 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. So this is for the 1978 Italian giallo film the blood stain shadow This is my second Antonio Bito directed giallo film that I'm reviewing and just so you know I have a lot of giallo reviews on my channel. I have an entire Playlist of giallo film reviews that is over 50 at this point. So go ahead and check out there And I'm continuing to add I'm gonna keep going. Anyway, the blood stain shadow obviously in 1978 It's coming out well after the height of the popularity of giallo films at least within Italy That was mainly the set 1970 to 74. So about four years after it has died down. It's Coming out in 1978. So I don't know how it really did It had mixed reviews apparently when it came out But directed by Antonio Bito who also did blue tornado and watch me when I kill that's the other giallo film I have a review for Written by Bito as well as Domenico Milan and a Marisa and Dallo neither of them had any other writing credits. So I Guess this is all they could do Goblin apparently was uncredited but did provide some of the music now if you watch this film You can definitely get that feel But you don't know for sure is it goblin or not because there have been many times in some of these giallo films Where it's basically goblin rip offs, you know Someone else does the music but they're like yeah, we'll make it like goblin because that's what's popular that's what people want to hear and Rightfully so because it's great music especially in giallo films especially for people familiar with giallo who watch a lot of it You crave that music at least I do So to start this film off the slow motion strangling is a pretty messed up way to start the film That I'm saying that in the best way possible. I love that they started like that. It's very brutal It's very violent and the fact that the woman's head is just kind of like slowly rocking back and forth with the hands around her and it's in slow motion and Everything looks kind of blurred for that reason it really does a great job of kind of translating the brutality How terrible this murder actually is so I do like that. That's how they start it now They kind of take things back after that, you know step things down quite a bit But that's not uncommon a lot of giallo films do that where they kind of grab you well A lot of films in general do that they would grab you with a quick opening scene And then they kind of pull things back to set you up story-wise and then they'll get back into that type of stuff Shady characters exchanging money in a restaurant must be a red herring and basically it is a red herring Although it does play into the story in the end Once again that being the situation where you know There was those people going to that seance of the woman who was doing the seance is the medium and She was a fraud basically. She was just kind of Audio recording people's deep dark secrets and then blackmailing them and that's how the murders get started Well, you know the very first murder is the one that we've seen which is Don Paulo We find out in the very end, but the first murder that starts happening once one Stefano Or Stefano is on this island is the murder of the medium and we end up finding out that that's because of Nardi who she was blackmailing then Nardi goes to retrieve The material that she was being blackmailed with and then that's when she finds out that there's also secrets in there from Don Paulo who was the person who murdered that woman and then for that reason Don Paulo kills Nardi and A bunch of other people involved with the seance because he doesn't know who knows and who doesn't know I have to eliminate the threat. I need to keep my secret from coming out but it's his own brother Stefano in the end who Exposes him and then he just does himself in but Kind of right about the shady character situation being a red herring at the restaurant with the money exchange I think that was Tomas was giving money to the medium at that point Which I'm assuming was for his father Oh, no, I'm sorry. That was Tomas. Sorry. That was Padrat count. Padrazi's lover Tomas was sorry But there was you know, I wouldn't have been surprised if it was actually his son because there was some you know Messed up stuff going on there I don't want to say the P word because I think that you too will have issue with it But you know what I'm talking about molesting basically a Seance club a crazy child loose on the island that sounds like more intriguing red herrings obviously the biggest red herring there being Nardi's son who at one point they do try to play him even further as being oh, he's the killer I didn't believe that for a minute when that happened as soon as he started going after Don Palo to kill Don Palo I thought for sure Don Palo is the murderer because you'd already seen a scene at that point of this child with his mother and how close they were and Then which I'll come back to that scene about something else about it a little bit later And the fact that his mother was dead He wouldn't kill his mother and that was my thought initially and that his motivation would have been because his mother was killed So he was going after the killer, which is exactly what ended up happening there So I knew I knew but that was a big a big red herring that they throw out there And they just bring up in conversation initially, which I think Don Palo brings it up to Stefano initially This killer sucks How much they end up fumbling around with the medium in the rain is Unbelievably excessive and that kind of speaks to one of the problems overall I have with this film I do feel like there's a tendency with a lot of scenes that kind of take the scenes a little bit too far Just let them play out a bit too long so that they feel too drawn out You know, you've made your point at some point and then they just keep it going and there's not adding anything It's just making people impatient. It's killing the flow of the film and in general the pacing of the film is not so great Unfortunately, so this actually ranks towards the bottom of my list as far as Giallo films go, but I still enjoyed a one watch of it I could probably be talked into watching it another time because of my love of Giallo in general But yeah the kill in the rain which that first kill was Nardi who was doing it Terrible job and and it went on too long like I said I really enjoy the shot that they used in the mirror where they were kind of switching focus between Stefano face on and Don Paolo who was being focused on his reflection in the mirror because it was like And this is switched for you guys, but it was basically Stefano and then Don Paolo, but it's Stefano's actually in person and Don Paolo is is the the camera or the in the mirror It's just this reflection and they would were messing with the focus when they were talking So it was like Stefano and focus then Don Paolo and focus that's Stefano when they were talking Really cool. I love that and that goes to another thing of lots of Giallo films use Mirrors in them now. I was assuming that because of that They the beat oh would end up using more mirrors in the film, but he didn't I think he did it a lot more in watch Me when I kill But that's just the thing that comes up with Giallo in general. Oh, I also will say that I think Directorially and cinematography wise. I believe that this one looked better than watch me when I kill. That's just my opinion When Stefano sees that image of the yelling kid Which we find out in the end is you know him remembering himself screaming as he watched his brother murder that woman by strangling her Her girl. Sorry You just know at that point the first time you see it and the music goes along with it that That's gonna factor in at the very end They do that a lot in Giallo where one of the characters typically the main character has some sort of flashback and that flashback will always Always come into play at the end though They'll remember more of what that memory is and then it always factors into oh now I know who the killer is basically and that happens exactly here. So another one of those giallo things. I Love how Don Paolo just walks in Into Count Pedrazi's house and accuses him of molesting kids That is a crazy scene just because of how nonchalant Don Paolo is about it He just like walks in this dude's house It's just like you've been touching kids and you need to stop and then the fight that ensues between them It's just nuts including Pedrazi Basically saying that he doesn't care if he goes to hell and then he doesn't want to have anything to do with Don Paolo even though Don Paolo is You know, what is he a minister on on he's the only religious figure on the island from what I can gather So that's pretty interesting Yeah, but I think that was that scene was basically there just to Try to be a red herring of Pedrazi with how mad he was Because obviously by default a lot of people would watch the film and think that oh, there's no way it could be Don Paolo He's a man of the cloth and that's what they were trying to rely upon which is exactly what don't torture duckling does as well And a few other films There's one other I one other one I watched recently. I can't remember which one it was that did that same thing It's gonna bother me now Was it no it wasn't watch me when I kill was something else It'll come back to me at some point. I'm sure The exchange on the street between Sandra and Nardi is odd and it really does make you think that something's off And that's rightfully so because obviously Nardi is the person who murdered the medium So there you go Just another one of those little clues in there and that awkwardness just kind of signals There's something wrong here and obviously it was Nice accordion jumps scare the part where Stefano is basically stalking Sandra Which I don't understand why she's okay with that and why she thinks that it's kind of cute When Stefano is basically stalking her but but as an audience member you think maybe it's a killer coming after her when she is in That alleyway and then this dude with an accordion just like jumps out and scares her I love that jump scare not just because it was a legitimately good jump scare But the dude had an accordion and the accordion made a noise too when he pops out So I just thought that was kind of funny. I like that twist to it Oh, so Pedrazi is boning Tomas. I see I just initially Assumed that Tomas was Pedrazi's son But no basically Pedrazi is older and he's into younger guys and that's what was going on there And they obviously had a very contentious Relationship and on the topic of Tomas Tomas just acts and looks suspicious for the entire film That's another thing that gel likes to do a lot take characters that aren't suspicious Well, aren't the killers are uninvolved at all and just make them act suspicious for no real reason also the Forget his name Gaspar I think the guy who was Dampallo's helper at the church. He was the same way You know, he would do all these suspicious things and look suspiciously at people But he didn't have anything to do with anything. It's just a way to put it in the film to your red heron Good tense lead up to Pedrazo getting killed, but the kill itself is a And that's one of the things I didn't really like for a while I was like these kills are kind of dumb like the killing in the rain and Pedrazi just getting stabbed with the halberd. I Mean just not that good, but then we get a good one, which I'll comment on a little bit Oh, I wrote down this this speaks back to Gaspar I but I want to read you how I wrote it Gaspar he likes nothing more than looking suspicious and shooting suspicious looks at people. That's what he does the whole film It's just what he does The scene before the Jesus statue almost falls on Dampallo is really drawn out and keeps cutting to random things way too much This goes back to my issue. I was talking about before with the scenes just going on too long that scene You could have cut that in half basically and get the point they were going for We don't need all this extra stuff and this film is like an hour and 48 minutes There's no reason it needed to be this long, but then again, you know films back then it was just accepted that they were going to be a lot longer potentially so You know sign of its time. Wow Sandra's mother's death is great. Her head being shoved in the fire. Oh, man That's exciting that was the best the best scene in general of this freaking film When her head gets shoved in the fire and I thought they weren't even going to show it But like they show this close-up of just her head burning and it's just staying in the fire That was a wonderful moment in the film Perfect film perfect kill all the kills should have been to that level. They really went for it on that one Nardi seemed to enjoy dismantling Miriam too much for people don't remember Miriam was her son's doll Who he was thinking had done something bad? So Nardi was like oh, I'll punish her for being bad and then she's just like pulling the arms off She's poking the eyeballs out and that's another one of those kind of subtle cues to show you that she's enjoying The dismantling of this doll a little too much And that's kind of indicating that she has that killer instinct that she has that rage Inside her that could lead to being a killer because that's actually what happened. She was a killer The scene with dr. Aloisi hanging on the boat was a really cool scene That's probably my second favorite scene after the head burning. I have not seen that in a giallo film before I don't know. I haven't really seen that in a film before so it was very unique and very interesting But I don't I also don't understand why the killer didn't just kill him When he was on the sidewalk like he kicked him into the in the water What do you think he would just drown in the water? I mean he could have gotten out at some point and then it just by happenstance that he you know grabs on to the rope on This boat that's going by but My only thought is that you know They just did it because they wanted to do that particular scene and for that reason I'm cool with that because it's a cool scene It's really interesting. It's very interestingly shot and like I said, I haven't seen that before so I'm always down for stuff I haven't seen before in a film especially a giallo but his eventual kill the The fact that's kind of off-screen like you kind of see him getting hit makes it so that the kill kind of sucks I guess it's the suggestion of how he's getting killed is the grizzly part of it, but I Mean the actual kills whatever but overall I like that scene just saying As soon as an already son that came after Don Paolo and she was found dead I knew Don Paolo was the killer, but it's also more complicated than that Obviously in the end like I talked about in the beginning of this video what ended up happening in the end. So yeah Also, I also did pick up what Stefano says later Which is when he's putting everything together that Don Paolo makes a comment to him about Nardi being dead already And at that point the police had not told them So the only reason the only reason Don Paolo would know at that point is because he was the killer Or he was there some other way, but he was killer The painting in this film held the key showing the devil being spawned from angels Coming down to kill the girl and the big clue of it being tied to Stefano's memory of when he was a kid and that Building in the background on the hill and the scenery everything looked exactly the same So obviously that was the situation where Sandra's mother Knowing Don Paolo's secret painted this painting of a representation of what Don Paolo did And the reason it's angels is because he was supposed to be a man of the cloth Falling from grace becoming a devil and committing this murder So I did like that aspect of the film With the the painting being such a big part of it. I had a feeling Don Paolo would off himself I really did as soon as he was found out you could kind of see it in his face And then like all the kind of like flashback stuff he had going on or hallucinatory stuff I don't know where he was looking at the altar and visualizing himself giving communion to everyone. He had killed Everyone involved in the situation. Yeah So there was really no motive explained for Don Paolo killing the first girl Is he just a murderer at heart now? Maybe I missed it so you can feel free to put it in the comments But I'm pretty sure they did not explain why Don Paolo killed the girl initially by strangling her Was he just a murderer? Did he just like to kill? I don't know. I don't know But tell me if I missed it because sometimes I miss that Great use in this film of the cityscape. I love that I like to comment on those things especially because Italian architecture looks so interesting to me It's very beautiful and you see a lot of it But also the insides of the houses are really cool They go into a few very lavish looking mansions. So that's really cool You see the inner architecture at that point something that giallo films do a decent amount showing the architecture showing the cityscapes In very interesting ways. So they'd still do that in this one as well Like I said, but I'm gonna I'm gonna read this the way I put it because I think it's better put this way a lot of scenes feel like they go on a bit too long and not for any legitimate reason either Adding the legitimate reason part there They're not legitimate reasons that just going on too long to go on too long and it overall kills the pacing now My final thought on this. I don't know if anyone else picked up on this one I have a feeling that someone like Campbell Campbell green might pick up on the subscriber Campbell green Maybe some other people Blue room you might pick up on this as well Notice that a bunch of characters were about the same height and had about the same color of eyes This was a smart way to keep the killer's identity hidden I noticed probably about halfway through because they had the scene where they actually showed the killer's eyes and Actually even before that I was looking at the killer's height when you could see like the entirety of the person Who was the killer like running away and stuff? and and then I started noticing all these Characters are about the same height for the most part Then after you see the killer's eyes I think that was in the part where they broke into Sandra's house to steal the painting You see a quick shot of the eyes and you can see the the green that they were and Then I started intentionally looking at the eyes of all the characters when they were on screen And I was like all their eyes are about the same color So I just thought that was kind of ingenious and interesting that they were all about the same height And they all had about the same eye color that would help keep the identity hidden better for the end reveal So a lot of attention to detail on that but like I said overall not the biggest fan of this But there were some good things so out of five stars with half stars in play. I'm going with a two and a half I thought about going into but I think I'm gonna go a two and a half I liked it enough to be undecided if that makes sense. That's kind of a funny term But I like it enough to be undecided about it. Yeah, it raised it from the two to a two and a half Probably the the head on fire is what does it for me and the boat scene? That's what gets it up that extra half But I would love to hear your comments or see your comments read your comments Put them down there about this film or any giallo in general if you want to Really been joining enjoying the giallo discussion on my videos and the fact that people are legitimately watching these when I started doing these I was just doing these for me and I was like, I just want to put these reviews out there because I want to talk about these I didn't really expect Anyone really to care that much about these reviews. So I really thank everyone who does Because this is just I'm passionate about giallo, obviously So but go ahead and put some comments down there and if you're not a subscriber already Please consider subscribing because it costs you no money. It's quick. It's painless and it really doesn't mean a lot to me It's a favor you could do for me because Legitimately it keeps me motivated to keep doing these videos Just knowing that I'm reaching people and people are engaged and interested and it is a way to show that You know pay me back in a way just with your subscription. So anyway, thank you very much for taking your time to check this out I do appreciate that and until next time keep it brutal