review

ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK

ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK is a rather strange giallo. It's most obvious inspiration isn't a Christie novel or a Wallace story but rather a film as un-giallo as they come, Roman Polanski's ROSEMARY'S BABY. The Satanic cult elements and typical giallo trappings are at constant odds with one another and the film lurches between them wildly. It never feels like a cohesive whole. While several other gialli have managed to combine these two elements successfully - Aldo Lado's THE SHORT NIGHT OF THE GLASS DOLLS is a great example - Sergio Martino's film largely falls flat on it's good-looking face. Had Martino desperately wanted to make a film that would capitalize on both breeds of film, he would have been better served by a viewing of the Val Lewton produced THE 7TH VICTIM before attempting to make this half-baked mishmash.


A little synopsis before we get down to it, eh?


Edwige Fenech in All the Colors of the Dark

Jane has been suffering from some really bad nightmares, all of which feature a man with piercing blue eyes stabbing her mother. She had recently lost her unborn child in an automobile accident and her relationship with her boyfriend, Richard, is strained. Her sister, Barbara, wants her to see a shrink, something Richard strongly opposes. Jane decides to see the doctor behind Richard's back. Good thing, too, as the man from her dreams is now showing up everywhere she goes. The doctor tries to explain to Jane that her dreams and visions are nothing more than a combination of post-traumatic stress and emotional shock. As Jane's dreams intensify, she begins to get more and more hysterical. She meets a mysterious blonde named Mary. Mary offers to help Jane solve all her problems. Mary takes her to a secluded mansion that just happens to be the meeting spot for a coven of Satan worshipers. Jane is welcomed into the group, forced to drink dog's blood and is raped by the leader of the Satanists. She also makes another discovery: the man with the piercing blue eyes is quite real. He's also responsible for her mother's death and will stop at nothing to keep Jane from leaving the coven.


George Hilton in All the Colors of the Dark

That's the basic plot of ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK and it should be immediately obvious that it presents some problems for giallo fans. All of the typical elements of the giallo are missing. There is no black-gloved killer, no mystery to be solved, no blackmail, no amateur detective... All of those things are missing. While it eventually becomes more of a standard giallo thriller in the last half hour, for the majority of the running time, ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK is nothing more than a melodrama with a bunch of Satanists cavorting around a mansion. It seems a little odd to call it a giallo at all.


But a giallo it is and, as a giallo, it fails horribly.


Ivan Rassimov in All the Colors of the Dark

Where Martino's film does succeed is in it's visuals. Martino was a gifted giallo director and his use of scenery and oblique camera angles keeps ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK visually interesting. The tightly edited set-pieces - the stand-out being a creepy, tense encounter on a subway train - give the film a pulse and the locations, both interior and exterior, are all dynamic and gorgeous. However, it's the cast that keeps most of your attention. The remarkably beautiful trio of Edwige Fenech, Nieves Navarro and Marina Malfatti are exceptionally easy on the eyes and the good screen presence of George Hilton and Ivan Rassimov helps immensely.


Edwige Fenech giallo All the Colors of the Dark

Now having said ALL that, I still like this film a great deal. Like I said, as a giallo, ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK doesn't work. But as a piece of gorgeous Eurotrash cinema, it's a keeper. Maybe I'm a bit biased here. I'm a rabid fan of Ms. Fenech. She is one of the most beautiful women to have ever graced the silver screen and I'm quite partial to anything and everything she appears in and that might have something to do with my enjoyment of the film. Regardless, ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK is pretty damned fun to watch and the ever-shifting focus of the film - which helps kill it's potential as a giallo - makes for great varied viewing. It's not a top shelf Martino film - you would be better served watching THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH or Martino's masterwork, YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED ROOM AND ONLY I HAVE THE KEY - but it is a good little film, warts and all. It's just not a good giallo.


Overall, recommended.


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