Gans's student film, made during his time at IDHEC, is low on plot, but its stunning visuals more than compensate for its narrative deficiencies. The seemingly nonsensical title refers to the two great masters of the Italian giallo, Dario Argento and Mario Bava, whose last names translate (respectively) to "silver" and "slime," and it is their films to which Gans pays tribute here. Thus we have a faceless leather-clad killer, two killings via straight razor, heavily stylized cinematography, and a Goblin-esque soundtrack. In addition to quoting the work of the aforementioned masters, however, Gans also sneaks in a reference to the bathtub scene of Lucio Fulci's The Beyond (1981), which I appreciated. As far as student films go, this is well above average, and if it were feature length it could proudly stand alongside the gialli being made in Italy at that time. Unfortunately it also bears one of the great faults of student films, in that it's so imitative of the masters that it doesn't really bring anything new to the table. Gans would eventually find his own voice, but I must admit I find this and his work in Necronomicon (1993) to be far more satisfying than any of his features.
2 Reviews
A highly enjoyable homage to the masters of the Italian giallo
lonchaney2025 March 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Giallo tribute goes hard
BandSAboutMovies1 July 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Christopher Gans has made some great movies and gets little credit. There's his better than the game Silent Hill, Crying Freeman, his segments in Necronomicon and the incredible Brotherhood of the Wolf.
When he was a a student, he made this film, which pays tribute to Bava, complete with a dedication at the end. And you know, in just around 15 minutes, Gans gets it. He understands how giallo works and instead of making the kind of modern gialli that everyone tries these days, he crafts a film that looks bad with love and then goes forward, taking what works and create a near-lunatic energy that feels like where you'd hoped Argento would have kept going after Tenebre and Opera.
Only two actors are credited, Aissa Djabri as Le témoin (the witness) and Isabelle Wendling as La victim (the victim). One must assume like all giallo directors of ill repute that Gans is the killer or at least their hands.
Phillipe Gans and Jean-François Torrès created the music for this and much like the visuals, it takes the sound of the form and makes it more hard driving and powerful while Jérôme Robert has gone on to plenty of work in the French film industry.
This just knocked me out.
When he was a a student, he made this film, which pays tribute to Bava, complete with a dedication at the end. And you know, in just around 15 minutes, Gans gets it. He understands how giallo works and instead of making the kind of modern gialli that everyone tries these days, he crafts a film that looks bad with love and then goes forward, taking what works and create a near-lunatic energy that feels like where you'd hoped Argento would have kept going after Tenebre and Opera.
Only two actors are credited, Aissa Djabri as Le témoin (the witness) and Isabelle Wendling as La victim (the victim). One must assume like all giallo directors of ill repute that Gans is the killer or at least their hands.
Phillipe Gans and Jean-François Torrès created the music for this and much like the visuals, it takes the sound of the form and makes it more hard driving and powerful while Jérôme Robert has gone on to plenty of work in the French film industry.
This just knocked me out.
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