An obscure, low budget and rather sleazy attempt at the giallo genre which misses more often than it hits, but still contains a hint of the crazy old Italian style that makes these films so watchable. The oh-so-predictable plot line involves a series of young beauties being graphically slashed to death by a figure in black, the first two murders in the series being particularly bloody and gruesome. After lots of slow-paced police procedural investigation (led by a guy who closely resembles Luis Guzman), it turns out that lesbianism is the cause of the crimes and the killer's identity will be familiar to fans of Lamberto Bava's A BLADE IN THE DARK. Low production values mar REFLECTIONS IN BLACK from the beginning, with the predictable scripting and lack of decent characters all round. El cheapo director Tano Cimarosa offers static camera-work and a lack of style and the music is less than memorable.
Surprisingly a fairly well established cast of genre veterans are present in the film, probably accounting for a large amount of the budget. John Richardson and Giacomo Rossi-Stuart are both genre veterans turning in less than distinguished performances here whilst once again the girls are picked for their looks over their acting skills. The film plods along, offering up a few half-hearted action chase sequences to break up the monotony of the dull narrative, but the real focus for the movie and the cameraman can be summed up in one word: nudity. Almost all of the female cast appear naked at one time or another and time is taken to show naked photo shoots and gratuitous love scenes. In fact I've never seen so much nudity in any giallo film before. The sight of naked female flesh will undoubtedly attract the attention of male viewers which is good, because nothing else in this film is of interest. A cheap, tedious, and instantly forgettable genre attempt.
Surprisingly a fairly well established cast of genre veterans are present in the film, probably accounting for a large amount of the budget. John Richardson and Giacomo Rossi-Stuart are both genre veterans turning in less than distinguished performances here whilst once again the girls are picked for their looks over their acting skills. The film plods along, offering up a few half-hearted action chase sequences to break up the monotony of the dull narrative, but the real focus for the movie and the cameraman can be summed up in one word: nudity. Almost all of the female cast appear naked at one time or another and time is taken to show naked photo shoots and gratuitous love scenes. In fact I've never seen so much nudity in any giallo film before. The sight of naked female flesh will undoubtedly attract the attention of male viewers which is good, because nothing else in this film is of interest. A cheap, tedious, and instantly forgettable genre attempt.