Symphony in Blood Red is a bleak, pessimistic take on the horror-thriller genre, if you are looking for a traditional giallo circa 1971 (amateur detective or police procedural) then you are out of luck, for while deeply influenced by that era Pastore has played with the conventions and introduced an innovative take on the genre, something that I felt Argento tried to do but backed out of, with the character of Alfredo Grossi (played by Thomas Kretschmann) in The Stendhal Syndrome.
Opening with a straight up homage and quote from the immediate beginning of Argento's Tenebrae, a director who Pastore openly states as a major influence, we see a blood-stained woman stumbling away from the camera before being introduced properly into the film with first a POV shot of a (presumed) girlfriend stating she is leaving our lead character for another man, and then in the next scene his psychiatrist seemingly abandons him by stating she recommends he should go into a clinic. These personal rejections appear too much too handle and provide the catalyst for an ill mind to snap, or rather develop into that of a revengeful killer which the film follows.
Symphony in Blood Red is quite a serious film, in the sense that it never plays for (ironic) laughs or absurdity as some horrors are prone to mistakenly do and as a result it is able to not only maintain but also build on the gloomy almost nihilistic feel without diffusion or breaking the illusion of the bitter world created by Pastore and Tentori.
Featuring brutal violence, beautiful women and a pessimistic outlook make this a similar yet different Italian horror film, letting the killer be the story teller as opposed to simply the odd scene from his point of view, Pastore's knowledge and love of the genre and film in general shines through but equally does his creativity and personality. Clocking in a tight 74-minutes (it says approx. 80 but I don't really count credits), this film does not overstay its welcome and due to the relatively short duration it needs to be focused and thankfully the makers have achieved that without sacrificing brutality or emotion.
