They're Coming to Get You!

"Tutti i colori del buio" is worth a look if you are interested in the visuals of cinema. Sergio Martino's directing of the mostly dreamlike scenes is almost unbelievable. The use of wide-angle lenses, strange perspectives and slow-motion serves perfectly the weird atmosphere of this thriller.

Add to this a stylish 70s score by Bruno Nicolai and an unusually good script (well, for Italian giallo films) and you have another unknown classic.

9 out of 10

Though typically billed as a traditional giallo, All The Colors of the Dark owes more to Rosemary's Baby than it does The Bird With the Crystal Plumage. The stunning Edwige Fenech plays the lead character who finds herself getting wrapped up in a bizarre cult after a neighbor tells her that it might help her get over some of her issues. Naturally, things don't end well when she starts suspecting that this cult doesn't have the best of intentions.

For those expecting buckets of blood, you'll be disappointed, but the script for All The Colors Of The Dark and much smarter and more thoughtful than a lot of other giallo scripts and is filled with twists, turns, and even some honest-to-God suspense.

Sergio Martino is famous for producing high quality Giallo films and All the Colours of the Dark does that reputation proud! While I cant say that this is as good as the likes of The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh or the amazing Your Vice is a Locked Door and Only I Have the Key, All the Colours of the Darks stands apart from Martino's other films as it's much more psychological, and spends most of it's running time following a single character. The style of the film is very psychedelic, and this ensures that it always feels very much like a movie from the seventies. There isn't a great deal of actual horror, but this is made up for by the disorienting atmosphere, which ensures that the film is always unpredictable. The film works from a screenplay by Martino's regular collaborator, Ernesto Gastaldi, and it's safe to say that this film is Italy's answer to Rosemary's Baby. We follow Jane Harrison, a woman recovering from the car crash that claimed the life of her unborn child. Her recovery takes a turn for the worse when she finds herself under threat from an organisation of Satanists.

The cast is something of a "who's who" of Italian cult cinema. Frequent Martino collaborators George Hilton and the beautiful Edwige Fenech take the lead roles and the film wouldn't feel complete without them. Edwige Fenech fits the lead role like a glove. She's at her best when she's playing the vulnerable victim, and that is the role she has here. The sleazy George Hilton has been better, and he isn't given much to do in this film; but it's always nice to see him in a Giallo. Cult star Ivan Rassimov stands out as the villain of the piece, while Susan Scott; the beautiful actress who has appeared in films such as Death Walks at Midnight and Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals makes a mark in supporting role. The plot moves well, and Sergio Martino does a good job of getting us behind the lead character. The music and cinematography are superb, and Martino's use of colour helps to ensure that the film has a vibrant atmosphere, which suits the plot well. The climax is a little abrupt, and despite the scene leading up to it; I've got to admit that it left me a bit cold. The rest of the plot is great, however and while this isn't Martino's most successful foray into Giallo; it's still a very good one, and comes recommended.

You do know that in the real world, the chances of encountering women like Edwige Fenech, Susan Scott, and Marina Malfatti in the space of even a YEAR are almost zilch, right? George Hilton encounters them all in one day. He's an old man now, but I doubt he's got any regrets, and probably still has one of the most enviable wank banks in existence.

Edwige does a lot of 'startled over the shoulder glances' in this one, so if you're a big fan of that you will like this, a quasi-giallo involving that early seventies obsession: the satan worshipping cult. But I'm getting ahead of myself there. The main question of the first half of this film is: If Edwige has flashbacks to witnessing an OLD Ivan Rassimov killing her mother when she was a child, then why does she think a YOUNG Ivan Rassimov is stalking her now?

Needless to say when we first meet Edwige she's a messed up girl (in her head, she still looks immaculate no matter what happens to her) - she witnessed her mum being killed, she lost a baby in a car crash caused by husband George Hilton, and now she can't get it on with him due flashbacks. What's a girl to do? Go see a psychiatrist like her sister Susan Scott recommends? Or join a Satanic cult, drink the blood of a sacrificed dog, and get it on with some smelly hippies? If you thought Edwige's character in Anna, the Mafioso's Punching Bag was gullible, you aint seen nothing yet!

The Satanic cult element is introduced fairly early, but the main mystery of the film is who can Edwige trust? Probably not Ivan Rassimov, as she spends most of the film running away from him, but was is George Hilton up to? Is he a travelling salesman or is he something else? What about psychiatrist George Riguad? Or why does Susan Scott hate George? And what did lawyer Luciano Pigozzi want to talk to her about? Sergio Martino does a good job here of making everything as trippy as possible. The film starts with a bonkers dream sequence involving a floating man in drag and a pregnant woman rubbing blood on her stomach. He chops up the editing at several points so things repeat themselves, shows scenes that may or may not have happened in Edwige's head, and also has Edwige having visions of things that haven't happened yet. You can't go wrong with a good rooftop chase so Sergio throws one of them in too, and actually manages to explain most of what's going on before the end of the film! Except those visions.

That's it - I've now watched every Edwige giallo film (Top Sensation, Five Dolls for the August Moon, Strange Case of Mrs Wardh, Your Vice is a Locked Room and only I have the Key, The Case of the Bloody Iris, All the Colours of the Dark, 1975's Strip Nude For Your Killer and 1988's Phantom of Death). Apart from those, Edwige would appear in a whole lot of 'sexy comedies' that were seemingly the most popular genre in Italy in the late seventies. She would also appear in a couple of Euro Crime films, including Mean Frank and Crazy Tony, which I switched off after ten minutes due to the horrible comedy.

Having recently watched and loved Sergio Martino's two other gialli "Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh" and "Your Vice is a Locked Room and only I have the key", I decided to rewatch this one, which I always thought to be a pretty average film, and I ended up loving it. It's probably the director's best tied with "Strange Vice". Highly atmospheric and suspenseful, the film opens with a bang and never lets go. It's nightmarish, dreamlike feel is about as good as anything done by David Lynch, and is enhanced by Bruno Nicolai's lovely soundtrack and Bava-style cinematography. Also, Edwige Fenech proves that she actually can act, giving a tremendous performance of a sexually frustrated housewife who may or may not be going insane.

The film is often criticized for being a rip-off on "Rosemary's Baby", and while I can see an influence of Polanski's classic, both films very different in style and substance, and if anything, "All the Colors of the Dark" plays much more like an acid version of "Repulsion" than anything else.

One thing that may put some people off is that the film has a very strong 70's feel, which makes it slightly campy at times, but still, I think it only adds to it's charm and 'grooviness'.

Overall, a highly entertaining and stylish giallo. A must-see for genre fans.