All the Colors of the Dark
By Chris Hyde
December 14, 2004
Media Blasters continues a nice 2004 run with a whacked out giallo starring the fantastic Edwige Fenech.
Though the DVD outfit Media Blasters tends to have a good eye when it comes to selecting material for reissue, a few of their past releases have had nagging problems that somehow marred their disks. Well-publicized gaffes such as issuing a DVD with Uschi Digart all over the packaging for a film in which she doesn’t appear (in fact, their Web site still says she’s in Sappho ’68, even though she isn’t) and the like has led many fans to question their attention to detail. Not helping their cause is the oft-dismissive way in which they treat their critics, seemingly uncaring about the mistakes — an attitude quite clearly delineated by the fact that they’ve never addressed the problem with the non-Uschi disk. That said, in 2004 the company has made some nice strides to improve quality and continues to put out great cult films on a regular basis under their various imprints. While there have still been some minor troubles (such as the audio mistake on the Slaughter Hotel disk), with releases such as The Virgin of Nuremberg, Run Angel Run, 7 Grandmasters, Blood Sisters and Zombie 2 in the main the company has comported itself quite well this year.
Especially helpful in restoring Media Blasters’ somewhat tarnished reputation should be their recent digital version of the Edwige Fenech/Sergio Martino giallo All the Colors of the Dark. Among the Euro-cult starlets of the '60s and '70s Fenech certainly ranks in the upper echelon, with her slightly exotic looks (courtesy of a Tunisian mother) giving her a unique countenance that centered quite a number of classic giallos and period sex comedies. Beyond offering her gorgeous corporeal presence, however, Fenech is a decently accomplished actress who is quite capable of being convincing in genre roles that might otherwise be quite laughable. Here she plays a woman named Jane, a vulnerable protagonist whose traumatic loss of a child may be affecting her grasp of reality and ultimately causing her to question her own sanity.
Having suffered a miscarriage after a car driven by her male friend Richard (played by spaghetti western regular George Hilton) hit a tree, Fenech’s character Jane experiences some strange dreams that warp her hold on the real world and interfere with the couple’s relationship. Seeking help from her sister Barbara (Nieves Navarro), Jane heads off to the shrink — although Richard sneers at the idea of psychoanalysis. This analysis does little to halt the nightmares, however, and Jane even begins to see a steely-eyed figure (played by the wonderful Ivan Rassimov) from her dreamscape stalking her on the streets and in apartment hallways. After one of these frightening encounters, Jane takes refuge in her neighbor Mary’s (Marina Malfatti) apartment and eventually follows this woman’s advice on where to turn for help. Unfortunately for Jane, this help group turns out not to be of all that much support, as they are far more Satanist than Samaritan — a happenstance that drives poor Jane further down the road of potential insanity.
Obviously drawing heavily on the influence of Polanski’s seminal horror film Rosemary’s Baby, All the Colors of the Dark is a fairly unique giallo from director Sergio Martino. Much more heady than your average Italian horror offering from the period, this one uses constant surrealist and expressionist touches to convey the tenuous hold that Fenech’s character may have on the world. The fantasy/reality barrier is broached repeatedly, with the director very often toying with audience expectations to reflect the psychological conflict in which Jane finds herself. Though to modern audiences these fluctuations might seem fairly crude, Martino’s approach could easily be described as being a precursor to a sort of reality-bending cinema that has become fairly commonplace today. This one also has an edge on many giallos in that it does not allow a leaden pace to drag it down into boringness — to the contrary, the film moves along relatively briskly and with Fenech as its center, nearly always has something watchable going on.
In addition to Martino’s high quality helmsmanship and the obvious attractions of its star, All the Colors of the Dark also excels in both a visual and an auditory manner. The film’s London setting is just creepy and archaic enough to lend it an outré edge, and the art direction and cinematography give the project a decadent atmosphere that underlines the movie’s artistic themes. Also worthwhile is the soundtrack by Bruno Nicolai, a longtime composer for Italian films whose work from the spaghetti western Il Mercenario just recently turned up in Kill Bill Vol. 2. Here the music veers from an expressive background score to twangy sitar driven psychedelia, perhaps not always matching the action onscreen but nonetheless remaining an important aspect of the film’s success.
To these eyes, then, All the Colors of the Dark certainly represents a particularly striking addition to the giallo canon; but how well does this Media Blasters/Shriek Show disk represent the production? Happily, the answer here is that the company has done an excellent job with this one — so good, in fact, that it might be the best DVD they’ve put out all year. The transfer is clean and presented in the film’s original 2:35 to 1 ratio, with its anamorphic letterboxing looking chromatically gorgeous. The sound is also fine, though the Italian track is much preferable to the English mono one. But as the company has smartly incorporated both audio versions here, you have your choice of whichever dubbed version you desire; and this is a commendable choice that only adds to the release’s value.
There’s even more to this DVD to make it a worthwhile purchase, as the extras also lend the disk some meaty heft. Though there was reportedly some interview material with the female cast members that sadly didn’t make the cut for some reason, there’s still a sweet 20 minute talk with director Martino and another ten minute segment with George Hilton to help round out the package. Additionally, there’s plenty of trailer and promotional stuff herein — including the Italian preview, a domestic ad, some radio spots and an amazing wealth of poster, album, video, still and photoplay shots which are shown off in a great gallery that is underlined with music, dialogue and sound bits from the movie. There’s also even an alternate title sequence that was used for the US release, a hilarious bit of “oh, wow” psychedelia that could only have arisen in a post-Albert Hoffman landscape.
Closing out the release are a handful of previews for some other Shriek Show disks, none of which have really approached the quality of the present disk under discussion. It’s certainly a promising sign that Media Blasters have done such a nice job with All the Colors of the Dark, and given that most of the other disks of theirs that I’ve watched in 2004 were of reasonable quality, one has to give the outfit credit for improving their product. While things still aren’t totally perfect, the trend is certainly going in the proper direction — a fact that bodes well for upcoming DVD’s like The Mysterians, Syndicate Sadists, Tenement: Game of Survival, Golden Temple Amazons and the Special Edition of Takashi Miike’s Fudoh. Of course, we’ll have to reserve ultimate judgment until the promise of the future becomes concrete in the marketplace; but if the job they’ve done here in showing off the amazing Edwige Fenech in all her glory is any indication, then things on the Media Blasters front are undoubtedly on the way up.
Print this column
