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Blade in the Dark (A) AKA La casa con la scala nel buio (1983)
The last cry you will hear will be yours!Director: Lamberto Bava
Year of Copyright: 1983
OVERALL: Draw-
OVERALL: Draw
The German releases have both versions of the film and exclusive German commentaries.
The French release has both versions of the film with differing extras, though note the transfer is not in the original aspect ratio.
The UK 88 Films release has the longer Italian version with the original Italian audio and English dub, with differing exclusive extras.
GENERAL NOTES:
The film was originally shot for Italian television, and planned as four twenty-seven minute segments; however, the final cut of the film ended up for theatrical release trimmed down to 97 minutes.
Although the 97 minute version became the default cut of the film on VHS and some early DVD editions, the longer version running 109 minutes still existed in Italy and would supplant the theatrical cut on physical media; however, when the early NTSC, PAL, and initial HD telecine of the 16mm negatives deleted frames at each splice point reducing the running time by roughly two minutes to just under 107 minutes. The newer 4K scan restores the missing frames and brings the running time back up to 109 minutes.
The extra footage does not add much in the way of plot development or gore, but it does achieve a more layered, character-motivated approach than the earlier cut. Some of the restored scenes include Bruno making a pay booth call to Julia's boss – casting suspicion on her whereabouts during the murders – more atmospheric night scenes of Bruno exploring the house, a longer build up to the second murder, and several extra red herring bits involving Stanko Molnar as the groundsman, fondling scissors and generally acting suspiciously.
While the extended television version and the Italian theatrical cut ran the opening credits on a still background after the bloody tennis ball stops bouncing, the original export version in some territories ran the credits on a black background while a variation in some territories ran the English credits on the still background. -
CUTS:
- R0 America- Anchor Bay Entertainment - No cuts - Italian version (108:39 NTSC)
- R0 America- Blue Underground - No cuts - Italian version (108:28 NTSC)
- R0 Germany- EC / DVD-Verkauf.com - No cuts - Theatrical (92:27 PAL)
- R0 Remastered Collector's Edition Holland- EC - No cuts - Italian version (108:40 PAL)
- R0 Theatrical Release Holland- EC - No cuts - Export version
- R2 Collector's Edition France- Neo Publishing - No cuts - contains both the Italian version (104:11 PAL) and the Export version (95:57 PAL)
- R2 Eurocult Collection #10 Germany- X-Rated - No cuts - includes the Italian version (102:30 PAL) and Export Version (91:20 PAL)
- R2 Giallo Series #16 Germany- X-Rated - No cuts - includes the Italian version (102:30 PAL) and Export Version (91:20 PAL)
- R2 United Kingdom- Vipco - No cuts - Italian version
- R2 Cult Cinema Collection United Kingdom- 88 Films - No cuts - Italian version with English credits (102:32 PAL)
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Comparison added by David on 10/04/03
Comparison last updated by Eric_Cotenas on 02/03/24UPDATE LOG:
17/06/17: Added German edition.
Please ensure you read our disclaimer.
06/10/10: Addition of the French release.
17/05/14: Added Amazon links.
17/06/16: Tweaked title.
07/08/18: RTs of movie/extras added to EC release (Italian version)
08/08/18: Title update, added UK 88, updated notes, updated Germany x2, France, capsaholic.
02/03/24: Corrected notes on versions.
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