As poorly received today as it was back in the day, Marcello Allaprandi's haunted-house vehicle "A Whisper in the Dark" is a forgotten classic screaming for the praise that it's worth. On the surface, the film follows a fairly simple story that could have made for a clichéd-driven film: a young boy named Martino, living with his wealthy family at a decadent Venetian villa, creates an imaginary friend named Luca who, as it turns out, may or may not be the vengeful ghost of his mother Camilla's first child, who died almost immediately after being born, and now wants to be loved and cherished like he never was, even if it means by turning this household upside down, and even resorting to murder. However, as the film unfolds, the way Allaprandi handles the matter and the direction he takes is considerably different from the similarly-written likes of "Shock" and "The Sixth Sense", although not in the way most audience members would have desired. The thing is "A Whisper in the Dark" doesn't seem to follow the rules of Italian horror, and is somewhat more akin to British ghost stories such as "Don't Look Now" which were being made at about the same period. Nevertheless, the film is unmistakably Italian with it's gorgeous cinematography and the equally breathtaking score by Pinno Donnagio. One of the best things about this particular sort of Eurohorror is the manner which sights and sounds are crafted so beautifully, and some even might say poetically and romantically, contrasting with the horrors on the screen. Though some have been bothered by this unusual treatment of the scary genre, I think it highlights the more horrific moments by creating this gentle, delicate atmosphere from which emerge the most grotesque sights. Although "grotesque" is not a word that really applies to Allaprandi's film, the shocks are conceived out of the melancholy-ridden tone of the film, making it all the more effective. The writing team takes a "less is more" approach, and by not showing any ghostly image at all, manages create some truly frightening set pieces. Perhaps the most chilling scene is that of the kissing-game, where Camilla, eyes covered, gets kissed on the lips by Luca. Supernatural events aside, another creepy element of the film is Joseph Cotten's portrayal of the mysterious Professor. Though he doesn't have much purpose in the story other than serving as a red-herring, Cotten manages to deliver a relatively low-key, but ultimately eerie impression. John Phillip Law doesn't do much throughout, but is charismatic and charming enough not to be forgotten. Alessandro Poggi, for his young age, is also quite convincing as Martino, and unlike other films with similar plots, doesn't resort to being overly creepy as much as he is likable and cute. This may have just been intentional, as the real star of the film is Nathalie Delon as Camilla. Though bit over-the-top at first, as the film progresses we soon learn the reasons for her strange, somewhat melodramatic behavior. A sad, tormented character, Camilla has gone through a lot and the fragile state of her mind resulted by these happenings have led to a nervous breakdown. Her acceptance and consequent "expulsion" of her son Luca, is truly hearth-breaking. Those who say the ending is anti-climatic, hoping for a big pay-off that never took place did not get the point of the film at all. The film is meant to be, above everything else, about Camilla coming to terms with the death of her infant child - Luca, and whether his ghost truly exists or is merely a figment of Martino's imagination is almost completely irrelevant to the story. Through Martino's creation of an imaginary friend named Luca, it triggers the already unstable Camilla's repressed guilt over the tragic event - a guilt which was probably given weight by her overbearing mother. Near the very end, where she dreams of taking Luca away from the house, and out of their lives for good, it represents her being able to get over it and move on with her life. The following scene, which shows Camilla and Alex making love for what seems to be the first time in years, it seems as though, after getting rid of her own personal ghost, she is able to find bliss once again. At the end, she isn't worried about Luca anymore, having been able to overcome the grief, treating the whole "imaginary friend" thing as something of a joke ... or is she? Can one ever really overcome the pain caused by a loved one's passing? In this sense, the two closest film to "A Whisper in the Dark" is (almost to the point of being called plagiary) the 1944 film "Curse of the Cat People", not "Shock", to which it's often compared to (the similarities are, however, undeniable). "Curse..." is a wonderful study on a child's psyche, completed with Freudian overtones, and also dealing with themes of coming-of-age and letting go (both from the child's and the adult's stand-point). To further enhance the connection between the two, both "Curse..." and "Whisper..." opened to similar criticism, and should be better appreciated when viewed as dark dramas rather than horror films. That being said, "Whisper
" has more then enough horror elements to be considered as such, and those willing to look beyond what meets the eye will find this a rewarding and subtly spooky experience. Overall, in spite of its minor shortcomings, "A Whisper in the Dark" still packs a punch to this day, and is not at all deserving of it's bad hype.