Ballad in Blood

Moviecut—Ballad in Blood

Also a lot of nudity too. You make of that what you want to. It either scares you off (no pun intended) or it ... well I am not sure I can get off/away with a euphimism here. Some people may be offended. But Ruggero always tries to offend - if you know his filmography you should be aware of that already. That being said, the movie is quite out there. And if you are offended by what I write, the movie will be even worse if you watch it. The premise is simple: waking up not knowing what happened, trying to reconstruct how they got there and who did what to whom. A lot of drugs are involved and many other things that you would call evil I reckon. Also Ruggero has a Hitchcock cameo in this. A weird one that was not necessary, but you can find it annoying, others will celebrate it. The main problem for most will be the lack of likeable characters or traits. I have seen worse movies, but I also have seen better movies. This is for the horror movie fans, that like sleaze and do not mind to get down and dirty ... watching movies that is.

Ballad of Blood (2016) * (out of 4) It's the night after Halloween and Lenka (Carlotta Morelli), Jacopo (Gabriele Rossi), Duke (Edward Williams) and Elizabeth (Noemi Smorra) have been having sex and a wild time. Duke wakes up and discovers the dead body of Elizabeth but none of the three survivors know what happened. Pretty soon they try to uncover how Elizabeth ended up with a slashed throat but the tension begins to make all three crack. CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST director Ruggero Deodato is back in a film that is being sold as a horror movie but it is in fact a murder mystery and sadly a very bad one at that. It's clear that Deodato was working with a very small budget and I must admit that the film looks a lot better and a lot more professional than 99% of the digital movies that I watch. With that said, there are some deadly flaws in the picture with one being the screenplay itself. This film was obviously inspired by the Meredith Kercher murder but that's a whole 'nother story. The main issue with BALLAD OF BLOOD is the screenplay, which is just downright confusing at time and it never really grabs you and holds your interest. The fatal flaw of this film is that you've got three characters constantly talking, fighting and losing their minds and yet, as the viewer, you just don't care. You don't care about the characters. You don't care how Elizabeth died. You simply don't care about anything you're watching and it's impossible to stay focused on the film because there's just nothing there that makes you pay attention to what is happening. Out of the cast I'd say Williams and Morelli come off the best. All of the actors are okay in their roles and I'd argue that they are good enough for a horror film but I don't think they're convincing enough for a murder mystery like this. Of course, the lack of anything to work with probably also played a factor. Deodato at least filled the movie with a lot of full frontal nudity as well as some bloody violence at times but this certainly didn't save the picture. BALLAD OF BLOOD should have been so much better but sadly everything is lost in the screenplay and there's just not much in the film that actually works.

If you thought that Cannibal Holocaust was the most traumatic film from director Ruggero Deodato, think again, because Ballad in Blood is far more upsetting, albeit for a very different reason: it marks a career low point for one of Italy's most infamous exploitation directors. In fact, it's so excruciatingly terrible that it even makes Dial: Help (1988) look good. The film revolves around three wild revellers, Jacopo (Gabriele Rossi), Lenka (Carlotta Morelli) and Duke, who wake up following a heavy night of drink and drugs to find the dead body of friend Elizabeth (Noemi Smorra), her throat cut. Unable to recall the events of the night before, the trio try to work out what the hell happened, their frayed nerves slowly stretched to breaking point. What sounds like a decent premise is told in such a disjointed manner, with zero attempt to explain characters' motivation, that it all proves extremely irritating. The central trio are all obnoxious, as are the supporting characters (which include a midget and a camp bloke wearing angel wings, and four cartoonish punks), and with the international cast mangling the English language, I frequently had the urge to give up and watch something else instead. Like a fool, though, I watched to the bitter end hoping it would get better; it didn't. Deodato throws in plenty of gratuitous T&A—there's full frontal female nudity from the word go—and chucks in just a bit of splatter towards the end, but none of it helps. Ballad in Blood is a complete and utter mess of a movie from a once great director. Sad, really.

I absolutely loved this film... Bonkers but Brilliant! I did not know quite what to expect when I started watching it, but from start to finish I was 'totally' hooked! When I saw that it was made by a famous Italian director (Ihave seen several of his horror films) I knew from the start this was going to be interesting. Great looking actors, good acting, beautiful scenery and a story-line that keeps you guessing. It has made me want to watch more of Ruggero's films and also to visit Italy! This film is 'never' dull. I will definitely be adding it to my DVD collection. If you like horror films you will love this...

Reminds me of the schlock B grades i used to watch as a teenager...Don't expect any Oscar nominations, but well worth a watch when the wife is gone and you have pizza and beer...!

Usually directors coming back after such a long break looses a lot of their touch but this isn't the absolute worst case about it. It's shot relatively well and there's surprisingly no usages of CGi gore(looking at you Dario) and the t & a is nice. However the story and dialog suffer the most even for genre film standard and it does have long stretches of boring "whodunnit" moments. I would only recommend this if you're so ever curious or have no better use of your time, otherwise, seek other sleaze gore fest. 4.5/10.

On the day after Halloween - and a debaucherous party that takes up the beginning of this movie - Duke (Edward Williams), Jacopo (Gabriele Rossi) and Lenka (Carlotta Morelli) all wake up to not only a hangover, but the dead body of Elizabeth (Noemi Smorra) who has videotaped everything. This description may have you saying, "Oh, maybe I'll see that someday." But what if I told you the Ruggero Deodato - yes, the same man who made Cannibal Holocaust, Atlantis Interceptors, House on the Edge of the Park, Cut and Run, Dial: Help and Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man - made it? I'll bet you're interested now. The first movie Deodato directed in 23 years, this was inspired by the Meredith Kercher murder. On November 1, 2007, the British exchange student was assaulted and killed in an apartment with her boyfriend, her roommate and a burglar all unable to explain exactly what happened. And by inspired, I can report that Deodato read about this sensation case that was in the media and said, "I can go nuts on this one." It's like he packed this movie with drugs, nudity, orgy scenes, more drugs, toilet usage, violent sex, torture, murder, more sex, some more nudity and a little more drugs, too. It's like he'd been freaking out directing for TV and wanted the world to know that he was, after all, Mr. Cannibal still. A character even listens to the song "Sweetly" from House on the Edge of the Park and Deodato shows up only to get carried out on a cart. So there's that. But if you're the kind of person who dislikes movies where there's nobody to root for, where everyone is a horrible person and...wait a second, if you feel that way, why would you even watch a Ruggero Deodato movie in the first place? Know what you're getting into. While this may not be his best work, it's still nice to see a somewhat more recent movie - Deodato also made a segment in 2019's Deathcember - from an old friend.

When I met Ruggero Deodato at a film convention and we talked about his movies I thought that this one couldnt be that good just because of his age. And of course this is worse than Cannibal Holocaust by far. But his own style and sense of humor in this movie was actually good in my opinion. Many times I was surprised about absurd-seeming plots, but espacially these where what made the movie funny and interesting.

Also a lot of nudity too. You make of that what you want to. It either scares you off (no pun intended) or it ... well I am not sure I can get off/away with a euphimism here. Some people may be offended. But Ruggero always tries to offend - if you know his filmography you should be aware of that already. That being said, the movie is quite out there. And if you are offended by what I write, the movie will be even worse if you watch it. The premise is simple: waking up not knowing what happened, trying to reconstruct how they got there and who did what to whom. A lot of drugs are involved and many other things that you would call evil I reckon. Also Ruggero has a Hitchcock cameo in this. A weird one that was not necessary, but you can find it annoying, others will celebrate it. The main problem for most will be the lack of likeable characters or traits. I have seen worse movies, but I also have seen better movies. This is for the horror movie fans, that like sleaze and do not mind to get down and dirty ... watching movies that is.

This is not as splendid as the 1980 of both Cannibal Holocaust and House of the Edge of the Park or even The Washing Machine (1993) but Ruggero Deodata was in his late 70s and it is just not as terrible as some say. I have to say it starts off like a bit of a mess with everyone on drugs and drink and they not know what is going on or us either. But it begins to makes sense especially with it inspired with the Meredith Kercher killing and in the end I really liked it. Of course it is lots of blood, gore and sex and seems okay particularly in the last half.