THE BLOODSTAINED SHADOW

Stefano, a young mathematics professor, stressed by work, decides to take a short vacation and returns to the village where he spent his childhood, hosted by his priest brother. What he will not find is the tranquility he hoped for: his brother, accidentally witnessing the murder of a fortune teller, begins to be threatened and pursued by the killer. Stefano, thanks to revealing dreams, gradually discovers the truth... Second giallo by Bido after the modest "Il Gatto dagli Occhi di Giada". If in the previous film the director had taken inspiration from Argento's animal trilogy, in this one, "Solamente Nero", the inspirational model is clearly Pipi Avati's cult film "La Casa dalle Finestre che Ridono". Starting with the protagonist Lino Capolicchio, who plays a character in many ways similar to the one he had played in Avati's film: Stefano (not coincidentally, the name is the same as the restorer in "La Casa dalle Finestre che Ridono"), a young man from the city who is catapulted into a small village that hides horrible secrets and a dark past; but the ambiguous figure of the priest also returns, and the detail of the painting that reveals and anticipates the film's ending. Inevitably, the film also suffers from the Argentinian tradition, and here is the classic subjective view of the killer, needless to say the "usual" figure dressed in black who suddenly appears, whose appearance is announced by the rise of a soundtrack in perfect Goblin style. Not much originality, therefore, but surely a film of discreet tension and some really good moments: in particular, the protagonist's dream sequences manage to create a certain sense of anguish in the viewer. A little-known "horrific" giallo that is worth rediscovering.