Giallo
Posted: February 7th, 2012, 2:10 am
So what is Giallo?
Giallo is a classification much like Film Noir in that it details a very specific type of film. The actual word means yellow in Italian and refers to pulp crime paperbacks released in Italy with--you guessed it--yellow covers. Giallo films are stylish thrillers, well shot, and drenched with beautiful colors. Origins can be traced from many sources; the works of Edgar Allen Poe, Agatha Christie, and Edgar Wallace (as well as the usual American pulp writers) mixed with stylization of Film Noir, Hitchcock, and Krimi films. Keen cinematography and mesmerizing scores greatly add to the suspense (many were done by Ennio Morricone) and indue the movies with a voyeuristic sense of exploration.
The films range from exploitation trash to arthouse fare, usually (but not always) marrying graphic violence with sexual frustration in a way that had never been brought to the screen previously. While not the originator of the "set piece" murder (Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho [1960] claims that honor), the Giallo brought these extended killing sequences to full maturity with innovations that still create suspense and shock in the modern era and were often copied (but rarely equaled) by later American horror directors.
By blurring the lines between mystery, noir, exploitation, and horror, the Giallo created a unique synthesis, which depends on audience participation. While intentional misdirection and red herrings are a part of the game, the films rarely cheat, however implausible the endings might be. A great example is Dario Argento's Deep Red (1975), where in the first murder scene we are given all the details needed to solve the crime and once the truth is revealed, you can actually revisit the scene and realize the evidence is there--you just have to put the pieces together. Because of this, the films command our attention and have us reasoning and deciphering clues throughout. We are detectives, but we are also reminded that our eyes and senses can be fooled and reason may or may not follow logic. We have also become voyeurs in that we watch to discover: Ala Hitchcock, where we are not passive observers, but active participants, trying to make sense of a beautiful puzzle, where as Argento suggests--"Rhythm is the key to anguish".
Mario Bava's Evil Eye AKA The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1962) is considered the first of the genre, but Bava made many different kinds of films and would not return to the style he created for two years.
Bava's next Giallo, Blood and Black Lace (1964) would establish the foundation and raise the bar for other Italian thrillers. Note the use of saturated color here:
While many competent directors have made these films (Sergio Martino and Umberto Lenzi spring to mind), Bava, Lucio Fulci, and Dario Argento compose the holy trinity of Giallo, as their works are the ones that shaped the genre and provided the blueprint for others. Most critics agree Fulci's New York Ripper (1982) brought the classic era to an end with its hyper-sexual violence, but like Noir and the Western, these movies continue to pop up here and there in modern cinema and definitely influenced the American slasher film of the eighties, although the latter holds none of the cinematic or cerebral depth of the former, and are generally just an exercise in gore. Of all the non-Italian works, only Nicholas Roeg's Don't Look Now (1973), and Bob Clark's Black Christmas (1974) can compare with their Big Boot cousins, particularly the lyrical Don't Look Now, where shots of a bleak, crumbling Venice are far removed from the splendor of David Lean's Summertime (1953). The Twilight, or Neo-Giallo era films hold a more cynical rather than visceral view, with movies like Copkiller (1983), Off Balance AKA Phantom of Death (1988), and Body Parts (1990) mixing morality and ethics with bloodshed, deepening the melodramatic aspect, whereas their American imitators chose the opposite approach.
So, if you've read this far, and you're not the squeamish type, it's time to start investigating on your own. Below is a list of twenty-five classics. I would suggest starting with Bava, Fulci, and Argento to get a basic understanding of the foundation of Giallo:
Evil Eye AKA The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1962)--Bava
The Lady in the Lake AKA Possession (1965)
Death Laid an Egg (1968)
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1969)--Argento
The Bloodstained Butterfly (1971)
Short Night of Glass Dolls (1971)
The Designated Victim (1971)
Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971)--Fulci
The Etruscan Kills Again AKA The Dead are Alive (1972)
Devil in the Brain (1972)
The Killer is on the Phone (1972)
Don't Torture a Duckling (1972)--Fulci
All the Colors of the Dark (1972)
Eye in the Labyrinth (1972)
Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972)
What Have You Done to Solange? (1972)
Kidnapped AKA Rabid Dogs (1974)--Bava
Spasmo (1974)
Deep Red (1975)--Argento
Footprints (1975)
The House with the Laughing Windows (1976)
Anima Persa AKA The Forbidden Room (1977)
Seven Notes In Black AKA The Psychic (1977)--Fulci
Tenebre (1982)--Argento
The New York Ripper (1982)--Fulci
Further viewing:
The Killer Must Kill Again (1975)
Blood and Black Lace (1964)--Bava
Body Puzzle (1990)
The Double (1971)
Death Occurred Last Night (1970)
The Weekend Murders (1970)
Copkiller (1983)
Deadly Sweet (1967)
Torso (1973)
My Dear Killer (1971)
The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972)
Off Balance AKA Phantom of Death (1988)
The Flower with Petals of Steel (1973)
Fragment Of Fear (1970)
Cat O' Nine Tails (1971)--Argento
Watch Me While I Kill AKA The Cat's Victims (1976)
Iguana with the Tongue of Fire (1971)
Autopsy (1974)
Orgasmo AKA Paranoia (1969)
Pensione Paura (1978)
Il Monstro AKA The Monster (1977)
Perfume of the Lady in Black (1974)
Don't Look Now (1973)
The Case of the Bloody Iris (1971)
Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1972)--Argento
The Pajama Girl Case (1977)
Night of Violence (1966)
Black Christmas (1974)
Kill Baby Kill (1966)--Bava
Seven Bloodstained Orchids (1972)
The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh AKA Blade of the Ripper (1971)
Night Hair Child AKA What the Peeper Saw (1971)
Deadly Triangle AKA Game of Adultery (1973)
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)
Death Carries a Cane (1973)
Puzzle (1974)
Death on the Four Poster (1964)
Spirits of Death (1972)
Info on the Giallo genre is patchy at best. There are very few English books written about the subject and most of them are long out of print. Of what is currently available I highly recommend:
La Dolce Morte: Vernacular Cinema and the Italian Giallo Film
Spaghetti Nightmares
There is also an excellent blog entitled Giallo Fever:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... -Q&cad=rja
And finally, The Love, Lock, and Load site, which deals with all kinds of Euro-cult films and has its own forum:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... KA&cad=rja
Giallo is a classification much like Film Noir in that it details a very specific type of film. The actual word means yellow in Italian and refers to pulp crime paperbacks released in Italy with--you guessed it--yellow covers. Giallo films are stylish thrillers, well shot, and drenched with beautiful colors. Origins can be traced from many sources; the works of Edgar Allen Poe, Agatha Christie, and Edgar Wallace (as well as the usual American pulp writers) mixed with stylization of Film Noir, Hitchcock, and Krimi films. Keen cinematography and mesmerizing scores greatly add to the suspense (many were done by Ennio Morricone) and indue the movies with a voyeuristic sense of exploration.
The films range from exploitation trash to arthouse fare, usually (but not always) marrying graphic violence with sexual frustration in a way that had never been brought to the screen previously. While not the originator of the "set piece" murder (Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho [1960] claims that honor), the Giallo brought these extended killing sequences to full maturity with innovations that still create suspense and shock in the modern era and were often copied (but rarely equaled) by later American horror directors.
By blurring the lines between mystery, noir, exploitation, and horror, the Giallo created a unique synthesis, which depends on audience participation. While intentional misdirection and red herrings are a part of the game, the films rarely cheat, however implausible the endings might be. A great example is Dario Argento's Deep Red (1975), where in the first murder scene we are given all the details needed to solve the crime and once the truth is revealed, you can actually revisit the scene and realize the evidence is there--you just have to put the pieces together. Because of this, the films command our attention and have us reasoning and deciphering clues throughout. We are detectives, but we are also reminded that our eyes and senses can be fooled and reason may or may not follow logic. We have also become voyeurs in that we watch to discover: Ala Hitchcock, where we are not passive observers, but active participants, trying to make sense of a beautiful puzzle, where as Argento suggests--"Rhythm is the key to anguish".
Mario Bava's Evil Eye AKA The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1962) is considered the first of the genre, but Bava made many different kinds of films and would not return to the style he created for two years.
Bava's next Giallo, Blood and Black Lace (1964) would establish the foundation and raise the bar for other Italian thrillers. Note the use of saturated color here:
While many competent directors have made these films (Sergio Martino and Umberto Lenzi spring to mind), Bava, Lucio Fulci, and Dario Argento compose the holy trinity of Giallo, as their works are the ones that shaped the genre and provided the blueprint for others. Most critics agree Fulci's New York Ripper (1982) brought the classic era to an end with its hyper-sexual violence, but like Noir and the Western, these movies continue to pop up here and there in modern cinema and definitely influenced the American slasher film of the eighties, although the latter holds none of the cinematic or cerebral depth of the former, and are generally just an exercise in gore. Of all the non-Italian works, only Nicholas Roeg's Don't Look Now (1973), and Bob Clark's Black Christmas (1974) can compare with their Big Boot cousins, particularly the lyrical Don't Look Now, where shots of a bleak, crumbling Venice are far removed from the splendor of David Lean's Summertime (1953). The Twilight, or Neo-Giallo era films hold a more cynical rather than visceral view, with movies like Copkiller (1983), Off Balance AKA Phantom of Death (1988), and Body Parts (1990) mixing morality and ethics with bloodshed, deepening the melodramatic aspect, whereas their American imitators chose the opposite approach.
So, if you've read this far, and you're not the squeamish type, it's time to start investigating on your own. Below is a list of twenty-five classics. I would suggest starting with Bava, Fulci, and Argento to get a basic understanding of the foundation of Giallo:
Evil Eye AKA The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1962)--Bava
The Lady in the Lake AKA Possession (1965)
Death Laid an Egg (1968)
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1969)--Argento
The Bloodstained Butterfly (1971)
Short Night of Glass Dolls (1971)
The Designated Victim (1971)
Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971)--Fulci
The Etruscan Kills Again AKA The Dead are Alive (1972)
Devil in the Brain (1972)
The Killer is on the Phone (1972)
Don't Torture a Duckling (1972)--Fulci
All the Colors of the Dark (1972)
Eye in the Labyrinth (1972)
Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972)
What Have You Done to Solange? (1972)
Kidnapped AKA Rabid Dogs (1974)--Bava
Spasmo (1974)
Deep Red (1975)--Argento
Footprints (1975)
The House with the Laughing Windows (1976)
Anima Persa AKA The Forbidden Room (1977)
Seven Notes In Black AKA The Psychic (1977)--Fulci
Tenebre (1982)--Argento
The New York Ripper (1982)--Fulci
Further viewing:
The Killer Must Kill Again (1975)
Blood and Black Lace (1964)--Bava
Body Puzzle (1990)
The Double (1971)
Death Occurred Last Night (1970)
The Weekend Murders (1970)
Copkiller (1983)
Deadly Sweet (1967)
Torso (1973)
My Dear Killer (1971)
The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972)
Off Balance AKA Phantom of Death (1988)
The Flower with Petals of Steel (1973)
Fragment Of Fear (1970)
Cat O' Nine Tails (1971)--Argento
Watch Me While I Kill AKA The Cat's Victims (1976)
Iguana with the Tongue of Fire (1971)
Autopsy (1974)
Orgasmo AKA Paranoia (1969)
Pensione Paura (1978)
Il Monstro AKA The Monster (1977)
Perfume of the Lady in Black (1974)
Don't Look Now (1973)
The Case of the Bloody Iris (1971)
Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1972)--Argento
The Pajama Girl Case (1977)
Night of Violence (1966)
Black Christmas (1974)
Kill Baby Kill (1966)--Bava
Seven Bloodstained Orchids (1972)
The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh AKA Blade of the Ripper (1971)
Night Hair Child AKA What the Peeper Saw (1971)
Deadly Triangle AKA Game of Adultery (1973)
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)
Death Carries a Cane (1973)
Puzzle (1974)
Death on the Four Poster (1964)
Spirits of Death (1972)
Info on the Giallo genre is patchy at best. There are very few English books written about the subject and most of them are long out of print. Of what is currently available I highly recommend:
La Dolce Morte: Vernacular Cinema and the Italian Giallo Film
Spaghetti Nightmares
There is also an excellent blog entitled Giallo Fever:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... -Q&cad=rja
And finally, The Love, Lock, and Load site, which deals with all kinds of Euro-cult films and has its own forum:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... KA&cad=rja