Ballad in Blood

Right from the very beginning this is total trash. The only reason I gave it three stars is because the cinematography is quite good - apart from that, this film is bad in every respect.

The majority of the acting is some of the worst I have ever seen. Every character is way over the top to an irritating extent.

The story is pointless and really doesn't flow. The ending soon becomes obvious with no suspense or red herrings to keep you thinking or engaged in the story.

This is nowhere near the standard of Italian horror directors of the past - which is what Deodato seems to be trying to aspire to - he is a long, long, way off.

Not worth watching.

Usually directors coming back after such a long break looses a lot of their touch but this isn't the absolute worst case about it. It's shot relatively well and there's surprisingly no usages of CGi gore(looking at you Dario) and the t & a is nice. However the story and dialog suffer the most even for genre film standard and it does have long stretches of boring "whodunnit" moments. I would only recommend this if you're so ever curious or have no better use of your time, otherwise, seek other sleaze gore fest. 4.5/10.

Ballad of Blood (2016)

* (out of 4)

It's the night after Halloween and Lenka (Carlotta Morelli), Jacopo (Gabriele Rossi), Duke (Edward Williams) and Elizabeth (Noemi Smorra) have been having sex and a wild time. Duke wakes up and discovers the dead body of Elizabeth but none of the three survivors know what happened. Pretty soon they try to uncover how Elizabeth ended up with a slashed throat but the tension begins to make all three crack.

CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST director Ruggero Deodato is back in a film that is being sold as a horror movie but it is in fact a murder mystery and sadly a very bad one at that. It's clear that Deodato was working with a very small budget and I must admit that the film looks a lot better and a lot more professional than 99% of the digital movies that I watch. With that said, there are some deadly flaws in the picture with one being the screenplay itself. This film was obviously inspired by the Meredith Kercher murder but that's a whole 'nother story.

The main issue with BALLAD OF BLOOD is the screenplay, which is just downright confusing at time and it never really grabs you and holds your interest. The fatal flaw of this film is that you've got three characters constantly talking, fighting and losing their minds and yet, as the viewer, you just don't care. You don't care about the characters. You don't care how Elizabeth died. You simply don't care about anything you're watching and it's impossible to stay focused on the film because there's just nothing there that makes you pay attention to what is happening.

Out of the cast I'd say Williams and Morelli come off the best. All of the actors are okay in their roles and I'd argue that they are good enough for a horror film but I don't think they're convincing enough for a murder mystery like this. Of course, the lack of anything to work with probably also played a factor. Deodato at least filled the movie with a lot of full frontal nudity as well as some bloody violence at times but this certainly didn't save the picture.

BALLAD OF BLOOD should have been so much better but sadly everything is lost in the screenplay and there's just not much in the film that actually works.

This is not as splendid as the 1980 of both Cannibal Holocaust and House of the Edge of the Park or even The Washing Machine (1993) but Ruggero Deodata was in his late 70s and it is just not as terrible as some say. I have to say it starts off like a bit of a mess with everyone on drugs and drink and they not know what is going on or us either. But it begins to makes sense especially with it inspired with the Meredith Kercher killing and in the end I really liked it. Of course it is lots of blood, gore and sex and seems okay particularly in the last half.

Also a lot of nudity too. You make of that what you want to. It either scares you off (no pun intended) or it ... well I am not sure I can get off/away with a euphimism here. Some people may be offended. But Ruggero always tries to offend - if you know his filmography you should be aware of that already.

That being said, the movie is quite out there. And if you are offended by what I write, the movie will be even worse if you watch it. The premise is simple: waking up not knowing what happened, trying to reconstruct how they got there and who did what to whom. A lot of drugs are involved and many other things that you would call evil I reckon. Also Ruggero has a Hitchcock cameo in this. A weird one that was not necessary, but you can find it annoying, others will celebrate it.

The main problem for most will be the lack of likeable characters or traits. I have seen worse movies, but I also have seen better movies. This is for the horror movie fans, that like sleaze and do not mind to get down and dirty ... watching movies that is.