Horror Short Review: Il Colore della Notte (2025)

Coming from creator Blake Vaz (singer, writer, musician, director, and Emmy award winning producer), Il Colore della Notte is a surreal giallo-inspired horror anthology that has a runtime of around twelve-minutes.

Which is more than enough time for Vaz to showcase his dedication to classic Italian genre cinema and showcase a creative horror short that embodies the madness that surrounds ancient cosmic entities. Yes, there’s a whole lot going on in this short, but it extremely compelling. Not just because of its story, but because of how it looks and sounds.

This is a gorgeous film, even with its stylised rawness, and it lovingly pays tribute to the artistry of the giallo (even down to the credits). It’s sexy, it’s sleazy, it’s surreal, and it focuses on a killer obsessed with turning his murders into cinematic ‘masterpieces’. All in tribute to an ancient cosmic entity.

We know this because this killer, gravelly voiced, explains his motivations in poetic style. Hunting his victims (all played by Violeta Vaz), he claims to ‘need’ to take their lives for his dark master, but you can easily deduce he gets a certain amount of sick pleasure out of the murders. After all, why else would an ‘ethereal female’ drive him to add an improvised scene?

It is so clever that this an excuse to use the simplicity of an iPhone to film his section. Giving this part of the anthology a different feel altogether.

This narration, coupled with the retro visuals and sharp colour scheme, carefully choreographed violence, and disturbing sound design, certainly makes the short stand out. Yet, it is the cleverly and concise way in which an anthology story is told that might be the most impressive thing of all. Does it all make sense? Of course not, but what giallo does?

I personally love cosmic horror and enjoy what comes with the unknown. There’s an overarching sense of danger here, even if the real danger is right in front of us holding a straight razor blade. No spoilers, but it ends in extremely dark fashion to.

Blake Vaz set out to make something indie-orientated that paid loving tribute to an iconic style of cinema, but wouldn’t feel out of place in modern times, and that is what we get with Il Colore della Notte. Mission accomplished.