The story revolves around Roberta Parenti (Yassmin Pucci) whose marriage to a prominent political figure has long since lost its spark. As such, Roberta likes to play around a little bit. She was once a fairly renowned artist but lately she's simply a bored rich woman who doesn't quite know what to do with herself. What Roberta doesn't realize is that she's got a secret admirer who obsesses over her day and night. This madman kidnaps her and brings her back to his abode where she soon finds herself wrapped up in a strange series of murders targeting some of the most beautiful women in town. Her only hope lies with a blind police officer name Derek (Joe Zaso) but will he be able to find Roberta in time to help?

A few interesting subplots add a bit more depth to the film than the main story allows, primarily an interesting segue detailing Roberta's relationship with Dora Miller (Raine Brown). The film's biggest flaw is that it's fairly easy to figure out who the culprit is long before the big finale. As such, it's not quite as suspenseful as it could and should have been.

That said, Darkness Surrounds Roberta is a fun throwback to the heyday of the Giallo. The film certainly looks quite good, thanks to some excellent cinematography from Alex Birrell. Marco Werba's quirky score is also top notch and helps to add a lot of atmosphere to this low budget offering. As far as the performances go, while no one here is going to win an Oscar, things are certainly a step or two above your average indy horror film. Raine Brown is good in her supporting role and Zaso's turn as the blind cop is fun. The real star of the film, however, is Roberta herself, Yasmin Pucci. She's perfectly cast as the person everyone lusts after. She certainly looks and acts the part and for an unknown actress has a fairly palpable screen presence.

The only audio track for the film on this DVD is a Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track, in English. All in all, it's a pretty good mix that delivers clear dialogue and a nice score. The channel separation is nothing to write home about but careful listeners will notice it in a few key scenes. Nothing to complain about here, the movie sounds pretty good. Optional English, German and Italian subtitles have also been included.

The first supplement on this disc is an audio commentary from performers Raine Brown and Joe Zaso. These two also provided a commentary on Barricade, the first film that they worked on together, and that same jovial friendliness that was apparent on that track is here as well. Zaso and Brown talk about working with director Giovanni Pianigiani and about working with Timo Rose again and they discuss shooting on location in Florence, Italy. They also give a decent rundown of the history of the production and tell some interesting stories about what it was like on set. While the commentary might have been better with input from someone with more technical expertise, this at least gives us a look at the picture from the performers' perspectives.

Up next is a behind the scenes featurette entitled Deep Inside Roberta (19:56). This segment starts off with Zaso explaining how he came on board the project, followed by similar stories from Yasmin Pucci, Eileen Daly, and a few other cast and crew members. In between the interview bits is some behind the scenes footage showing what it was like on set in Florence. We also see some of the effects work as it is being created, and get some candid clips of the filmmakers goofing off and having fun as well.

Rounding out the extra features are still gallery as well as a trailer for Darkness Surrounds Roberta (1:56) and trailers for two other Cinema Image DVD releases, Penny Dreadful (2:26) and Barricade (3:41). Menus and chapter selection are also provided.

For more information, check out the Cinema Image Productions website here!