Ballad in Blood (2016) - Movie Review

Ever wondered what would happen if the Italians wanted to tackle The Hangover series and make
it macabre?
Well, here is the product for you.
Hi, I'm Torstein from Cinema Terror, let's talk new Italian horror with Ruggero Deodato's
Ballad in Blood.
Ballad in Blood is a new film by the legendary film director that forever will have its place
in the history books due to his work on Cannibal Holocaust.
If you think that's all that Deodato has had to offer during his long career however then
you are quite wrong.
He has done work in several genres and a film I personally think is a lot of fun is his
1976 poliziotteschi movie Live Like a Man, Die Like a Cop.
So when Deodato takes a pause from movie cameos and convention visits to deliver a new full
length movie in the genre, I get a bit excited.
This should be different as Deodato is not a director like Lamberto Bava or Bruno Mattei
who would just say yes to do whatever project that pops up, and he is even credited with
writing the script together with Jacopo Mazzuoli and Angelo Orlando, which apparantly are based
on a real life crime where a British student was murdered in Perugia by her roommate and
her boyfriend.
Any excitement I had was toned a bit down when I saw the terrible font used on the intro
credits to the film.
What the hell were they thinking with this shit?
Anyway, the movie follows three drug using idiots who wake up after a costume party to
find their friend Elisabeth naked and dead.
Not calling the cops or anything, the idiot threesome does some more drugs while they
try to figure out what they should do with the body and what the hell really went on
last night to get them in this situation in the first place.
The first ten minutes will trick you into thinking you are getting a bloodfilled orgy
of a movie as there is blood and tits in every single frame, but that's not what the movie
has to offer, well, except all the nudity.
Pretty much every character in the film has multiple scenes without a top on to the point
where you wonder if you are really watching an Umberto Lenzi movie and not a Deodato one.
When it comes to the violence though, the film is lacking as there is very little of
it to be found in the film.
Since we spend most of the time with the three main characters then you would expect them
to try to make you care for at least one of them perhaps?
Well no, they are all scumbags that take the worst decisions and behave as unlikeable as
they could get.
The actors involved didn't do a bad job, but that's being said with the fact that I have
seen some unbearable acting in other movies with such a low budget as this one obviously
had, so I actually would expect worse performances than what we got.
Add to that a story that just sucks and you are stuck with a borefest of a movie.
There really isn't much to praise in Ballad of Blood unless you are easily entertained
by boobs... well, except for one thing.
The music is done by the legend himself, Claudio Simonetti and while it's not the most inspired
music he has created before, it is still miles ahead of the rest of the film and absolutely
the highlight of the experience.
Deodato does try to add som humour to the film, but it just comes across as awkward.
It seems like he has been inspired back by the movies of Eli Roth, which is a bit surreal
as Roth has obviously been inspired by Deodato's older movies.
In fact, Ballad of Blood feels like a film that should have been made and released ten
years ago during the so-called torture porn era and not now.
I am sorry to say that Ballad in Blood is another disappointing new Italian genre movie
for me.
I can't see anyone to recommend this film for unless you are a die-hard Deodato fan
and just have to have all of his movies in your shelf.
Up here in the North, NjutaFilms released it on DVD in the end of March and I know that
the film also has had a DVD release in its home country.
I hope this is not the last project Deodato does as I want him to go out with a better
project than this, even if he is getting near to being 80 years old by now.
Ballad in Blood gets the poor score of 1.5 out of 5.
Am I the only one so far who has seen Ballad in Blood?
If you have seen it, then let me know what you thought about it.
And what is your favorite Deodato film of all time?
Let's keep Cannibal Holocaust out of that discussion and give me some of his other titles
that you enjoy in the comment section below.
Hope you found the review enjoyable even if it was a negative one and thank you very much
for checking it out.

Ballad in Blood (2016) - Movie Review

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