Dark Bar

Dark Bar is an almost completely unknown Italian thriller made in the late eighties. The style of the film is very trashy (undoubtedly helped somewhat by the obvious low budget) and I wouldn't be surprised to find that it takes more than a little influence in that respect from trashy American films such as Fatal Attraction. Still, I have to say that I liked the atmosphere. Unfortunately, however, that's all I liked about this film as the plot is uninteresting and difficult to follow. Basically, all we have to go on is that the lead character is investigating the disappearance of druggy sister. Numerous plot twists follow. Really though the plot is only difficult to follow because it's all so boring - there's not an interesting or emotive character in sight and that's condemning. The film is often thrown in with the Giallo subgenre (my reason for seeing it) and while I wouldn't really say that the film is a Giallo, it's no less a Giallo than genre entries such as Body Count, Blood Link and Evil Senses that mimic certain elements of the style but don't really do enough to be seriously considered. Anyway, the film basically just drones on for the running time and we are served up with a rather predictable ending. Hardcore Giallo fans may want to track this one down...but in all honesty, I wouldn't bother.

Writer/director, Fiorenza's obscure, Neo-Norish, sleaze-singed thriller 'Dark Bar' remains a delightfully odd duck. Too light on lurid grue to be classed as a bona fide Giallo, but there is a terrifically twisted melodramatic bent to these seamy, off-beat shenanigans. The jazzy, hedonistic, midnight milieu of estranged siblings, ill-fated drug deals, and nefarious blackmailing is rarely dull. Dark Bar's amusingly incongruous fedora-hatted gangster motifs provide an additionally skewed, hyperreal Lynchian quality. While absurd, these tantalizing eccentricities make, Stelio Fiorenza's crepuscular, heroin-soaked, cartoonishly sinister pseudo-Giallo stand out from the stab-happy crowd!

The ecclectic cast includes Battlestar Galactica's, Richard Hatch as the part-time projectionist, full-time Lothario Marco. Imperious Italian scream queen, Barbara 'Stage Fright' Cupisti portrays the pretty vacant, dope-dealing misfit, Elisabetta, the sin-seeking sister to sinuous, sax playing sex-pot, Anna (Marina Suma). Our lissome, crimson-wig rocking amateur sleuth disturbingly discovers that her wayward, Dark Bar haunting sister is an inordinately self-destructive twist! Elizabetta's sordid misadventures very soon drags Anna into the increasingly torrid waters of her sister's hit man-raddled wake!

To be overly critical about the lack of hyperbolic gore is, perhaps, a trifle unfair, since Dark Bar has a singular charisma all of its own. Composer, Carlo Siliotto's deliciously downbeat jazzoid score being a highlight. The brooding, nightclubbing ambiance of Siliotto's funereal title track 'Dark Haven' being an ear-wormingly delicious treat! Fiorenza's enjoyably eccentric film's whimsical use of answer machines as a persistent plot-prodder is a uniquely delightful peccadillo. The unconventional, multifarious weirdness of Dark Bar's scuzzy, dope-scoring, curiously adorned, seedily colourful characters prove memorable. Barbara Cupisti's eye-bogglingly fabulous, deliriously eye-ball adorned dress remains the most Giallo-centric garment I have ever seen!

Much of this is very stylish and well done but equally, maybe more than that is not so stylish or well done. Great start with every chance this is going to turn out to be a stunning giallo. Unfortunately for the film and our viewing pleasure, the lovely Barbara Cupisti doesn't last too long and from her demise on the film falters. There are good scenes but there are so many really silly to bad sequences of people chasing each other and having weak fist fights. Wherever this was set must have had the plague at the time for all the streets and buildings seem deserted, but for our characters chasing each other again and again. One giant plus is that for an 80s film the music is surprisingly good. Instead of the usual, way over the top, anthem like shrieking this has a decent jazzy score. Even so nothing can save this very mixed bag.

Is "Dark Bar" a Giallo? It's highly debatable, or at least according to yours truly, and - trust me - there's absolutely nothing I love more than discovering new and obscure Gialli titles. Some of the trademarks are undeniably present. It's Italian, obviously, and it features a mean person dressed in black - including matching hat and gloves - who brutally kills a couple of women. But this person, he or she, shoots the victims with a gun (Giallo-blasphemy) and they are murdered for their involvement in drug trafficking and blackmail affairs rather than for simply being fashion models or scarcely dressed prostitutes. That's another big Giallo-no-go.

Writer/director Stelio Fiorenza, whoever he was, clearly wanted his biggest movie project NOT to come across as Giallo but as a film-noir and an erotic thriller, like the contemporary popular "Fatal Attraction" or "Body Double". The actress who seemingly gets introduced as the lead character, Elisabeth, is involved up to her neck in the clandestine activities that take place in the titular Dark Bar. That is, until she's mercilessly shot in the ladies' room. Her sister Anna, a promising musician, gets worried and starts digging in Elisabeth's private life with the help of boyfriend. Needless to say, it's now Anna who finds her own life in mortal danger.

The film's intentions are good, but the storyline is too thin and there are too few moments of genuine suspense or harsh action to make it interesting. "Dark Bar" is slow-paced and borderline dull, and there's nothing even remotely original about Fiorenza's script. The only noteworthy element, perhaps, is the director's obsession with answering machines. It's amazing how much of the running time is spent on people either speaking messages into, or listening to recorded messages on, answering machines. It goes as far as characters even repeatedly listening to the messages they recorded themselves, or the police leaving a message to inform Anna they found the sister's body!

Anna and Elizabeth are two sisters.Anna is a successful saxophone player whilst Liz is a drugs courier.In a bizarre club named Dark Bar Liz is shot to death in the bathroom by a mysterious black-gloved killer dressed in a dark coat and hat.After her murder Anna begins her investigation and soon she becomes the target of the killers,who believe that she has drugs and book,which Elizabeth secretly hidden..."Dark Bar" is an overlooked Italian thriller that faded into complete obscurity.Carlo Stilotto's jazz score is quite good,Barbara Cupisti of "Stagefright" and "The Church" shines in a small cameo as a drug user Elizabeth and the story kept my interest throughout.The film should be more sleazy and violent,though.7 out of 10.