艾伦·斯科特

　　公元前5000年，“天神族”的“审判者”阿里瑟姆从奥林匹亚星挑选10位拥有超能力的“永恒族”，派遣他们前往地球抵御“变异族”的入侵。几千年来，永恒族一直帮助人类抵御变异族入侵。最后一批变异族在1521年被消灭后，永恒族内部对于是否继续保护人类一事产生分歧，最终决定分开，并等待阿里瑟姆将他们召唤回母星。　　时间到了现在，瑟西（嘉玛·陈 Gemma Chan 饰）和丝派特（莉亚·麦克休 Lia McHugh 饰）一同住在英国伦敦。500年前，瑟西与前男友伊卡瑞斯（理查德·麦登 Richard Madden 饰）分开，并结交了在伦敦自然史博物馆工作的戴恩·惠特曼（基特·哈灵顿 Kit Harington 饰）。一天晚上，一位名叫克罗的变异族突袭三人，伊卡瑞斯却突然出现，暂时击退克罗。瑟西、丝派特和伊卡瑞斯意识到情况不妙，于是决定紧急召集其他人以应对新的威胁……

　　This early 70's giallo by Umberto Lenzi is certainly among the best in his filmography and also in the whole genre. Personally I think Lenzi's best films are the funny cartoon-turned-film Kriminal, the stylish giallo Seven Blood-Stained Orchids, the explosive Napoli violenta and this. In the eighties he did plenty of film trash in form of Eaten Alive, Hitcher in the Dark or Black Demons, all of which are ripping something off and/or very dull and slow moving. Knife of Ice came when the giallo boom was at its hottest and the result is convincing.　　Technically the film is superb, containing great cinematography in the beginning when we learn about the main character's trauma towards trains. From this point on, Lenzi shows us his ability to benefit the widescreen and, for example, the bicycle ride near the forest is genuinely beautiful! This scene also shows Lenzi's ability to build suspense, very slowly but meaningfully. After all, there aren't so many murders in the whole film, only the suspense circulating around the murderer's identity.　　One suspect is a devil worshipper which brings new aspects to the mystery. Since the final scene takes place in a church, one can wonder if Lenzi wanted to comment on something, maybe the hypocritical morale of church and superstition. The main character (Carrol Baker) is mute which demands a lot from her face and eyes. The actress works very well, giving us a believable performance circulating around the emotions of fear and mental pain. The other actors are good, too. The finally, however, may not give too positive a sight about female sex since they all are expressed rather negatively in the film, one way or another. Still this is easily among the most noteworthy in the genre, not as bloody as the Argento films, for example, but equally suspenseful and visually also interesting.