Official synopsis
“Many people want their five minutes of fame but for some, it comes at the ultimate price — their life!’” Meet John Abbott, narcissistic host of infamous real-crime show Lights, Camera, KILL. Known for its lurid re-enactments of the darkest of trespasses, it has made him rich by exploiting pain and suffering. Yet while Abbott basks shamelessly in the limelight, one victim has seen enough. Broken by his loss, the man has a burning thirst for revenge — and now he wants to make Abbott bleed.
Review
Director Gene Dolders’ The Blade Cuts Deeper is a neo-giallo feature that doesn’t add much new to the subgenre but that offers enough gore and entertainment that devotees of black-gloved, knife-wielding–killer cinema will want to give it a watch.
John Abbott (John Tueart) is the driving force behind lurid true-crime television series Lights, Camera, KILL. He’s the type of bullying, arrogant character that viewers can’t wait to see get his, and Tueart is obviously having a blast playing him, chewing scenery to the point just one notch below being a moustache-twirling vaudeville baddy. It works for the film. The supporting players all turn in solid work, most of them portraying berated employees of Abbott.
Abbott has a mysterious masked murderer set on disposing of the television personality and those close to him. Although many giallo films keep their killers a mystery until the climax, The Blade Cuts Deeper pretty much telegraphs who the slayer is quite early on. This robs the film of that element of mystery, and I won’t give away any more than that in case less seasoned fear-fare viewers want to give this film a go.
Dolders, who cowrote the screenplay with A J Ballard, shows that he is familiar with the aesthetics and story beats of classic Italian giallo films. The Blade Cuts Deeper should satisfy viewers who are fans of the genre, and those who are aficionados of gruesome stabbings and their gore-soaked aftermaths should find plenty to admire here, also.
The Blade Cuts Deeper, from Void Signal, is available everywhere on VOD and DVD/Blu-ray.
