Micransix Crappy film

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

kapelusznik18 ****SPOILERS**** Burned out young collage professor Stefano D'Archangelo tried to get himself-mind & body-together by taking off and going home to the offshore island of Murano to chill out only to get involved in a number of Gaillo-like murders that suddenly strike the place. We soon find out that a young Stefano had witnessed a murder of a young girl that, in not being able to identify the killer, has haunted him ever since. Striking up a conversation with interior decorator Sandra Casini on his way to the island and later falling in love with her Stefano doesn't realize that her grand-mother has a painting of the murder of the young lady that will-when he sees it-trigger a slew of memories to who murdered her! And that will lead the killer to resurface and try to do in both him Sandra and some dozen other inhabitants that he feels, in crimes that they committed, are more then worthy of being slaughtered!It's Stefano's older brother Father Paolo the town preacher or priest who first witnessed, on a dark and rainy evening, one of the murders committed by the killer but fails, by chickening out, to prevent it. It's after that Father Paolo suddenly takes a keen interest -due to his guilt feeling about the incident-in catching the killer.This as the killer goes on a murdering rampage all over town knocking off a number of people that even Father Paolo himself feels deserves all that was-as well as came-coming to them!****SPOILERS****Living in a fog all these years after seeing the young girl murdered Stefano's mind cleared up when he realized that a painting in Sandra's grandmother home depicted the murder that he had so long forgotten. Which then leads him to confront the killer about his actions and all hell broke loose in him realizing what a terrible person he is. Instead of doing himself in on the spot, that would have shorten the film by some ten minutes, the exposed killer kept us entertained by rushing up what look like a 100 foot tower with Stefano hot on his tail and then, just for the very thrill of it, jumping to his death before he can get himself, with heavy psychiatry drugs & therapy, cleaned up!

Coventry "The Bloodstained Shadow" is Antonio Bido's second giallo in two years' time, and he actually makes the exact same mistakes here as he did with his previous effort "Watch me when I kill". The basic plot is mysterious and intriguing enough, and several of the murders are nicely gory and inventive, but the film contains way too many dull sequences and slow pacing, while the search for the killer's identity isn't involving enough for the viewer. The character drawings remain too vague, characters that are clearly important to the plot are only introduced late into the film and there's too much interval between the different murders in order to keep the story compelling enough. And last but not least, experienced giallo- fanatics will sadly notice that Antonio Bido is often a copycat director who borrows the vast majority of his ideas, whether in terms of plotting or stylistic, from other and more masterful directors like Argento, Fulci, Martino and others. Stressed-out college professor Stefano returns to his hometown, a little island community close to Venice, for a vacation and stays with his brother Paolo who's the town's priest. At night, Paolo witnesses a vicious strangulation from his bedroom window and begins to receive menacing little notes shortly after. More prominent community members are killed off and Stefano investigates the case, along with his new and lovely girlfriend Sandra. The murders lead back to the murder case of a young girl, which occurred many years ago but always remained unsolved. Admittedly the denouement and eventual revelation of the killer's identity are surprising, but not entirely satisfying and – as said – uninvolving. The already slow pacing is too often interrupted with pointless footage, like an awful "we are falling in love" montage (mainly taking place in a speedboat) and a boring sex sequence. It's best to focus on the few good elements instead, like two terrifically gruesome murders (one has to do with a burning fireplace and the other takes place in the canal), relatively good use of the narrow and atmospheric Venetian alleys and the musical score of the always reliable Stelvio Cipriani. But the absolute and undeniable highlight of the film is one particular scene in which a certain character goes berserk and mutilates a poor and defenseless doll. Only during this moment, Antonio Bido reaches the same quality as his aforementioned giallo role-models.

ferbs54 A practically goreless giallo coming fairly late in that genre's cycle, "The Bloodstained Shadow" (1978) yet manages to provide all the requisite thrills that Euro horror fans might reasonably expect. This was the second picture from director Antonio Bido, whose initial giallo entry, "The Cat With Jade Eyes" (aka "Watch Me When I Kill"), released the year before, seems almost forgotten today. Drawing liberally from 15 years' worth of giallo tropes and conventions preceding it (Bido, on this Anchor Bay DVD, acknowledges his debt to Dario Argento during a modern-day, informative interview), the film remains a very worthwhile contribution to the genre.In it, the viewer meets a pair of brothers, Stefano and Paolo D'Archangelo. When Stefano, a college professor (played by Lino Capolicchio, who some may recall as the leading man in Pupi Avati's grisly giallo of 1976, "The House With the Laughing Windows"), comes to visit his older brother, a priest living on an island off the coast of Venice, he picks a rather unfortunate time to do so. On his first night in town, Paolo witnesses the murder of the local medium woman, although the murderer him/herself is not visible in the driving rain. Before long, Paolo (played by Craig Hill in a very intense manner) begins to receive threatening notes enjoining his silence, while the trio of regulars at the medium's seance get-togethers starts to meet very violent ends. To help his distraught brother, Stefano goes into Sherlock Holmes mode, accompanied by a woman whom he'd met on the train trip to the island, Sandra (played by Stefania Casini, whose barbed-wire demise in Argento's "Suspiria" the previous year will be recalled by many)....Filmed largely on the island of Murano, right off the northern coast of Venice, "The Bloodstained Shadow" certainly does have local color and ambiance to spare. The town where Stefano visits looks beautiful and at the same time run-down, engendering a seedy aura of old-world, decayed charm. Bido and his director of photography, Mario Vulpiani, treat the viewer to many glimpses of the town and its canals, as well as nearby Venice; add this picture to the list of horror films that transpire around Venice in the winter, such as "Don't Look Now" and "Who Saw Her Die?" Plotwise, Bido's film holds together fairly well, unlike many other gialli that I have seen (I'm thinking of you, "Death Walks at Midnight"!), although most viewers will benefit from a repeat viewing to appreciate all of the film's plot subtleties. As mentioned previously, this is not a particularly violent giallo picture, and even the queasiest of viewers will have no problem watching the murders--a strangling, a spear to the chest, an old woman being thrown into a roaring fireplace, a slaying via motorboat in a nighttime canal, a throat slitting--that the film dishes out. And adding hugely to the experience is yet another wonderful score done by the prog-rock outfit known as Goblin. Here, the band has arranged and performs music by composer Stelvio Cipriani, and those viewers who have enjoyed the band's contributions to the Argento films "Deep Red" and "Suspiria" will certainly be pleased with its work here. Goblin goes uncredited in the film, as does director Bido's cameo role, playing a cemetery surveyor around 4/5 of the way in. (On a side note, this viewer just recently saw yet another Italian horror film with a score by Goblin, the 1979 cult item "Beyond the Darkness," which I can also recommend. This film is twice as sick and 100 times as gruesome as "The Bloodstained Shadow," and is quite the unforgettable experience!) As for the Anchor Bay DVD itself, it looks just fine, and the 13-minute interview with the modern-day Bido reveals him to be a man with an engaging personality and a clear memory. The film has been excellently dubbed for this print (although subtitles would still have been preferable), and in all makes for a very nice evening's entertainment. Just one thing: Make sure you look up the definition of the word "breviary" before venturing in....

preppy-3 Stefano (Lino Capolicchio) goes to Venice to visit his brother--priest Don Paolo (Craig Hill). While there certain people are being murdered for no rhyme or reason. Also Don Paolo is getting letters threatening his life.Plot wise there's nothing new here. You've seen these characters (and situations) in giallos of the past. Also Capolicchio and Stefania Casini (playing his blank girlfriend Sandra) are pretty terrible actors. We're supposed to identify with them but they don't come across at all. And, of course, there's the obligatory pointless sex scene and a long trip through the canals that leads to nothing. Still this works. The cinematography here is just great--virtually every shot here takes your breath away. Hill is very good as Don Paolo--more of him could only have helped the movie. There's also a great score by the group Goblin--almost as good as the one for "Suspiria". The ending is effective too. So--it's no great shakes but you could do worse. See a wide screen print. I give it a 7.