Giallo films

[Viero_Berlotti]

So after watching superior 1970's Giallo film The House With The Laughing Windows at the weekend, I'm about to embark on a bit of a Giallo binge.

I've seen a few Argento's classics Profondo Rosso, The Bird With The Crystal Plumage, Phenomena, Opera and Suspiria (although I'm not sure if Suspiria could be classed as a true Giallo), but I'm looking to delve into the genre a bit deeper and wondered if the esteemed taste-makers of CAB had any suggestions?

If you've not seen Pupi Avati's The House With The Laughing Windows I'd certainly recommend it. It seems to be highly regarded by fans of the genre as being more classy than trashy, and it is certainly very different from Argento's work. It's much more of a slow burner and gradually builds up an unsettling sense of dread. It's also really well shot and the music is suitably creepy.

http://youtu.be/3BYOWiZlaDg

[BlodwynPig]

I should be watching more of these...I have seen Profondo Rosso, still haven't watched Suspiria, which is now boxed up somewhere. The Stendahl Syndrome is a great movie, and The Card Player too, both Argento.

[Funcrusher]

Yer gialli is the Hitchcockian murder mystery with a killer with a knife wearing black gloves, so 'Suspiria' wouldn't be counted as one. I'm pissed off that I missed 'The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears' during its minimal release, although I've not really been in the mood for horror recently.

I always hear good things about 'The House With Laughing Windows'.

[Viero_Berlotti]

Yer gialli is the Hitchcockian murder mystery with a killer with a knife wearing black gloves, so 'Suspiria' wouldn't be counted as one. I'm pissed off that I missed 'The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears' during its minimal release, although I've not really been in the mood for horror recently.

I always hear good things about 'The House With Laughing Windows'.

Yes, Suspiria is more of a surreal, supernatural horror. That's not to say a Giallo can't have supernatural elements though. Take Phenomena for instance, Jennifer Connelly's character has psychic abilities, but plot-wise it is a pretty straight forward Giallo

Spoiler alert

(probably the first and last Giallo to have a chimp save the day though, so not that straight forward).

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[billtheburger]

I am very pleased with the current increase in awareness of the genre, I also wish to see The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears, because I really liked Amer. I loved The Berberian Sound Studio, too.

Recently I had the good fortune to see Tenebre on the big screen and on 13th May I'm off to see All the Colours of the Dark

I suppose for me, I just have a collection that I call my Giallo & Eurosleaze, because it's the style, cinematography and eroticism of these films that I so much love.
Often done for miniscule budgets, they had to be imaginative and innovative.

The first few recommendations that have popped into my mind today are another Edwige Fenech vehicle - The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh
Torso from 1973
Lizard in a Woman's Skin showing that Lucio Fulci is capable of great things.

[Swoz_MK]

Deep Red really is incredible. That's due another viewing.

I have some friends who are obsessed with Poliziotteschi and I keep meaning to dip into their collections.

[Egyptian Feast]

Lizard in a Woman's Skin showing that Lucio Fulci is capable of great things.

Great film, but I reckon his follow up Don't Torture A Duckling is even better (despite closing with the most hilariously bad 'special effect' in cinema history). Possibly my favourite non-Argento giallo.

[billtheburger]

Deep Red really is incredible. That's due another viewing.

It may just be my favorite Argento.

[Viero_Berlotti]

It's a shame I'm going to have to miss this, but All The Colours Of The Dark is being screen at the Dancehouse theatre in Manchester this coming Tuesday (18th May)

http://www.thedancehouse.co.uk/whats_on/autumn_winter_2002/event_362.asp

[biggytitbo]

Yes, Suspiria is more of a surreal, supernatural horror. That's not to say a Giallo can't have supernatural elements though. Take Phenomena for instance, Jennifer Connelly's character has psychic abilities, but plot-wise it is a pretty straight forward Giallo

Spoiler alert

(probably the first and last Giallo to have a chimp save the day though, so not that straight forward).

[close]

Phenomena is Argento's best film and I'd never describe it as straightforward. It has the most astonishing collection of plot elements imaginable.


I'd put Deep Red and Tenebrae above Suspiria too.

[Viero_Berlotti]

Phenomena is Argento's best film and I'd never describe it as straightforward. It has the most astonishing collection of plot elements imaginable.

Yes, I know what you mean. I meant straightforward in that the plot is driven by the standard Giallo cliche of a masked killer on the loose.

[billtheburger]

It's a shame I'm going to have to miss this, but All The Colours Of The Dark is being screen at the Dancehouse theatre in Manchester this coming Tuesday (18th May)

http://www.thedancehouse.co.uk/whats_on/autumn_winter_2002/event_362.asp

Aye, that is the one I am going to

Spoiler alert

13th

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[Viero_Berlotti]

Aye, that is the one I am going to

Spoiler alert

13th

[close]

Sorry I'm going mad, don't know where I got the 18th from.

[billtheburger]

What Have You Done to Solange is also good.

The only time in my life I have something to thank Jay Zed for.

[Viero_Berlotti]

So after enjoying The House With The Laughing Windows I thought I'd give Pupi Avati's Zeder a viewing.

It's another one that can't really be considered a Giallo, if you are being strict about the definition. It's a curious, almost Lovecraftian supernatural tale of a writer that gets given an old electrical typewriter as an anniversary gift. It contains the remains of a mysterious essay about resurrecting the dead on the ink ribbon. The writer begins to investigate the essay and the story begins....

As a whole I'd have to say it is a pretty poor film really, and not a patch on THWTLW. It does have a few nice set pieces though, and has a quiet understated intelligence that is lacking in other European horror films of the same era.  In parts is strangely reminiscent of late 1990's / early 2000's Japanese horror films like Ring etc...

[billtheburger]

I liked quite a bit from Zeder especially locations, but now I find I've pretty much forgot the majority of it all.
Pupi Avati also made one on Guillermo Del Toro's favorite films, The Arcane Sorcerer a film my wife got more out of than I did.

I did see All The Colours of The Dark last night as planned, and once again, not really the crime /  thriller giallo. It was more akin to something like Rosemary's Baby or a hammer black mass film.
I stood on the stairwell after the film, waiting for my mates to have a piss, and I really enjoyed listening to the varied opinions of the other patrons as they left. The views ranged from, "that wasn't even so bad it was funny", to "alright wasn't it".
I really liked it as exactly what it was, sure it had moments of dating, bad dubbing, but this is something I just accept as part of it all now.

[Viero_Berlotti]

So it was Short Night Of Glass Dolls for me last night. Aldo Lado's slow burner from 1971, that refreshingly has very little in the way of violence and gore. The mystery centres around the unconscious body of a man found in a park in city-centre Prague. The body is taken to a hospital where the man is pronounced dead, however the man's mind still remains concious within the body and he begins to have flashbacks and starts to recall the events that lead him to this predicament.

It's well worth sticking out an hour of wooden acting, bad dubbing and clunky exposition for the magnificent last half-hour of this. It's a bit like an extended episode of Tales Of The Unexpected and I half expected the theme tune to fire up after the sudden and shocking conclusion. (The actual music to this film is by Ennio Morricone, not his best work but it still adds a superior layer of style and atmosphere to this film).

[zomgmouse]

I wanted to suggest The House with Laughing Windows as it made a great impression on me when I saw it, but lo and behold it's the first film mentioned in the thread.
So instead, I'll suggest Elio Petri's A Quiet Place in the Country, starring Franco Nero and Vanessa Redgrave. Slow descent into madness, very well captured. Liked it a lot.
You could also try The Pyjama Girl Case, which is I believe the only giallo filmed and set in Australia. Stars Ray Milland, too.

[Viero_Berlotti]

Great film, but I reckon his follow up Don't Torture A Duckling is even better (despite closing with the most hilariously bad 'special effect' in cinema history). Possibly my favourite non-Argento giallo.

I watched Don't Torture A Duckling over the weekend and yes, the ending  does look a bit iffy by today's standards. The preceding 90 minutes is wonderful though, intelligently and coherently dealing with big themes such as Paganism, Catholicism and paedophilia within the confines of typical giallo tropes and constructs.

Spoiler alert

You can definitely see Fulci's influence on Tarantino in the scene where the "witch" is murdered by the townsfolk. The way the 1960's American R&B music plays over the scene from the radio of a nearby parked car was inspired, and definitely played out like something from a Tarantino film.

[close]

[Egyptian Feast]

That scene is truly horrible. Unlike the final 'effect', the violence in that scene still packs a visceral punch, even by today's standards.

Spoiler alert

The car radio is brilliantly used as well, and the music that plays as she crawls to the road is beautiful. It's the one of most shocking murders in any of the giallos I've seen, yet interestingly enough, is not part of the mystery driving the plot. I haven't seen the movie in years, but I can still remember it quite vividly. Unfortunately!

[close]

I rewatched Umberto Lenzi's Seven Blood-Stained Orchids last week, as I couldn't remember a single thing about it other than that the leading lady had an annoying teddy-bear face. The plot is classic giallo silliness - a vicious killer is picking off women that were staying in the heroine's family's hotel on a particular weekend four years earlier. He leaves a half moon necklace with each body, which reminds teddy-bear lady of an American who was staying in the hotel that weekend. Unfortunately, as she repeatedly points out, she just isn't any good with faces. So she sits around at home pretending to be dead while her obnoxious fashion-designer boyfriend carries out the police investigation all by himself, kicking in people's doors and intimidating witnesses like a wanker.

Obviously not up with the best of the genre, but watchable enough, and easy to make fun of. But it's nowhere near as entertaining as Lenzi's poliziotteschi films (the genre he did his best work in - I recommend Almost Human, Rome Armed To The Teeth and Violent Naples) or indeed, the gloriously trashy Eyeball (in which an eye-extracting killer in a red pac-a-mac targets a bus of tourists on a package holiday).

As ever, the late Riz Ortolani's music was lovely. Probably the highpoint of the film, in fact. That sleazy organ!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOj7eWlXuwM

[Viero_Berlotti]

Here's the 'witch' murder scene from Don't Torture A Duckling (obviously contains violence and is NSFW):

http://youtu.be/QUIAcRs3S8Y

[gatchamandave]

My friends, do NOT under any circumstances watch Giallo.

Oh, I know it's become the cliche that Dario has lost it, but like others here I was pleasantly surprised by The Card Player and love Mother of Tears for its tits out for the boys madness. Sleepless ? A thing of beauty...

But Giallo - oh dear me, no. Poor stuff with an ending that is, for this - nay, for THIS director - it is...anaemic. I think he's reacting to the critical failure of MoT - if they didn't like me being deranged and bizarre, maybe they'll like me if I'm low key and Mainstream.

So to cheer you up, a true story. I bought the full, uncut edition of Tenebre recently. In a church bazaar sale in Kendal.

Should I call the Director of Public Prosecutions I wonder?

[Viero_Berlotti]

So it was Mario Bava's seminal Blood and Black Lace last night. Despite a bit of a flat ending, it lives up to the hype, especially stylistically, you can tell this film had a huge influence on Argento. The lighting in particular was superb. It looks as if it has been lit like a black and white film noir, all high contrast and long shadows. The use of bold colour in conjunction with this creates a very distinctive look. The scene of the second murder in particular, set in an antique store, is a master class in lighting and colour and worth watching for this sequence alone.