User Reviews

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....

A young professor goes to stay with his brother who is a priest and murders start to occur following on from the previous murder of a schoolgirl many years before. Not quite a full blooded giallo but the narrative is clear and all loose ends are tied up satisfactorily.

The acting is decent. The two best things are the lovely location photography in Murano, Venice (some shots could be framed as paintings) and another fine music score from the prolific Stelvio Cipriani.

It is however too long and could have been cut by 20 minutes at least. Too much time is given to the romance between Sanda and Stefano. Shots of them walking the streets are pretty but just hold the film up needlessly. Not in the Argento league but not bad.

Not every giallo can be as excellent as some of the ones done by Dario Argento, Mario Bava, and Lucio Fulci. This film is below the level of the works of these three master film makers, but is still an interesting movie on a couple of notes. First, the style of the film is very good and the murder scenes are done with plenty of suspense. The musical score by Goblin ranks with their soundtracts for Profondo Rosso/Deep Red(1975), Suspiria(1977), and Tenebre(1982) among their best work. Solamente Nero/Bloodstained Shadow(1978) tends to lag off in some parts, but overall is good due to the surprise ending. The main influences of the movie is The Bird with the Crystal Plumage(painting), Deep Red(memory), with shades of Don't Torture a Duckling(murderer). The whole notion of memory and the past seems to recall the plot structure of Profondo Rosso(1975). Many plot elements from this movie(espcially the discovery of a second murderer) not only foreshadows but paves the way for Dario Argento's masterpiece Tenebre(1982).

A professor, Stefano(Lino Capolicchio), returns home to visit his brother Don Paolo(Craig Hill), a parish priest, and finds that someone is bumping off specific citizens in gruesome ways. We get a séance reading with the spiritualist after earlier seeing her receiving bribe money in an envelope in the café where the brothers feast and chat about old times. The spiritualist is strangled by someone in black leather gloves and raincoat as a storm rages outside with Paolo hearing her death scream from his room above. He doesn't see the person responsible only later receiving threatening fragmented riddled letters informing him to remain silent or else. Stefano will pursue the identity of the killer, out of devotion to his brother. Stefano meets an art decorator, Sandra(Stefania Casini), on his train to home, with a blossoming relationship resulting as the murders to several who partook in the very séance held by the spiritualist before she was killed, continue to increase. Sandra's ill mother, once a very talented artist, has a specific painting which might yield a clue to the overall mystery that opens the film in slow motion..an innocent girl was strangled by someone(..the killer, of course, off camera)and as she falls to the ground, ripping pages from a book tossed away. Also, the way the letter "t" is printed on the threatening letters to Paolo, an image that haunts Stefano, an abortionist with a mentally ill son, and the aforementioned painting someone is very interested in requiring all play a hand in who is committing the murders. Those who sought after by the killer include a wealthy aristocratic homosexual Count who likes to fondle boys, an atheist doctor often clashing with the priest, Sandra's own artist mother, and quite possibly the abortionist and Paolo himself.

Stylish giallo from director Antonio Bido perhaps is a bit slow in places, but is convoluted enough with a pretty good cast and sordid characters which should satisfy the giallo thriller crowd. I thought Craig Hill as the troubled priest was very good, quite expressive as his face displays tormenting thoughts and paranoia. This giallo does have a sex scene between Stefano and Sandra which should also satisfy the ones expecting it in their gialli. Not as violent as other thrillers of it's ilk, and the film takes it's time telling the story. Very story-driven with the mystery unveiling bit by bit. Those who are familiar with this genre might find a twist(..used in films such as "Don't Torture a Duckling" & "Seven Blood-Stained Orchids")rather derivative, but I think this giallo works well enough. Some beautiful, effective uses of the island the director shot the film representing his own form of Vienna. My favorite set-piece would be the following point-of-view shot as someone is walking behind Sandra through alleys of Vienna and across corners as she makes her way to home.

Typical giallo, highly influenced by Argento's Deep Red, (especially the ending and some scenes with baby dolls hanging by their necks) with a music score by Goblins which is obviously inferior to Suspiria's and Deep Red's. However you can find some interesting murder scenes ( I really liked the murder of an old lady in a wheel chair)and I must admit that Argento's Tenebrae copied some key elements from it. If you are a new fan of gialli films seek for Argento first, but if you are a dedicated fan you should also watch this film. 6/10

The Bloodstained Shadow, or, Solamente Nero is at best a fair giallo.

It's got a lot of the giallo trademarks and some scenes that basically rip off other famous giallo's (most notably Deep Red and Don't Torture a Duckling) but it's terribly slow moving. What proves to be it's saving grace is a number of well executed set pieces, most of them involving horrific murders. Bido hasn't got the visual flair of Argento or Bava so what we basically have here is the story, which is longwinded, a bit obvious and with some annoying plot holes.

The film builds suspense pretty well and the set pieces are great, but they're few and far between, leaving us with an uninteresting love story that's lacking any chemistry between the actors.

By no means bad, simply average.

A Professor visits his Priest Brother on an isolated Island near Venice to recover from stress brought on by flashbacks related to a Childhood trauma. On his first night his Brother witnesses a murder and later begins to receive notes from the murderer threatening (what appears to be) violence. The brothers begin investigating the crime and the expected red herrings, pov shots etceteras entail...

What separates this film from the Giallo of Argento and co. is not it's lack of that genera's expected tricks (black gloved killer, inventive murders, pov shots) as these are all referenced in knowing ways (the Director even discuses his debt to Argento in an interview included on the Blue Underground DVD) but it's obsession with guilt, loneliness and existential pain. The film's washed out colours and waterlogged settings alienate us not just from the surroundings but even from the visual aspects of the film, the aspect of film itself, the idea of entertainment. Instead we focus on the character's interior life's: their traumas, their loneliness, their religious doubts.

The film features great performances, beautiful editing techniques and an ironic echo of the Catholic Rite of Confession wherein it is not the killer's confession that provides the relief from suffering but the discovery of the killer, the release from childhood trauma.

Watch with Fulci's Non si sevizia un paperino rather than Susperia and have a catholic encyclopedia open.

Antonio Bido came late to the slasher party, and didn't bring many presents to it. Looking up his filmography on IMDb, I discovered that - by chance - I have seen his other giallo ("Watch Me When I Kill" ) as well, although I don't remember anything about it! But, looking at the IMDb comment I left less than a year ago, I called it "dull". That's the same main word I would use to describe "The Bloodstained Shadow", too: nearly every scene in this movie seems to be padded to three times its necessary length. It's an ordeal to watch. Only the offbeat, sometimes experimental score and a couple (literally) of killings may wake viewers from their slumber. The ending, if you get that far, is pretty garbled as well. The English dubbing on the Blue Underground DVD version is generally poor (in an unintentionally funny moment, the leading man screams at the top of his lungs "PAOLO, CALM DOWN"!), but the picture quality is fine. *1/2 out of 4.