The many shades of Gaillo

ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK (1972)

Wow.
The single most bat shit crazy opening in film history? You know what... screw it I will say it... hands down the strangest opening 5minutes/titlesequence ever.

Gaillo: Italien blood soaked slashers that created their own genre during the 60s,70s, 80s. Sexy, bloody, and well, twisted as hell in most cases. How could the average red blooded horror fan not take notice. I myself am a huge fan of Gaillo. There is an issue however, one problem inherent in many Gaillo films - Sense. Well, more accurately the sense lacking.

These films are beautiful to look at. Indeed in the current HD age, many have survived to the new medium far better than many higher budgeted films. The camera angles are grand, and weird. The editing is a strange mix of tranquil calm, and chaotic cuts. The music is often brilliant and unique... but boy friggin' howdy do they throw sense out the window sometimes... often.

In a way I guess you could say Gaillo was then as J-horror is today (yes, I will accept any Horror rage you wanna dump on me over that comment).

I'm wet, and scared, hold me... 

The story goes - A woman... No let me restart that, A sexy woman, is having all kinds of F'd up bloody visions, and is all around falling apart since she lost her child in the aftermath of a car accident. Or she has always had visions since her mom was murdered... or something. Anyway, now she is all messed up, and may have kinda joined a cult with a woman she just met but decided to be best friends with. Of course all that could be a dream, and she could just be insane. But dammit, she will get naked as many times as it takes to find out!

Ok. I have to say there are some real cool suspense shots in this here flick. Director Sergio Martino (the man behind many a good Gaillo including a fav of mine - Torso)really works some stuff that may be a little more common today, but certainly was not back then. For instance a subway scene where the "Mysterious man" is stalking our sexy heroine on the train. As they pass parts of the tunnel the lights cut out and when they come on... he's a wee bit closer. Another great shot is the man rising up the stairs towards a terrified woman as she awaits the elevator rising up through the center of the staircase. Or how about running down a spiral staircase with a spinning camera in time, in one shot... Just grade A gaillo gold.

How about a true Gaillo scream queen (and a lil naughty nude italian at that) Edwige Fenech. Dark haired beauty with no nude shame... ya she's built for Italian Horror.

Yup. It is a Gaillo movie you should expect shot wrapping :)

I mean really as far as Gaillo films go, this is the stuff blurry cult status is made of. Tons of nudity, violence, and one twisted up plot. I mean the opening never really gets explained, so just move past that one emotionally. However, once past that, things are well, more or less on track for the genre. Craziness in spades. Creepy blue eyed stalkers, cults, hell, through in some puppy sacrificing and its a real party!

Things do come together way more than I was expecting, in fact as the credits rolled I would say I got probably 88% of the plot. For a non Argento Gaillo that is damn impressive. The twist that drops on you at the end, as to be expected, wraps things up nicely, if not very damn quickly. And they move past it quickly... like Bam! Here's all your answers audience, lets move on.

I liked all the characters. They even manage to convince that the boyfriend is all evil, but then again, perhaps there is more to his story... that plus Boobs... plus general awesomeness of filming really kept me into this one guys... and gals. If you are a fan of the Italian horror and have yet to dive into this gem get on it. And ya, considering some of the horrid Gaillo out there that gets the HD treatment (many of Fulci's weaker entries) I am surprised to see this one still on the shelf.

A grand time.

Movie scale 3 out 5 stars
Gaillo Horror scale 3 out of 5 stars

Shiny knife blades. Sexy women. Screaming. A weird assortment of lighting and colours. Crazy twisty plot... all here folks. Enjoy.

- Boonsweet
@Tallwhitefox