Director: George Nevada
Year: 2021
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
Desperate for a new line of work, a man joins a dance squad at a local studio where he’s up for a special dance position, but when he’s rejected for physical attributes the other members of the studio start dying one-by-one by a masked maniac forcing the remaining ones to stop the killer.
Review:
There wasn’t a lot to like with this effort. Among the likable features here is the charmingly retro vibe that permeates the film, starting immediately and giving a hint as to the old-school atmosphere. Seeing the VCR tracking adjustments, dancer fashion, and slow-motion zooms of the group working out backstage or taking showers together clue us in that this will dive head-first into that era while embracing modern sleaze and male eroticism with the openness to the nudity here considering the subject matter. It even manages to offer up an appropriately old-school twist involving the killer’s hidden relationship for good measure, giving this a nice touch.
This setup is furthered by the general air surrounding the killer. Following the genre-standard approach of the figure wearing a white shroud over their face, wearing the black fedora and overcoat, and donning the black leather gloves, the look is suitably effective while maintaining the feel of the past. As well, the brutality of the kills is shockingly graphic as faces get severely burned, getting repeatedly struck with a butcher knife, having their face viciously hit with a hammer or stabbed in the shoulder, providing enough positives to not make this a total waste.
That said, there are a few major flaws to be had here. The main drawback comes from the somewhat inept and lackluster kill scenes, for as much good as they deliver on the blood and gore are many elements are missing that tie the scenes together. The use of the same opera song before every attack plays out its welcome very quickly once the gag has been revealed, which would’ve worked better if there were different songs instead of the same one. Likewise, there’s zero suspense or shock to any of the attacks due to uninspired setups, uninteresting performances, and no real reason to care due to the setup involved.
The setup to the kills here is the other main issue which is incredibly lackluster. After setting up the main storyline about the other dancers and their mistreatment of him before the failed audition, there’s a decided lack of story afterward as it just moves to each of them getting picked off in random order with only the vaguest of throughlines connecting this together since there’s no investigation into the murders or an attempt to stop it by staying together. That makes the group uninteresting and unworthy of caring about what happens to them, and as well as also taking way too long to get going are the issues holding this one back/
Overview: */5
Not really graced with too many positives some rather detrimental drawbacks to drag it down significantly, this was a disappointing genre throwback that at least has its heart in the right place. Only the most hardcore genre aficionados or fans of the creative crew will enjoy this one while most others out there who aren’t into either should heed extreme caution.
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