There are few movies ever that blend psychological and hallucinatory horror with the gothic quite like Sergio Martino's All the Colors of the Dark. Along with all of those influences it is a great satanic panic film where you feel the main character is trapped by those around her. The movie at times makes you think something is real and not a dream sequence, through the scene replaying in different ways. With any of the characters possibly being cult members you don't know who is being truthful. This all leads to a satisfying ending. Martino combined the influences of Roman Polanski's psychosexual hallucinatory nature of Repulsion with the satanic panic of Rosemary's Baby. What the main character goes through is a great allegory for anxiety but also presents the differing ways people like to deal with mental health. Is the best way to deal with it through therapy, medication, or even black magic cults? The movie shows all three perspectives. Usage of surreal colors, backdrops, distorted lenses, and Bruno Nicolai's loud, and at times chaotic score only add to the feeling of hallucinatory and supernatural. Edwige Fenech looks the most beautiful any woman has ever looked in this movie.
Synopsis: A woman tormented by frightening nightmares decides to join in with satanic rituals out of fear that a man is trying to kill her, but the sinister ceremony seems to bring her nightmares to life.
The movie starts with Jane having a nightmare. There are many different images and musical cues that are memorable in this scene. The guy with the wig and the black teeth, the pregnant woman (Dominique Boschero) being stabbed in the bed, the doll. Prior to the start of the nightmare there is this footage of a beautiful sunset. The nightmare is only in a black background giving it a surreal feeling. This all happens while Bruno Nicolai's score changes between a chaotic sound to a downbeat voice. The scene then transitions to this white and purple thermal color and we see a car crash into a tree. Jane (Edwige Fenech) wakes up. We get an extended shower scene with her in a transparent white shirt. Her husband Richard (George Hilton) berates her for not taking her pills. They try to have sex but Jane has PTSD about the nightmare. Meanwhile, Jane's sister, Barbara (Susan Scott, AKA Nieves Navarro) is encouraged by her sister to see psychoanalyst Dr. Burton (George Rigaud).
Edwige looking like a goddess
She goes to the appointment and Dr. Burton says she has trauma going back to her childhood seeing her mother die at a young age. Richard accosts Barbara for sending Jane to a therapist. This is another memorable shower scene that you might want to remember for other reasons than seeing Susan Scott topless. Around this time Jane starts seeing a mysterious blue-eyed man almost everywhere she goes seemingly stalking her. This is a memorable role for great Italian genre cinema actor, Ivan Rassimov. She sees him in the waiting room, on a train ride, outside of her apartment, and when she goes for an appointment to meet a lawyer (Luciano Pigozzi) the blue-eyed man tries to kill her. Jane eventually meets one of her upstairs neighbors, Mary, played by Marina Malfatti. Mary takes Jane to a "sabbath." This sabbath is really a satanic blood cult orgy. This is a fantastic sequence filled with many interesting people, this includes cult leader J.P. McBrian (Julian Ugarte) a memorable looking man with a beard and long fingernails. This scene features one of Bruno Nicolai's best works filled with great use of synchronized voice, drums, and screaming voices to ramp up the intensity and weirdness.
Ivan Rassimov and his Blue Contacts
Julian Ugarte and other strange cultists
In a great transition, the orgy transitions into Jane having sex with Richard and climaxing. All seems well until Jane sees the blue-eyed man again at a restaurant. This is very relatable to anxiety. While a lot of people don't believe Jane as no one else has seen the man he just seems to pop up everyone. That is what anxiety is like, it's never ending worry no matter how you try to get rid of it. This leads to Jane going to yet another initiation. This leads to death, more possible nightmares, and basically everyone around Jane either dying or not believing her about her situation. What is a nightmare and what is real? Who is on her side telling the truth or lying to her?
Martino's style in the second half is great. In some scenes to add to the hallucinatory feel there is some foggy and hazy lenses. There are scenes where movements are rewinded and replayed, specifically during a scene involving Ivan Rassimov's character attacking her. It reminds me a lot of the assault scene in Repulsion. There is a sequence toward the end where a character has seen something happen before or seen that it will happen which reminds me of the end of Basic Instinct. The influence of this movie can be felt on other American movies. I would be quite surprised if Stanley Kubrick never saw this and put some of it into Eyes Wide Shut. This is my favorite psychological giallo because of the great mix and wonder between nightmares and reality, the incredible images conjured up by Martino, Edwige looking like Aphrodite incarnate, an empathetic Bruno Nicolai's memorable score, and the many satisfying twists at the end. While Jane isn't the strongest character mentally her traumas and mental health issues are relatable. I like that unlike the slasher movie, this genre allows female characters to be more liberal with things like drugs and sexuality and still be the "final girl." There are some amazing shots like a spinning staircase that makes you dizzy. All of the castles and caverns add some gothic atmosphere to the all ready psychedelic feel. Martino does an excellent job of making you think anyone could be with or against Jane without beating you over the head of suspecting them. Everyone is their own character.
Rating: 10/10
Trivia: Sergio Martino discovered the mansion where the cult rituals are while filming in England. He had considered shooting in Ireland.
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