A Blade in the Dark backdrop
A Blade in the Dark poster

A BLADE IN THE DARK

La casa con la scala nel buio

1983 IT HMDB
August 6, 1983

Bruno, an up and coming film composer, has been hired to write the score to a new horror movie. After moving into a secluded villa, life begins to imitate art as a vicious killer starts bumping off anyone and everyone who happens to pay him a visit.

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Crew

Production: Mino Loy (Producer)Lamberto Bava (Producer)Luciano Martino (Producer)
Screenplay: Elisa Briganti (Writer)Dardano Sacchetti (Writer)
Music: Maurizio De Angelis (Original Music Composer)Guido De Angelis (Original Music Composer)
Cinematography: Gianlorenzo Battaglia (Director of Photography)

REVIEWS (1)

Fabrizio Giansante
A young and talented composer decides to spend a short period in a large isolated villa as he needs tranquility to create the soundtrack for a horror film. In this house, however, inexplicable things will happen: beautiful young women will disappear one by one. The musician will then discover that they have been murdered and will connect everything to the mysterious figure of a certain Linda, the old tenant of the house. Film directed by Lamberto Bava with the collaboration of Michele Soavi (who also appears in the cast in the role of Tony). The movie is enjoyable even if not excellent. We do not find outstanding points or effects to leave you open-mouthed, but, despite this, some things are worth noting. The initial scene, for example, with the children who are about to go down the dark stairs for the dare, or when the musician hears noises in the house and is about to check, are very tense and leave the viewer breathless. No less interesting are the murders, crude and terrifying in perfect Dario Argento style, which Lamberto Bava clearly draws inspiration from. In the film, the chromatic contrasts are very highlighted, just think of the staircase that at the beginning is completely dark: it would surely be less effective for a child and for the viewer who watches him go down a lit staircase! During the film, the musician himself is forced, due to some faults in the lights, to wander in a house that has some areas perfectly lit and others in semi-darkness. The only downside in my opinion is the ending. Not only because it could seem too obvious, implausible or exaggerated, but especially because, in an otherwise enjoyable film, it can seem ridiculous. What a shame because with more care, the level of the film would have been raised. "The House with the Staircase in the Dark" remains a satisfying film without, however, any artistic value.
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COMMUNITY REVIEWS (2)

Wiccaburr

Wiccaburr

5 /10

Well that was one unexpected twist. Though the slow pace made it almost not worth watching.

The effects were great but the story could've been shortened I feel but hey, this is a giallo movie after all.

This movie will be good for those really into this style of films. I do enjoy the movie though. Just won't be watching it again anytime soon.

Wuchak

Wuchak

7 /10

Swimming Pool in Rome

A young composer (Andrea Occhipinti) gets the opportunity to score an Italian horror film and so stays at a nice villa to do his work, but it’s hindered by visiting females and strange goings-on, including… murder by a utility knife.

Helmed by the son of Mario Bava, "A Blade in the Dark" (1983) is a traditional slasher more so than a giallo. It borrows from “Psycho,” “Home for the Holidays” and “Halloween,” not to mention a Brian De Palma movie that I can’t mention. “Swimming Pool” was obviously inspired by its milieu twenty years later (even though it’s not a slasher). Speaking of the setting, the entire film was shot at the producer’s villa, except for one sequence filmed on a boulevard in Rome.

It was originally made as a mini-series of four half-hour installments with each segment ending in a murder, but the TV networks rejected it as too violent. So, it was released as a 97-minutes movie, but the full version (with an additional 11 minutes) was eventually released, which is the version I watched. Don’t view the English dubbed version as the dubbing is lousy (and amusing). If you speak English, see the subtitled version.

Some people complain that it’s too slow and the setting is too one-dimensional, but it worked for me for what it is, even though I figured out who the killer was with about 20 minutes to go. The female cast is decent, featuring Fabiola Toledo as Angela, Lara Lamberti as Julia (aka Lara Naszinski), Valeria Cavalli as Katia and Anny Papa as Sandra.

Its title in Italian is “House of the Dark Stairway” or “House of Dark Stairs” (translated).

It runs 1 hour, 48 minutes.

GRADE: B

Reviews provided by TMDB