Spoilers
While this movie is definitely intriguing, it's never very interesting. Stephen Forsyth plays the heir of a bridal fashion house who has the compulsive need to brutally murder brides to be in order to get closer to a mystery that's locked inside his mind.
This movie is visually stunning, there's no denying that. Bava's use of color and lighting is very impressive. In short, this movie has style to burn. His flamboyant camera-work helps to give certain scenes a creepy feel to them, and certain scenes do work very well (Forsyth's visions of his recently departed wife) but that can't be said for the entire movie, sadly.
Apart from a few scenes, the movie is virtually suspenseless. Certain sequences that should have reached a grand finale (maybe some violence and gore could have rocked this boat) simply don't. Big parts of this film seem to be on a sedative. The script could have used some polishing, as well. The detective doesn't work at all here. Every scene between him and Forsyth seem out of place for the film, go on way too long and don't add anything further to the film. In the end, his relevance surfaces so I guess he couldn't have been deleted from the film. The dialouge is at times ridiculous, but as it is an Italian movie(basically), this is perhaps a pro instead of a con (Dario Argento movies spring to mind). And one last thing, who in their right mind could not spot the "shocking" ending at least an hour before the film's end. My verdict: 6/10
While this movie is definitely intriguing, it's never very interesting. Stephen Forsyth plays the heir of a bridal fashion house who has the compulsive need to brutally murder brides to be in order to get closer to a mystery that's locked inside his mind.
This movie is visually stunning, there's no denying that. Bava's use of color and lighting is very impressive. In short, this movie has style to burn. His flamboyant camera-work helps to give certain scenes a creepy feel to them, and certain scenes do work very well (Forsyth's visions of his recently departed wife) but that can't be said for the entire movie, sadly.
Apart from a few scenes, the movie is virtually suspenseless. Certain sequences that should have reached a grand finale (maybe some violence and gore could have rocked this boat) simply don't. Big parts of this film seem to be on a sedative. The script could have used some polishing, as well. The detective doesn't work at all here. Every scene between him and Forsyth seem out of place for the film, go on way too long and don't add anything further to the film. In the end, his relevance surfaces so I guess he couldn't have been deleted from the film. The dialouge is at times ridiculous, but as it is an Italian movie(basically), this is perhaps a pro instead of a con (Dario Argento movies spring to mind). And one last thing, who in their right mind could not spot the "shocking" ending at least an hour before the film's end. My verdict: 6/10