There's a killer roaming the city who has a predilection for high class prostitutes - which is bad news for call girl Diana (Ilenia Pastorelli), who's apparently next on his list, and while she manages to escape his first attempt to kill her, this only leads to a car chase that ends with her being pushed into another car, an accident that leaves her blind while two passengers of the other car are killed, only their son Chin (Andrea Zhang) survives. With the help of Rita (Asia Argento), an instructor for the blind, and her seeing-eye dog Nereus, she slowly gets the hand of living with her predicament, and she also tries to befriend Chin, feeling responsible for his orphaned situation - something that works too well as one day he decides to break out of the institution he's kept and moves in with Diana. Now she quickly comes to enjoy the boy's company, but the police see this as kidnapping. But before they can take care of things, the killer returns to his would-be victim, kills off a couple of cops trying to take Chin away from Diana - only to pick up pursuit of Diana himself. And while Diana has a headstart as she tried to hide from the cops, how are she, a blind woman, and a little boy to outrun a killer in a van?

The first film by Dario Argento in 10 years (after Dracula 3D) - probably not even among his ten best. It seems a little more of a greatest hits movie, the murders are still as gruesome as ever, and in the suspense and chase sequences Argento still shows a wonderful combination of craftsmanship and creativity. Thing is, his approach doesn't seem nearly as fresh anymore as in the 1970s and 80s, the writing seems a bit out-dated by today's thriller standards and seems to recycle Argento-tropes, even the motive of blindness is a rehash from his The Cat o' Nine Tails from more than 50 years earlier. That said, if you're a fan of Argento (like I am), there's still plenty to like about this movie, maybe because it seems to self-referencing, it's just not one of his better ones, objectively speaking.

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 Dark Glasses at the amazons ...   amazon.com   amazon.co.uk   amazon.de Looking for imports? Find Dark Glasses here ...   eThaiCD.com Your shop for all things Thai

Thanks for watching !!!