A Blade in the Dark

Bruno is hired to compose the film's soundtrack and relocates to the villa where the story unfolds. Director Sandra aims to capture the fear of darkness and keeps the ending hidden. Tony Rendina, the owner, is pleased Bruno will use the villa for inspiration while Bruno's girlfriend Giulia is away rehearsing, and Linda's troubled past with the place is noted.

An unseen figure steals an extendable box cutter from Bruno's studio, signaling trouble. Bruno meets Katia, a neighbor who flirts with him before leaving. Katia leaves behind a diary that hints she learned Linda's secret, foreshadowing danger to come.

Katia is chased into the basement by the unseen killer and is cut down in a brutal slaying. Bruno, outside smoking, remains oblivious to the killer dragging the body across the yard. Inside, he later finds blood on his pants and receives a silent, ominous phone call.

Bruno replays his music tapes and hears a voices whisper about Linda's secret, hinting that some truth must remain hidden. The tapes are destroyed and Katia's diary pages are thrown into the fireplace to erase evidence. Giulia makes an unannounced visit, claiming to be between rehearsals and unsettling Bruno.

Bruno voices suspicions about Katia's murder, which Giulia doubts, worrying that Bruno is cheating. The theater director later reveals that Giulia was fired from the play, escalating tensions between the couple. Bruno's paranoia grows as the mystery deepens.

Katia's roommate Angela arrives and asks questions about Linda, who is linked to the villa's dark past. Angela finds the box cutter sunk to the pool floor, hinting at danger. Later, Linda ambushes Angela in the bathroom area, stabbing and killing her while staging the scene to look like an accident.

Bruno notices a misplacement of a kitchen knife and a hole in the vanity, raising suspicions about Giulia. He teams with Sandra to search Linda's stored belongings in the basement, uncovering a suitcase full of tennis balls and other odd items. Sandra reveals Linda is the film's primary inspiration, calling Linda to apologize for embellishing the ending, only to be cried at and hung up on; Linda retaliates by shredding the final scene from the studio.

Giovanni discovers Katia and Angela dead inside a tank, and Linda bludgeons him to death with his own wrench. Sandra arrives to reconcile, but Giovanni dies in the ensuing confrontation. Linda then murders Sandra by garroting her with a film reel, dragging the corpse around in a deranged display.

Giulia arrives to find Sandra's body buried under film. Linda traps Giulia in the house by closing the garage door, messing with the lights, and dropping a shower of tennis balls from the ceiling. Giulia hides in a cabinet as Linda looms closer, wedges a knife into the door, and prepares to strike.

Bruno arrives as the tension peaks and Linda charges him, but he knocks her out with a brick. The killer's identity is revealed: Tony Rendina, Linda’s alter ego, who murdered women to prove his masculinity. The twist reframes the entire horror as a single disturbed psyche rather than a simple ghostly threat.

Bruno and a crew member discuss Tony’s deep insecurity and childlike impulse to dominate women, explaining how Linda served as his murderous alter ego. Tony dies after Bruno drives a knife into him as he lunges, muttering the final unsettling line. The confrontation reveals a human, not supernatural, source of the film's terror.

In the aftermath, Bruno contemplates the disturbing production and the villa's influence on the tragedy. The ending confirms that the violence sprang from Tony's insecurity and need to prove manhood, not just the film's fictional plot. The crew members process the horror of the real events that surrounded the shoot.