Absolutely, particularly Daria Nicolodi’s death scene looks bewildering.
Death Steps in the Dark
-A girl is murdered in the train carriage while the lights go out and all the passengers are suspects, especially photographer played by Leonard Mann who must prove his innocence. Film starts in Christie style mystery and looks like a standard giallo with the gloved killer, nudity and violence but somewhere in the middle it leans heavily towards comedy. I’ve never seen a comedic giallo and it was actually quite refreshing to see something different in the genre but film changes too much from serious to almost ridiculous in the end.
Chi l’ha vista morire? / Who saw her die?
“A young girl is brutally murdered somewhere in France. Sometime later, the same thing happens to the daughter of a well-known sculptor.”
Nice one, directed by Aldo Lado starring you-only-act-once James Bond and Anita Strindberg. Looks stunning, as it is usual for giallos set in Venice. Couple of nice scares and absolutely chilling Moriconne’s soundtrack.
Other recommendation for it’s Venice setting and baroquely decadent feel: La vittima designata / The Designated Victim with Tomas Milian.
I haven’t read the 28 pages of thread preceding this, but did want to throw my hat into the ring and say I’m a BIG fan of gialli.
My favorite would have to be TENEBRE. Absolutely love that film!
[quote=“Marvin W. Bronson, post:544, topic:520”]My favorite would have to be TENEBRE. Absolutely love that film![/quote]Probably my favorite too. Not the best giallo but really entertaining.
The Sunday Woman
-Old, dirty architect is murdered with huge stony phallus and some upper class people are suspected for the crime. This one lacks the suspension but good cast including Mastroianni and Tringinant makes it watchable. Ennio Morricone provided a good score for the film.
My favorites are still Case of the Scorpions Tail, Deep Red and Death Walks at Midnight. I recently watched Autopsy, thought it was just ok.
DEEP RED is a classic. Really loved the reveal of the killer in that one.
Giallo Napoletano
-Sergio Corbucci’s comedic giallo with Marcello Mastroianni and Ornella Muti. Mastroianni is a funny looking mandolinplayer who gets caught in the middle of mystery and witnesses people being thrown out of the windows. Plot is rather complicated and there’s not any nudity and not much of violence but there’s some comedic elements instead but it’s never that funny. They should have added more comedy to make it more entertaining.
L’assassino è costretto ad uccidere ancora/The Killer Must Kill Again (1975)
Very good giallo. It uses original idea that we know the killer from the begging, which works very well because the killer is played by creepy Antoine Saint-John who moves throughout the movie like chillingly stoic evil force.
As far as memorable scenes goes, the scene which alternates shots of erotic intercourse in the car with explicit depiction of a rape happening at the same time, succeeds in its intention to point the finger to the audience more poignantly than Haneke’s Funny Games (US).
Una lucertola con la pelle di donna/A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin (1971)
First class giallo, definitely best Fulci movie I saw. It opens witch fantastic dream sequence, that is very erotic, beautiful and well done. Then there is very tense chase scene which uses huge empty church to great effect. And then there is the plot which is for once quite clever and it actually has solution that makes logic, but will nevertheless really keep you guessing until the very end. Hitchcock would approve. And yes, it has fantastic Morricone’s score.
You picked a good pair. Both are excellent films. I prefer LIZARD from the couple.
What post-1980 giallo would you giallo aficionados recommend except Argento, Stage Fright and NY Ripper?
Never have been a fan of STAGEFRIGHT. Like PIECES, I’ve never seen the appeal. Do like NEW YORK RIPPER, though.
Sorry about that tangent.
Delirium by Lamberto Bava is pretty good.
His A BLADE IN THE DARK is pretty decent, too.
I was just about to mention this, better than Delirium actually.
Though they’re not gialli, what do you think about the DEMONS films?
I like Delirium a lot. Thought it was more memorable. Just for the weirdness!
DELIRIUM is good, but I felt it came off the tracks somewhat. I should give it another day in court just to see how it holds up for me.
Sabrina’s tits were good! But the other Delirium, Polselli’s, is way better.
Bava’s: 4/10
Polselli’s: 7/10
As for post 1980 gialli, it’s slim pickings. Mozart is a Murderer was alright.
I revisited MURDER OBSESSION via the Raro Blu-ray last year. Wasn’t keen on this one when I first saw it, years ago, but really enjoyed it when I saw the Raro Blu. Lamberto Bava’s BODY PUZZLE is also pretty good (imo). I like THE HOUSE WITH THE YELLOW CARPET, EVIL SENSES and UNTIL DEATH too.
MIDNIGHT RIPPER, SWEETS FROM A STRANGER, NOTHING UNDERNEATH and TOO BEAUTIFUL TO DIE are all worth watching (again, imo) - they’re not brilliant, but they have some interesting aspects to them.