''Blood Link'' ( it, Extrasensorial, also released as ''The Link'') is a 1982

giallo film In Italian cinema, ''Giallo'' (; plural ''gialli'', from ''giallo'', Italian for yellow) is a genre of mystery fiction and thrillers that often contains slasher, crime fiction, psychological thriller, psychological horror, sexploitation, and, l ...

directed by

Alberto De Martino Alberto De Martino (12 June 1929 – 2 June 2015) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Born in Rome, De Martino started as a child actor and later returned to the cinema where worked as a screenwriter, director and dubbing supervis ...

and starring

Michael Moriarty Michael Moriarty (born April 5, 1941) is an American-Canadian actor and jazz musician. He received an Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award for his first acting role on American television as a Nazi SS officer in the 1978 mini-series ''Holocaust'' ...

Penelope Milford Penelope Dale Milford (born March 23, 1948) is an American stage and screen actress. She is best known for her role as Vi Munson in '' Coming Home'' (1978) for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She also or ...

Geraldine Fitzgerald Geraldine Mary Fitzgerald (November 24, 1913 – July 17, 2005) was an Irish actress and a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame. In 2020, she was listed at number 30 on ''The Irish Times'' list of Ireland's greatest film actors. Early li ...

, and Cameron Mitchell. It was an Italian and West German co-production.

Plot

Craig Manning is a respected American doctor, who begins to experience strange visions of women being murdered. Before long, he begins to suspect that these visions are the result of a psychic connection with his twin brother Keith, who supposedly died in a house fire in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

at the age of 17, but who is now engaged in a murder spree. Recognizing the scenery in one of the visions, Craig travels to

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

to find and stop his brother, over the protests of his girlfriend Julie Warren. Meanwhile, Keith is soon spotted and mistaken for Craig at a Hamburg coffee shop by ex-boxer Bud Waldo, one Craig's former patients. Maliciously, Keith goads the older man into an impromptu boxing match, striking him repeatedly and causing a fatal heart attack. Craig arrives on the scene in time to meet Waldo's daughter Christine, who joins him in his search for Keith. The two quickly become lovers, but their search is hampered by the local police who think Craig is to blame for Keith's murders. While they hide, Keith locates them, kills Christine, and finally confronts his brother, telling him he was aware of their psychic connection and that he committed the murders as a way of bringing his estranged brother to him. Craig condemns his actions, but Keith escapes, promising more murders. Shortly thereafter, the police arrive and arrest Craig, charging him with Christine's murder. In short order, Julie arrives in Germany and—certain that Craig's visions are real—implores the local authorities in Hamburg to help search for Keith in connection to the murders that Craig is now being blamed for. While Craig sits in jail, she concocts a plan to act as bait for Keith, meeting him at a secret location and counting on Craig's psychic connection to help bring the police to her in time. Keith, psychologically unstable and obsessed with his brother, attempts to rape Julie, but during the struggle she is able to stab him to death with his own knife. With Keith dead, the charges against Craig are dropped and he is freed from prison. He continues to have visions, however, which seem to show Keith returning from the grave. Moreover, he seems to have taken on some of Keith's personality characteristics. The film ends with some ambiguity about whether Keith is still somehow psychically affecting his brother from beyond the grave, or if Craig is simply psychologically scarred from his experience.

Cast

Production

The film was shot in West Germany, United States and Rome in late 1981. The film was financed mostly by a West German production company (Zadar Films), but it was made by an Italian director and crew.

Release

''Blood Link'' was first released in the United Kingdom in October 1982, then in the United States that November. Due to distribution issues, the film was not released in Italy or West Germany for several years, and even then only on video. The film was released in the United States on home video by Embassy as ''Blood Link'' and in the United Kingdom by Medusa as ''The Link''.

Reception

From retrospective reviews, Adrian Luther Smith in his book on Italian genre films praised the acting of

and stated that "those seeking well-presented sleazy thrills will not be disappointed". Italian film critic and historian Roberto Curti stated that the film has "several interesting moments" while being "partly marred for an unsatisfactory ending imposed on by the producer".

References

Sources

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External links

* * {{Alberto De Martino 1982 films English-language German films Films directed by Alberto De Martino Films scored by Ennio Morricone 1980s English-language films 1980s German films Films shot in the United States Films shot in Germany Films shot in Rome 1980s Italian films Italian psychological thriller films Italian horror thriller films German psychological thriller films German horror thriller films Films about psychic powers Films shot in Hamburg Films set in Hamburg