DVD
Review | The Bloodstained Shadow
Written by: Kage
Alan
Film Rating:
B+
DVD Special Features: B
Once more unto the DVD player, dear friends. Okay,
Shakespeare could have said it if he'd ever dreamed of DVDs. Of
course, I'm not sure what he'd have said had he dreamed of watching
this collection of Giallo films from Anchor Bay, but I'll bet there
would have been a large number of color metaphors. What's Giallo
you ask? So glad you did. It refers to a series
of films made in Italy that feature suspenseful plots mixed in with
explicit sex (by 70's standards, not today's), graphic violence and
usually accompanied by a twist ending that goes for shock value. How
I've managed to say the same exact thing 4 different times in 4
different ways, in 4 different reviews, is beyond me, but I think I
did it.
As usual, the film starts off on a rather cryptic note and we see a
young
girl being strangled in a field. She holds a book that is
later thrown into
the wind, only a few pages remain behind in her dead hand. The
film flashes
forward to present day in 1978 with a young woman (Stefania Casini,
"Suspiria") sitting down in a train compartment with a young
professor,
Stefano (Lino Capolicchio, "Lion of the Desert"). Both
are traveling to
catch a boat that will take them to an island near Venice where they
are
originally from. While she goes off to take care of
whatever business she
has, Stefano is met by his brother (Craig Hill, "Revolver"),
the local
preacher.
Poor Stefano isn't there a full night before a murder takes place
outside the
church. His brother sees the incident, but isn't able to
make out the
identity of those involved because of a heavy storm. Unfortunately,
the
killer isn't aware of this and figures he or she has been discovered. Notes
begin to appear under doors and in the offerings basket shortly after
and
suggest that the priest be quiet about what he's seen or he'll suffer
a
terrible death. Stefano doesn't like having his family
threatened, so he
sets out to discover who the killer is all while stalking the young
lady he
met on the train and trying to get her attention.
The island is full of odd characters and there are a huge number of
suspects.
There's the old lady said to be a medium of some kind, a midwife, her
disturbed son, a doctor not looked well upon and the last descendent
of a
rich family who enjoys sexual misconduct with the local youngsters. On
top
of all that, what are the mysterious visions Stefano begins to
experience
upon returning to the island and what could they possibly mean? There
also
seems to be a connection with a painting Stefano's girlfriend's mother
has as
well. At least the list of possibilities shrinks throughout
the film as some
of the locals are bumped off by a brutal killer. Yum!
Anchor Bay presents us with an uncut Widescreen transfer of "The
Bloodstained
Shadow" that does the film proud, though there is still some
noticeable print
damage throughout. There are also a couple of times when
the picture is far
too bright, but none of this really detracts from the overall
presentation.
Audio is mono, but the soundtrack by Stelvio Cipriani and Goblin still
has
some great impact. As for extras, we are given a theatrical
trailer,
Director Antonio Bido's Filmography and a brand new 13-minute
interview
titled "Solamente Bido." Bido speaks fondly of this film's
roots, its cast,
soundtrack and of Italian cinema itself, so it's a pretty cool extra
to have
included on the disc.
While I enjoyed "Short Night of Glass Dolls," "The
Bloodstained Shadow" is
actually even more suspenseful and boasts a couple more scares than
any of
the other films in the Giallo Collection. One other thing
it has going for
it is a real twist on who is responsible for the murders and why. I
rather
enjoyed the final unmasking and felt it ended appropriately. As
for the gore
and sex that would make this film explicit or graphic, there's not
much.
Heck, we might even see more on TV today than are in this film. Still,
I
definitely enjoyed this one the most.
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