Italians are quite simply ‘the bomb’ when it comes to making horror films. From their numerous and gory zombie movies to their awesome, stylish giallo films; most of them rule to some degree. To genre fans, names such as Fulci, Argento and Bava are equally as popular as Antonioni, Fellini and Bertolucci. But the genre films of Italy are often incorrectly labeled as nothing more than gore-fests. There are quite a few more subdued and atmospheric films that don’t rely on eye-gouging to sell tickets. Marcello Aliprandi’s A Whisper in the Dark is one of them, although it probably isn’t the best example.

The story is extremely simple: A boy named Martino (Alessandro Poggi) has an invisible friend named Luca; and his sisters and family make fun of him because of it. At first, no one seems to believe in Martino, except for his mother -- Luca was a name she gave to a miscarried child. With all this mocking, you would expect the invisible friend to go on a killing spree or be terrifying in order to make the mocking family frightened. Well it seems Luca is more interested in letting the air out of people’s tires, staying up all hours, not eating his toast, and playing soccer, than doing anything constructive or scary.

It also needs to be said that this film has the absolute worst set of twin sisters ever in a motion picture. In addition to mocking Luca, for which alone they deserve to be brutally slaughtered, they eat his food – which is just wrong. They whine about wanting to go to some faceless person’s party. They assume that Luca made it rain so they couldn’t get there. Then, when their aunt gets a flat on the way, in the rain, all they do is bitch and whine from inside the car. To even endure all the pettiness of this duo, I had to imagine that they were the twins that get murdered before the events in The Shining. I know it sounds stupid, but it brings a smile to me nevertheless. Later on, for no apparent reason, they cheer Luca on as if he were Pele at a soccer match. Apparently, Luca’s goalie skills are second to none at stopping a ball dead in its tracks. I heard a rumor that soon after the events of this film, Luca transferred to the Brazilian team, which explains his lack of screen credits following this.

The AWESOMEness level should have been over a thousand fold, though. If for no other reason, John Phillip Law (who played one of the coolest characters in film history in Mario Bava’s Danger: Diabolik) plays Martino’s father. Alas, only his hair showed up to the set, and his performance is non-existent as a result. In addition to Law, Joseph Cotten (of Citizen Kane and a zillion genre films, including: Airport ’77, Baron Blood and Soylent Green) is here to lend credibility and gets the awesome distinction of being the only person to die in this film. This is actually part of the problem. The film tries so hard to remain subtle and ambiguous that there is never any real feeling of dread, scares, or tension of any kind. In the past, I have been harsh and judgmental to The Sixth Sense, saying that there is no purpose to that movie except for the twist. A Whisper In The Dark would be the polar opposite. There is no real resolution at all, but there wasn’t really much of an issue to begin with. This is about as close as a fictional horror film can come to neo-realism; but even that makes it sound more interesting than it really is.

The best thing about the film is the cinematography. It is so good, it should have received a starring credit. The house, the completely unneeded scenes in Venice, the running through the fog finale, an image of a floating funeral pyre – all of these images are completely brilliant, and would probably be better served in a more interesting film. But it certainly does this one a huge favor by giving the audience something wonderful to look at while the story fizzles its way through. A Whisper In The Dark goes a long way to help establish a mysterious tone that none of the characters seem to realize.

Decidedly more gothic in its inspiration and certainly less graphic, A Whisper in the Dark is sadly, not too memorable. Taking bits from films like The Exorcist (with Cotten’s character essentially replacing Father Merrin) and The Wicker Man, it never really succeeds. Even other “scary kid” films (which this movie really isn’t, but it was marketed as one – see the trailer) such as the same year’s The Omen make better sense and are infinitely more interesting. 10 out of 10 for style, but minus 5 for execution.

Presentation
As I have come to expect from NoShame, the anamorphic 1.85:1 presentation is very good and worth bragging about. The composition of the film is gorgeous and the format really shows it off. There are a few very minor spots in the fog scenes, but that is extreme nitpicking. 99% of the audience won’t even notice it. The sound is the expected Mono, and it plays fine, enhancing the lovely score. There is also an English dub, which serves little purpose aside from making some characters (especially the little girls) even more annoying.

Extras
Whispering Corridor - (31:38) The standard NoShame interview featurette. This time, the subject is cinematographer Claudio Cirillo. This feature is one of the better in this series. Claudio is an extremely animated guy who never runs out of things to say. You know the “Italians talk with their hands” saying? That could have been invented for Claudio. He seems to have really enjoyed working on this film, and freely discusses the problems of setting up certain shots and the ease of living in the same building he was shooting in. He also goes in depth on other films he worked on and other directors. Good stuff indeed.

Original Theatrical Trailer – (3:02) This sets up the film to have more scares than it actually delivers. Extremely misleading, but well edited.

Poster & Still gallery – (0:34) Nice display of advertising, but too short for me to care.
The always awesome, six-page booklet this time features a really good essay on Italian gothic films. Cleverly titled, “Things that go bump in la notte”; this is a genre that I haven’t too much familiarity with, so I now have a new shopping list of titles that I am looking forward to uncovering. Then there are articles and filmographies on actors Joseph Cotten and John Phillip Law, both of which are well-written and provide good background to their work. These booklets are awesome, and NoShame deserves a million raves for them.

Fin
A Whisper in the Dark is certainly an interesting film, even if the premise isn’t something completely original – even in 1976. It definitely fails at being a scary film. The characters are pretty vacant, and don’t seem to react naturally. But it isn’t a complete failure. The film bleeds atmosphere and tone. If you like art direction, this is a film you must see. For any other interested parties, it is probably a rental. The cinematography alone certainly makes it worth a Luca.