You won't be disappointed!

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

A beautifully photographed Venice provides a stunning and misty backdrop for this solid giallo. By 1978, I would have thought this particular strand of cinema would have vanished – but it is good to see the appetite for Italian horror/thrillers remains, even if it isn't as prolific as it was in the early 1970s.It is interesting to note that by this time, the male hero (Stefano, played by Lino Capolicchio) is not as meticulously coiffured as earlier in the decade, an is also a good deal more gallant and less blatantly chauvinistic towards the still glamorous heroine (Sandra, played by Stefania Casini).Other than that, things have changed very little – it would hardly be a giallo if they had. We are still quickly headed knee-deep into a fairly convoluted storyline involving intrigue, graphic murder (the opening scene involves an unfortunate female throwing her mane of hair about as she is throttled in slo-mo) and a chorus line of suspects.One for fans of giallo rather than for someone dipping their toe into the genre for the first time: this 119 minute runaround is rather too long for my tastes.

It is slow - mainly due to some unnecessary scenes (the romance parts) and dragging out scenes too long (like walking, and walking, and they are still walking then finally get to where they are going). If some scenes where cut out all together and the others cut down then the move would move faster.A predictable mystery but that doesn't harm the film - it's how the story plays out that matters. There are plenty of films where the viewer is shown the killer at the beginning of the film but it's watching the characters in the story trying to figure it out that is interesting. Being a mystery, with this film it's not just the characters in the story but also the viewers that are supposed to figure out who is the killer. I guessed this one right not long after the film began but I'm not saying whodunit, you'll have to watch the film yourself to find out.I would have rated this film a bit higher if it wasn't for all the unnecessary and overly long scenes.6.5/10

Set in and around Venice and heavily mired in the world of Catholicism, The Bloodstained Shadow is a dreary and unfulfilling giallo that brings nothing new to the genre. Director Antonio Bido allows the plot to unravel extremely slowly and often seems more intent on showing us the sights of Venice rather than telling a taut murder mystery tale.The story revolves around a group of unsavoury characters who are being bumped off one-by-one (in a relatively bloodless fashion) by a lunatic who may be connected to a murder that took place many years before. In between the lacklustre death scenes and the travelogue-style footage of Venice, we get an uninteresting love story (with a gratuitous sex scene) and loads of talking. Even the score, performed by Italian rock group Goblin, failed to impress me.By the time the identity of the murderer was revealed (and eagle eyed viewers will probably have guessed already), I was struggling to stay awake. The Bloodstained Shadow is one for giallo completists only.

Dario Argento was,along with Mario Bava ,one of the two most influential forces as far Italian horror movies were concerned.As an user has already pointed out,the director desperately pretends he is Argento.Alas!Argento's sensational sense of space ,his non-Euclidian geometry cannot be imitated ,aped.Here the director tried to hold the cards and he dismally failed: horrible crimes ,strange characters(a priest that knows more than he claims,a gay /pedophile ,a medium), a scary painting (like in Argento's "Ucello dalle piume di cristallo"),and a young man whose past comes back to haunt him.Even Venice is ugly!It speaks volumes about the cinematography.