Hot Picks

- Ready for My Close Up 2019

- Talk of the Dead 2016

- Bittertooth 2023

- 4 Minutes of Terror: Night Slasher 2024

- Apart 2024

- The Abandoned 2006

- Becky 2024

- The Evil Fairy Queen 2024

- The Black Guelph 2022

- Followers 2024

- Silence of the Prey 2024

- Battle for the Western Front 2024

- Beware the Boogeyman 2024

- Subject 101 2022

- Driftwood 2023

- The Legend of Lake Hollow 2024

- Black Mass 2023

- Skinwalkers: American Werewolves 2 2023

- The Manifestation 2024

- Spirit Riser 2024

- Garden of Souls 2019

- It's a Wonderful Slice 2024

- Caleb & Sarah 2024

- The Thousand Steps 2020

- The Desiring 2021

- When a Stranger Knocks 2024

- Quint-essentially Irish 2024

- Son of Gacy 2024

- Saltville 2024

- The True Story of the Christ's Return 2024

- Whenever I'm Alone with You 2023

- Jurassic Triangle 2024

- Midnight Peepshow 2022

- Offworld: Alien Planet 2024

- The Swiss Conspiracy 1976

- Sex-Positive 2024

- Here for Blood 2022

- All Over Again 2024

- The Color Yellow 2023

- Des Töchterleins Leid 2024

- I Am a Channel 2024

- The Hermits 2023

- Murdaritaville 2024

- Inheritance 2024

- The Devil's Partner 1960

- A Stranger in the Woods 2024

- Underground 2023

- A Nashville Wish 2024

- molkipolki 2023

- The Ghost is a Lie - Take Two 2024

- Return to the Theatre of Terror 2023

- The Ghost is a Lie - Take One 2023

- First Impressions Can Kill 2017

- A Killer Conversation 2014

- Star Crash 1979

- Strangler of the Swamp 1946

Almost Blue

Italy 2000
produced by
Vittorio Cecchi Gori for Cecchi Gori Group
directed by Alex Infascelli
starring Lorenza Indovina, Claudio Santamaria, Rolando Ravello, Dario D'Ambrosi, Andrea Di Stefano, Marco Giallini, Benedetta Buccallato, Luciano Curreli, Cesare Bocci, Regina Orioli, Marisa Solinas, Angelica Di Majo, Alex Infascelli
screenplay by Sergio Donati, Alex Infascelli, based on the novel by Carlo Lucarelli

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Quick Links

Abbott & Costello

The Addams Family

Alice in Wonderland

Arsène Lupin

Batman

Bigfoot

Black Emanuelle

Bomba the Jungle Boy

Bowery Boys

Bulldog Drummond

Captain America

Charlie Chan

Cinderella

Deerslayer

Dick Tracy

Dr. Mabuse

Dr. Orloff

Doctor Who

Dracula

Edgar Wallace made in Germany

Elizabeth Bathory

Emmanuelle

Fantomas

Flash Gordon

Frankenstein

Frankie & Annette Beach Party movies

Freddy Krueger

Fu Manchu

Fuzzy

Gamera

Godzilla

Hercules

El Hombre Lobo

Incredible Hulk

Jack the Ripper

James Bond

Jekyll and Hyde

Jerry Cotton

Jungle Jim

Justine

Kekko Kamen

King Kong

Laurel and Hardy

Lemmy Caution

Lobo

Lone Wolf and Cub

Lupin III

Maciste

Marx Brothers

Miss Marple

Mr. Moto

Mister Wong

Mothra

The Munsters

Nick Carter

OSS 117

Phantom of the Opera

Philip Marlowe

Philo Vance

Quatermass

Robin Hood

The Saint

Santa Claus

El Santo

Schoolgirl Report

The Shadow

Sherlock Holmes

Spider-Man

Star Trek

Sukeban Deka

Superman

Tarzan

Three Mesquiteers

Three Musketeers

Three Stooges

Three Supermen

Winnetou

Wizard of Oz

Wolf Man

Wonder Woman

Yojimbo

Zatoichi

Zorro

A student killer is roaming Bologna, & the local police show remarkably little talent in tracking him down, actually it almost seems as if they would sabotage their own investigations, so headquarters sends computer supported top investigator Grazia Nero (Lorenza Indovina) to head the investigations, helped by 2 local cops, Matera (Dario D'Ambrosi) & Sarrina (Marco Giallini) - who basically drive her around in town.

Soon, Grazia comes up with a few clues up until now carefully overlooked by the local cops, like a link to an old case, where Alessio Crotti (Rolando Ravello), a guy freshly escaped from his looney bin, killed his own brother, even though the brother had hidden him from prosecution. After the murder, Crotti disappeared without a trace. Quite obviously, it also turns out, Crotti's m.o. is to kill his victims, then take on their personalities for a while. That doesn't make him easier to trace ...

And Grazia finds a witness, Simone (Claudio Santamaria), a computer wizard who just happens to be blind. Soon Grazia comes up with one of these clever movie-detective ideas ... to take Simone to a public party & use him as bait for Crotti ... the plan of course works & works not, Crotti is really at the party 6 makes himself known to Simone, but neither Grazia nor her partners know what Crotti looks like, so all they come up with is almost arresting the wrong man ...

... & this is the time when Grazia's superior, Vittorio (Andrea Di Stefano) shows up, being quite mad at Grazia for messing up the investigations that should have been PR for a new computer system supporting investigations nationwide. And Vittorio announces from here on he will take over ...

Meanwhile though Crotti - for some unknown reason - has figured he has to kill Simone & take over his personality, & he has already killed Simone's mother (Benedetta Buccellato) before Grazia can move Simone to safety - & for some reason/no reason at all have sex with him, just like that.

But by now it has turned out that Vittorio has an agenda all of his own (even though it does not become quite clear what that agenda is), which involves driving Crotti around (?) ... but Crotti isn't one to be grateful & he soon kills Vittorio, thenboes after Simone ... but before killing Simone, he cuts out his own eyes (which is essential in taking over the blind man's personality), so Grazia doesn't have any troubles arresting him (though that is not shown).

In the end, Crotti is back in the loonie bin & Grazia & Simone have become a couple ...

 

At first, Almost Blue looks like an intelligent & well-crafted serialkiller whodunnit ... but halfway through it loses itself in its own cleverness & becomes a confused & confusing mess. All of a sudden, many narrative threads are dropped (e.g. why did Crotti have a predilection for sstudents & why did he drop this predilection just like that, what secret agenda other than promoting his computer system did Vittorio have, why did everybody at one point totally lose interest in the computer's possibilities, why is Grazia suddenly fucking Simone, why did Crotti cut his eyes out to assume Simone's personality before he killed Simone, ...), & with the story going nowhere in particular, tension & suspense fail to build up, which is not at all helped by the decidedly underwhelming finale - even more so as the finale just is not played out, the arrest as such is never shown. At the end of the day, rather disappointing.

 

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned)

The links below
will take you
just there!!!

Find Almost Blue
at the amazons ...

USA  amazon.com

Great Britain (a.k.a. the United Kingdom)  amazon.co.uk

Germany (East AND West)  amazon.de

Looking for imports?
Find Almost Blue here ...

Thailand  eThaiCD.com
Your shop for all things Thai

Something naughty?
(Must be over 18 to go there!)

x-rated  find Almost Blue at adultvideouniverse.com


Thanks for watching !!!

 

 

In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

Amazon UK

Vimeo

 

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle, all thought up by
the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
Amazon!!!