”Death is a place where no one is ever happy.”
--Martino, conveying the wisdom of his brother “Luca,” in A Whisper in the Dark

No Shame Films, almost out of nowhere, is becoming one hell of a contender on the DVD market. Dealing extensively thus far in Italian films (primarily giallo and polizia films from such genre heavyweights as Sergio Martino and Umberto Lenzi), their catalog is impressive to say the least. Well, let's put another notch on their belts with the release of A Whisper in the Dark, a stark and dramatic entry in the underrepresented Italo-Gothic genre.

Martino lives in a grand villa with his mother (the stunning Nathalie Delon), his suspicious father (John Phillip Law, whom you may remember from the title role of The Golden Voayge of Sinbad, or as Kalgan in the sci-fi clunker Space Mutiny), a snotty pair of twin sisters, and their nanny. Despite pushing 13, Martino spends most of his time with his imaginary friend Luca despite the protestation of his parents. For an imaginary friend, however, Luca has quite a bit on influence around the house. When Martino's twin sisters steal Luca's toast, Luca brings a rainstorm so that they cannot go to a party. Discovering his father's affair with their house guest Susan, Luca plants a toad in her bathwater to bring an end to her stay.

Desperate to discover the root of her son's abnormal behavior, Martino's mother enlists the aid of The Professor (played by veteran character actor Joseph cotton) to analyze her son and hopefully cure him of his reliance upon Luca. However, it turns out Luca might not be so imaginary after all: he may in fact be the restless spirit of Martino's stillborn brother, and he won't be cast aside so easily.

Directed by Marcello Aliprandi, A Whisper in the Dark is stylish, subtle, and at times breathtakingly beautiful. Indeed, the highlight of the film is its beauty, with its surreal setpieces, moody lighting, and bold color schemes. The beautiful Villa Condulmer provides the perfect backdrop for a film that's as gorgeous as it is unsettling. Maids walk up a dizzying number of stairs, The Professor entertains children at a masked costume ball, and the halls of the house echo with the laughter of the malicious Luca.

It certainly warrants mention that Luca, despite having literally no screen time whatsoever (not even a special effect), becomes a living character through the false interactions of those around him. Alessandro Poggi, who plays Martino, carries most of Luca's believability throughout the film, holding extensive conversations with his incorporeal brother, although Nathalie Delon's slow decent into madness is equally convincing. It's a shock, especially in today's eye-candy environment, to see actors make a false character so damn real, without any fancy effects to help us believe in it.

And I would be a fool not to mention the haunting score by Pino Donaggio, who paints the soundscape of the film with simple piano-and-string accompaniment that never becomes overly apparent, yet fills in the film perfectly.

For an almost 30-year-old film, A Whisper in the Dark is not without its print flaws, with a few flecks of damage here and there and a little grain. However, the colors are almost impossibly bold (the Eastmancolor stock practically glows), and blacks and whites are solid and mostly clean. Audio is available in either an English dub, or the original Italian track, both mono. However, I can't help but notice some huge translation discrepancies between the dub and the English subtitles. Luca's oft-repeated line of “Death is a place where no one is ever happy,” as it's spoken in the dub, is inexplicably translated as “Finding yourself in a place full of horrible people, my brother, is the most frightening thing about death” in the subtitles. Strange. Extras include a rather cute intro to the film by cinematographer Claudio Cirillo (in which he raves about “Dee-Vu-Dee”), an extensive interview with Cirillo, the original theatrical trailer, and a still gallery.