, this is still a solid giallo with loads of twists and turns, and plenty of atmosphere too, due to the almost-Venice setting (I probably should have looked up where this takes place). There was enough going on to keep me entertained, and although I did eventually figure out who the killer was, I was still pretty satisfied by the proceeding.

You could also make a game out of what scene you've previously witness in a preceeding Giallo film: the Cemetary scene from Cat O Nine Tails, the crazy son hidden by his mother in Case of The Bloody Iris, the clue in the painting from Bird With The Crystal Plumage. Some people hate this one by the way.

The Blood Stained Shadow is the second – and last - giallo that Antonio Bido directed. His other one was Watch Me When I Kill (a.k.a. The Cat's Victims). While Bido may never be considered one of the masters of the genre, I actually think his two efforts are rather good and at the very least he should be considered one of the best purveyors of the genre in the late 70's. There are some aspects that do stand out in Bido's gialli, making them distinctive. Firstly, there is a somewhat slightly more serious tone and secondly, and most significantly, both films dispense with young sexy women as murder victims. In fact, in both movies it's middle aged characters that end up as the killer's targets. It might not sound like much to some but it is highly unusual, and both of Bido's gialli follow the same pattern. So hats off to the director for being a little bit different. Other than an obligatory sex scene, The Blood Stained Shadow has really no sleaze factor at all.

The story begins with a mysterious slow-motion murder of a young girl. Several years later a maths teacher returns to his home town, where upon a series of murders ensues. Events seem to revolve around a séance group of local bad eggs.

This is another one of those occasional gialli that is set in Venice. The off-season spookiness of the canal streets was also used to good effect in films such as Don't Look Now and Who Saw Her Die? This city does give off a unique ambiance, which is once again utilised well. The film also includes several other odd details in its plot that will be familiar to fans of gialli, such as the weird painting, the retarded boy in the cellar and the present being governed by a terrible event from the past. All of this is put together to construct a film which, while possibly a bit overlong, has a mystery that does actually work in that it isn't too obvious where it's going and there are some decent red herrings sprinkled throughout.

Lino Capolicchio leads the picture. Many of you will be familiar with him from his turn in Pupi Avati's stand-out giallo The House with Laughing Windows. He's an interesting leading man. He's doesn't have the machismo of a Franco Nero, or the shiftiness of a Tomas Milian nor is he as suave as Jean Sorel. He plays characters a little more nerdy, which isn't so common in giallo leading men. He's good and is definitely a good choice for this more serious minded example of the genre. His leading lady is Stefania Cassini, most famous for her turn in Suspiria. I find her really very attractive and a good enough actress. Unfortunately, like here, she is normally dubbed into English by voice actresses. This is a mistake, as anyone who has seen the cult movie Blood for Dracula can confirm she has a beautiful, extremely heavy Italian accent that sounds simply divine. Ah well! The other significant contribution is the music. Stelvio Cipriani is the named composer but seemingly the legendary prog-rock outfit Goblin were key collaborators. It does sound a little Goblinesque at times - though not as good as their usual output to be fair. Still, it's a good soundtrack overall.

The Blood Stained Shadow is definitely recommended to giallo enthusiasts.