All the Colors of the Dark

We are back in Giallo territory with Sergio Martino's:

All the Colors of the Dark (1972).

Jane (Edwige Fenech) suffers from terrible nightmares stemming from both her mothers murder and from the fact that she miscarried when she and her lover, Richard (George Hilton), were in a car crash. Jane's sister, Barbara (Nieves Navarro) urges her to talk to the psychiatrist Barbara works for, Doctor Burton (George Rigaud), but Richard hates that idea and urges Jane to just rest and take vitamins he gives her. A recurring element in Jane's nightmares is the man with piercing blue eyes, since he is the one who stabs her mother to death in her dreams. Imagine Jane's terror when that man (Ivan Rassimov) starts stalking her in real life! Or is it real? Is she hallucinating? In one such panicked state, Jane meets her neighbor, Mary (Marina Malfatti) and they become friends. At one point, Mary confides that she got rid of her problems by joining a cult and performing a black mass. Desperate for help, Jane agrees to attend a black mass and that's when things get really crazy.

All the Colors of the Dark is not only an amazing title, but as solid a movie as any Giallo Martino has directed, but it struck me that it is more a Gothic thriller than a Giallo. A fusion of styles, if you will. The actors are good as ever, particularly Fenech who again demonstrates her ability to convey absolute terror with only her eyes.

The cinematography is good as usual, and Martino plays a lot with contrasts here. In one scene, Jane parks her small gray Mini Morris in front of an equally gray Jaguar and you are struck by how they are both gray cars with round headlights, but otherwise they couldn't be more different. Jane and Mary both compliment and contrast each other, and it all just works.

The story in All the Colors of the Dark is both its strength and weakness. It isn't the kind of story that you can really solve, so we don't need to worry about the movie cheating, but with Janes hallucinations and dreams, it is sometimes frustrating to know what is actually happening. I also wish that Jane could have one moment of power, but alas she spends her time screaming, running and falling down. Admittedly, Fenech does that as well as anyone, but it got a bit samey after a while.

While there are some minor plot holes in All the Colors of the Dark, they aren't that bad. Overall, everything is explained in the end, which again is a Martino staple.

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes! Obviously Giallo fans should see All the Colors of the Dark if they haven't, but it could also serve as a “beginner” Giallo since a lot of the expected tropes are absent and replaced with more conventional Gothic themes instead. All in all, this is a solid if somewhat confusing thriller that kept me interested throughout.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great week!