Solamente nero – released internationally as The Bloodstained Shadow, Bloodstained Shadow and Only Blackness – is a 1978 Italian giallo horror thriller film directed by Antonio Bido, starring Lino Capolicchio, Stefania Casini and Craig Hill.
Plot teaser:
When a young college professor (Lino Capolicchio of The House With the Laughing Windows) returns home to visit his Catholic priest brother (Craig Hill of Dracula vs Frankenstein), prominent members of the community begin to be stalked and slaughtered by an unknown killer. Can the brothers uncover the identity of this deranged fiend, even while they are being tortured by their own nightmares of an unspeakable childhood trauma?
Buy The Bloodstained Shadow on 88 Films Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk
Reviews:
The Bloodstained Shadow has a satisfyingly labyrinthine plot, plenty of shock cuts and some well-orchestrated murder scenes (especially the demise of the medium during a thunderstorm). Antonio Bido (The Cat’s Victims) again takes his cue from Dario Argento but makes excellent use of the winding passages and narrow waterways of the Venetian island of Murano to add the atmosphere. Meanwhile, Stelvio Cipriani’s enjoyable score gleefully incorporates well-known cues from prog rock band Goblin. On the downside, Lino Capolicchio is a typically ineffectual hero, a genre convention, seemingly – and wears some particularly off-putting knitwear to remind us this was made in Italy in 1978.
Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia
“While a little overlong at 109 minutes – the pace does tend to slacken on occasion, between the effectively tense stalking scenes – The Bloodstained Shadow is nevertheless a masterfully eerie addition to the giallo world. Laced with surprises, and enough damning glances to make nearly everyone a suspect, Bido brilliantly guides us through misty waterways, dark alleys, and overpopulated cemeteries to provide an intriguing and thrilling giallo experience.” DeadShed
“For all its strengths, The Bloodstained Shadow fails to make it into the top “tier” of gialli. The script is almost entirely derivative of other offerings in the genre, taking most of its cues from Argento’s work.” The Digital Fix
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