Stunning as always, Giallo regular Edwige Fenech stars here as Jane Harrison, a young woman involved with Richard Steele (hunky George Hilton, another staple of this genre). Once upon a time, they'd had a traffic accident that resulted in her miscarrying their baby. Now, she's being plagued by nightmares full of bizarre, kinky, and threatening imagery. She's taken first to a psychiatrist (George Rigaud); then her conniving sister Barbara (Nieves Navarro) gets her involved with a Satan-worshipping cult. Naturally, this only makes things worse for the fragile Jane.
Film director Sergio Martine and the lovely Fenech did some fine work together, and she's good in a role that requires a lot of histrionics. The cast is full of compelling performers, though: Marina Malfatti plays the solicitous neighbour Mary, Ivan Rassimov is perfectly creepy as an ominous mystery presence in Janes' life, the sharply featured Julian Ugarte is likewise very sinister-looking as the cult leader, and ubiquitous Luciano Pigozzi turns up as a lawyer.
The score by Bruno Nicolai is haunting and beautiful, and is one of the best done for a Giallo. The film itself is quite stylish and interesting; its main hook is that it flirts with unreality at all times. One is never really sure where the dark fantasies end and where real life comes back in. Of course, everything is explained at the end, and it's up to the individual viewer whether they go for these kinds of exposition scenes. Until then, "All the Colors of the Dark" is the kind of exercise in surrealism that's sure to appeal to lovers of European shock cinema. Its colours are vivid and its use of camera angles is striking. There was also a lot of excellent location shooting in England. Perhaps most intriguing is that this doesn't really utilize a "murder mystery" approach like a lot of Gialli, but instead goes for this psychological approach. That in itself is admirable.
Highly recommended to fans of the genre.
Seven out of 10.
Film director Sergio Martine and the lovely Fenech did some fine work together, and she's good in a role that requires a lot of histrionics. The cast is full of compelling performers, though: Marina Malfatti plays the solicitous neighbour Mary, Ivan Rassimov is perfectly creepy as an ominous mystery presence in Janes' life, the sharply featured Julian Ugarte is likewise very sinister-looking as the cult leader, and ubiquitous Luciano Pigozzi turns up as a lawyer.
The score by Bruno Nicolai is haunting and beautiful, and is one of the best done for a Giallo. The film itself is quite stylish and interesting; its main hook is that it flirts with unreality at all times. One is never really sure where the dark fantasies end and where real life comes back in. Of course, everything is explained at the end, and it's up to the individual viewer whether they go for these kinds of exposition scenes. Until then, "All the Colors of the Dark" is the kind of exercise in surrealism that's sure to appeal to lovers of European shock cinema. Its colours are vivid and its use of camera angles is striking. There was also a lot of excellent location shooting in England. Perhaps most intriguing is that this doesn't really utilize a "murder mystery" approach like a lot of Gialli, but instead goes for this psychological approach. That in itself is admirable.
Highly recommended to fans of the genre.
Seven out of 10.