Blazing Magnum aka Strange Shadows in An Empty Room is a 1976 crime thriller or poliziotteschi directed by Alberto De Martino (The Killer is on the Phone, The Antichrist and Formula for A Murder). The film stars genre favourite John Saxon (Tenebre, Cannibal Apocalypse and Enter the Dragon), Stuart Whitman (Night of the Lepus, The Longest Day and The Comancheros), Martin Landau (Space 1999, Ed Wood and North by Northwest), and Mia Farrow’s sister, Tisa Farrow (Zombie Flesheaters, Manhattan and Anthropophagus the Beast).

Heavily inspired by such well-received American crime thrillers of the early 1970s like Bullitt, Dirty Harry and The French Connection, Blazing Magnum was De Martino’s surprising follow-up to the supernatural horror shocker, The Antichrist. Whilst the movie owes a great debt to the aforementioned movies it also contains a giallo-esque subplot that would seem more fitting for a Dario Argento or Sergio Martino movie. 

After a young student, Louise Saitta (Carole Laure, Escape to Victory) is poisoned, her older brother, Tony (Whitman) a tough police Captain from Ottawa takes up the case with the intent of bringing her murderer to justice. He is aided in his investigations by local cop, Sgt Ned Matthews (Saxon). The primary suspect in the case is Dr George Tracer (Landau), a married man who has been having an affair with Louise. As the plot begins to unravel Tony and Ned begin to realise that there’s much more to this case than a simple murder plot.

Blazing Magnum is a pretty high-quality entry in the poliziotteschi genre, exceeding the standard of many of its contemporaries. The cast are great. Stuart Whitman is excellent as the violent, no-nonsense cop trying to get to the bottom of the case by any means necessary. Martin Landau and John Saxon make great foils on which he can play off, whilst Tisa Farrow is also excellent as the blind girl, Julie Foster.  Blazing Magnum also features one of the finest car chases of the period, as well as some stylish giallo-style murder sequences that ramp up the tension. The film also features a rather wonderful jazzy 70s score from legendary Italian composer Armando Trovajoli.

Overall, Blazing Magnum is a very good police thriller that transcends that particular genre’s trappings, to create a very enjoyable yarn that sits within the realms of a couple of different genres. This new Blu-ray release from Studio Canal features a fairly decent print of the film, but it’s not what I would call remarkably crisp. The disc also features a small selection of very good bonus materials, there is a new interview with director, De Martino, and another with the ever-knowledgeable Kim Newman, as well as theatrical trailers. It’s worth noting that there is also the option to choose whether you watch the movie with the English or Italian dialogue. 

It bears repeating that this is a solid release of a very good movie, one that doesn’t get the respect it perhaps deserves.