Paying homage to a film that inspired you could be a double-edged sword (or knife). Playing too heavily into an homage will get you labeled a clone of that film. Look at Scream. Nowadays, if you make a semi-meta slasher film, you’ll most likely get called a Scream clone. I’m even guilty of this practice, most recently with my review of Haunted Ulster Live. It’s not bad to be labeled a clone, but it can do serious damage and undermine the importance a film may have. Knife+Heart perfectly pays homage to the giallo subgenre, while still being original and beautiful enough to stand as its own entity.
Knife+Heart follows Anne (Vanessa Paradis), who directs and produces gay porn. When cast members from previous, and current, productions start winding up dead, Anne takes things into her own hands. Pivoting from her current project, Anne decides to make a new film centered around the killings plaguing her production. Unfortunately for Anne, and those involved in the production, this choice might prove fatal.
Essential Giallo Elements in Knife+Heart
When it comes to giallo films, there are a few lynchpins to make them successful, but three of the main things are excessive violence, a fascinating and mysterious killer, and a gorgeous score. Knife+Heart has all of those aspects. Writers Yann Gonzalez and Cristiano Mangione craft one of the most intriguing killers to date in a giallo film. The killer’s motivation becomes inherently clear and works well for the story, and doesn’t feel forced as in many giallo films. It should be noted that this film is more than a giallo homage, but it’s easier to refer to it as a giallo film than anything else.
Blood flows by the bucket in Knife+Heart, accompanied by one of the most original weapons I’ve ever seen in a genre film. The killer wields a thick black dildo with a retractable blade that shoots out of the urethra. And oh boy does the killer get use out of this weapon. One of the greatest kills mirrors one from Brain Damage (1988). Whether that’s a direct homage, or something that just flows naturally through the progression of the scene is up in the air. But it’s just one of the many gloriously gory kills to grace the screen.
The film is set to a beautifully terrifying score by M83. I rarely seek out vinyl soundtracks, but I need to get my hands on this one. It’s haunting, beautiful, tragic, and awe-inspiring. At times the score will lull you into a false sense of security, other times it will cause your heart to race faster than you could imagine.
Sexuality, Revenge, and Subverting Giallo Tropes
Typically, a film about porn/porn production would go out of its way to sexually excite the viewer. Knife+Heart uses its sexuality to tell a beautiful tale of revenge and doesn’t exist just to titillate the viewer. It’s a harrowing look at love, revenge, and decency. It also doesn’t hurt to have genre auteur Bertrand Mandico starring as a brooding porn cinematographer. Knife+Heart is a film that will never be forgotten, something that exists to transcend genre tropes. It never delves into bad taste, like many giallo films do. Instead of being misogynistic, again like many giallo films, Knife+Heart flips the conventions we’ve become accustomed to and creates a wholly original film that surpasses the films it was inspired by. However, I’d suggest something else if you have weekly movie nights with your parents.
