Ballad in Blood came with high expectations. Director Ruggero Deodoto whom many reader will know was respsonsible for directing one of the most iconic horror films of all time, “Cannibal Holocaust“. The film starts out with lots of exploitative female nudity (I would expect no less…) and descends into an orgy of early 20 something sex and drug abuse. Some connections can be found as it explores the darker side of human nature and in this case it’s a decidedly more sexual take on that. There’s a fair bit of the ‘found footage’ thing going on as well. While the found footage aspect ties it into “Cannibal” it borders on porn rather than the gore we loved “Cannibal Holocaust” for. The similarities don’t end there though. This film is a modern, voyueristic and rather disturbing look into a frat house style accommodation in Europe, Italy to be precise. A party scene where swinging and drug taking is a regular occurrence (well more the norm in this case).
THE PLOT
The plot is fairly simple. Through the haze of sexual decadence mentioned above, a young red haired girl turns up dead in the groups apartment. No-one can remember how it happened until footage of the party shows up. The survivors of previous nights debauchery find the phone and computer of the deceased. They begin to recount the nights events and the painful realisations come back to haunt them bit by bit. A wild party that none of them can remember cuts in an out the friends trying to dispose of the body whilst coming to grips with what just happened.
I’m not sure how I feel about this. It left me polarised in a similar way to what ‘Cannibal holocaust’ did. Obviously in a much different way. It highlights just how crappy humans can be to each other in a similar way to what “cannibal holocaust” did. It also leaves the viewer with the same dirty feelings afterwards.
As a film, Ballad in Blood is very well shot. It can be a bit disjointed if you’re not paying attention to when the film cuts in and out of past footage and current timelines. If you can deal with that its a hard hitting and unnerving watch on a few levels. I wouldn’t say it would go down as a classic of the horror genre by any stretch but more than worthy of a watch once.
Anyway you guys can judge for yourself:
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Check out other Ruggero Deodato films here:
Cannibal Holocaust.
Lost Cannibal World.