# The sinister encounter with horror ...

  
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*aka* **LA CASA DEL BUON RITORNO**  
  
**Directed by: Beppe Cino**  
  
**Starring:** Stefano Gabrini, Amanda Sandrelli, Fiammetta Carena,Lola Ledda, Francesco Costa, Stanis Leda, Fabrizio Capuani, Eloisa Cino, Eleonora Salvadori, Elvira Ca  
  
**Choice dialogue:**  *“I’ll slit my throat for you!”*

  
**THE HOUSE OF THE BLUE SHADOWS is a world away from the garish excesses and day-glo charms of other mid-‘80s Gialli. A man returns with his fiancée to his childhood home for the first time since the death of his sister, which he may, or may not, have caused. He becomes ever more obsessed and haunted by the lingering presence of his dead sibling. Meanwhile, someone in a Japanese Oniniba mask appears from the shadows and starts to kill the neighbours. Slow-moving, but with a haunting ambience. Some will find it mesmerising, whilst others might think it frustratingly abstract.**  
   
Carefree couple Luca (Stefano Gabrini) and his wife-to-be Margit (Amanda Sandrelli) return to his family home for the first time in 15 years. When he was ten years old, his older sister, who was wearing the Onibaba mask, fell to her death from the roof whilst they were playing hide-and-seek with the local children. Despite the house having been empty for all that time, they are surprised to find a woman in black coming down the stairs when they arrive. Ayesha (Fiammetta Carena) tells Luca that they were friends when he was a young boy, although at first, he doesn’t recall her. However, eventually, snippets of memory come back to him. Ayesha lives in the house opposite and is a neighbour with another childhood friend, Bruno (Francesco Costa), who watches the couple with interest.  
   
Margit is spooked by a creepy, black-faced mannequin with blonde pigtails that stands near one of the windows. Luca sees another woman in black whilst out shopping; he pursues her, but she seemingly vanishes. On his return, he becomes angry that Margit is wearing his dead sister's hat and begins to dress the mannequin in his sibling’s clothes. Whilst seemingly alone in the house, Margit is attacked by someone wearing the Japanese demon mask and only survives the attack by barricading herself in the bedroom. She flees in the morning. Luca remains but risks losing touch with reality as he tries to unravel the mysteries still lurking in his childhood home …  

**THE HOUSE OF THE BLUE SHADOWS** is certainly not a typical Giallo. There is no black-gloved killer, but the Onibaba-masked presence is certainly creepy enough. However, it is not really the main focus of the film (the first murder doesn’t occur until about 20 minutes from the end of the movie). It has more in common with films that broach arthouse territory, such as Pupi Avati’s exemplary **THE** **HOUSE WITH THE LAUGHING WINDOWS** (1976) or Francesco Barilli’s **THE PERFUME OF THE LADY IN BLACK** (1974)—although it isn’t as successful as either of those two examples. Beppe Cino’s film lives up to its name with its chilly hues (in various shades of blue). The director conjures up some striking imagery and interesting camerawork to evoke the house’s high strangeness. However, it is arguably more of a mood piece than a thriller, although it does achieve some suspenseful passages near its close. It flits around various horror and thriller themes like a ghoulish butterfly without settling on any particular one. At times, it feels like a study of a character’s descent into madness akin to Roman Polanski’s **REPULSION** (1965)—as Luca reverts back to his boyhood by physically transforming himself by shaving off first his beard and then his moustache. We are never sure if Lola’s death was an accident or if she was pushed from the roof, and if so, by whom? The script references fairy tales such as "Red Riding Hood" and alludes to the legend of Bluebeard (who killed successive wives). At times, it could be a ghost story. Has Lola returned from the grave to get her revenge? It teases that Ayesha is a witch who may be looking to take revenge for Lola’s death (she keeps a shrine of photos of the young girl and seemingly never ages). At other times, it tips its hat to the North American slasher movie, with its masked killer descending or ascending the house's stairs in search of victims. The film even suggests darker themes, such as possible incest, but like the other threads, is abandoned as soon as it is introduced. This eclecticism is perhaps intriguing, but it prevents the viewer from being fully invested in the mystery of what exactly is happening. Likewise, anyone hoping for a clear resolution to any of the film’s myriad mysteries will be disappointed as it doesn’t tie everything up in anything even approaching a neat bow—and arguably leaves more questions than answers. Ultimately, it raises the possibility that the film is actually just a hot mess rather than a purposeful, finely crafted enigma. I guess it is up to the viewer to decide which it is.  
   
Despite its seeming lack of mainstream appeal, **THE HOUSE OF THE BLUE SHADOWS** did receive an Italian cinema release in early 1987 (after appearing at the Venice Film Festival in the summer of 1986). It was shot quickly over 12 days in and around Rome on 16mm. Reviews were not particularly kind, with Gabrini’s acting attracting particular scorn (although he really isn’t that bad).  
   
Those looking for a traditional thriller narrative might be better served elsewhere, but this atypical Giallo is perhaps a film to be experienced rather than scrutinised.  

  
Hysteria Lives! Giallo Fever: [https://www.hysteria-lives.co.uk/Giallo-Fever.html](https://www.hysteria-lives.co.uk/Giallo-Fever.html)

REVIEW: HOUSE OF THE BLUE SHADOWS (1986)