Giallo Genre (Italian Thrillers)

I am currently watching the new Koch Media release of OPERA

http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B013FO6OZC/italowestern-21

Thanks for posting these extra titles guys. I added em to the GCDb page.

Id like to get all Regions on the site but its tough to keep track of all the titles. Ive just been doing the US ones mainly. We do have other countries too but its not as extensive as Id like.

So to those who dig exploitation films, consider joining the GCDb as contributors

The forum on GCDb is down? http://forum.grindhousedatabase.com/ leads to nowhere.

yes it was shut down a few weeks ago, as announced

Oh-kay. Haven’t really frequented the site so totally out of the loop on that one.

The link for the forum is still there on the main page though which is how I got fooled :slight_smile:

Giallo is this year’s spag!
I’ve watched shed-loads since Brother Caress caused my cider-tinged grey matter to get burn-out in Spagvember. :grinning:
These range from the proto black and white Death on a Four-Poster to sleeze-fests like Slaughter Hotel.
Besides this unhealthy slab of Italian fare that’s been consumed over the festive season, the last two eves have been enjoyably spent in the company of a couple of Greek offerings - one of which out-sleezes anything I’ve yet seen from Italy.
Neither of director Kostas Karagiannis’ are of the whodunnit type, more the ‘are they gonna get away with it’ thrillery-types. When “it” in 1974’s Tango of Perversion includes a bit of tastefully done necrophilia amongst all the other ‘normal’ horrors - such as lesbianism, voyeurism, drug-taking, as well as the murders (of course), then it’s on deleriously deranged and dodgy ground. And when the cast are not out of their clothes, they are magnificently attired in the worst of what pre-punk seventies gave us - clashing colours, psychotic patterns, collars you could land a plane on… and that’s just the men.
There’s not one character here you could feel any real empathy or sympathy with, but they are so gloriously amoral and seedy - the users, abusers and the pathetic victims, decadently woven together by pacts, lies, and libido - a ooziness of betrayal and bodily fluids. Blimey!
And as with this other offering (which imo is slightly less seedy, but equally entertaining), The Wife Killer of 1976 vintage, we get more abundantly gratuitous, gialloesque sleeze to thrill our pants off yet again. Phew!

In a nutshell - on top of it all, besides, and beneath all these layers of tastlessness that could overwhelm, lay a couple of decent (I never thought I’d be using that word) storylines about deceit and double-cross - and despite the many bare breasts on show (and like them) there isn’t too much in the way of padding. They’re shortish films anyway (just right for post-pint viewage), and they move at a fair ol’ pace. All of the above means that they both come highly recommended! :stuck_out_tongue:

Watched Perversion Story - One on Top of the Other (1969) wich sounds seedy as hell - but wasn’t.
Then I saw The Sister of Ursula (1978) which sounds so-so, but was self-conciously and shockingly seedy by comparison.
I gotta say I much prefered the former - extremely entertaining stuff. The latter almost threatened to develop a decent story at one point, but lost the plot amongst a tangle of suspenders and pubic hair. I suppose this was deemed very naughty back in the day, but these days nipples and a plethora of netherhair ain’t gonna make up for a dearth of narrative.

I gotta say it again that Tango of Perversion had the lot, sleeze and story, way to go El Greco!

Have you seen this overview we built?

http://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Giallo_Classics_on_BluRay

Still under construction, but it is a starting point, just like

http://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Giallo_Cinema:_20_Classic_Spaghetti_Slashers

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The last one I watched was Who Saw Her Die? It isn’t a giallo masterpiece but I certainly enjoyed it. Torso is very good. I watched Baba Yaga not too long ago, as well, and found it extremely boring.

I need to fill some gaps, according to that list

Recently watched Tenebre, What have they done to Solange and Don’t Torture a Duckling, three classic gialli, so I was told. Tenebre wasn’t bad, but still a bit of a letdown (my expectations were probably too high) Solange and the Duckling were good genre movies.

I saw 19 out 20. Wait…18 out of 20, I’ve mistaken Death Walks on High Heels for Death Walks at Midnight (silly me). That and Evelyn (which is now on top of my giallo watchlist, since I’ve enjoyed The Red Queen).

Not a bad list, around 10 of them are on my Top 20 too (but some overrated stuff on list too: 5 dolls for August moon is worst giallo I’ve seen after aforementioned Sister of Ursula :wink: ).

But, no Suspiria? Not considered a giallo on Gcdb, ay? But if Suspiria is not a giallo than we can discuss that Twitch of the Death Nerve is not a giallo (slasher horror), All the Colors of the Dark is not a giallo (horror, and not Italian), etc.

Last one I’ve seen is Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion (1970), which is unique among gialli, as it is the first one I saw in which the drink of choice of Italian deviant upper (middle) class is not J&B scotch, but Carlsberg.

I just finished watching the Shameless release of Oasis of Fear. I enjoyed it a lot.

I’ve gotten into Gialli but as of now lean towards the more procedural or ‘realistic’ ones like Bird the Crystal Plumage, not really into the trippy ones or dream sequence types, though I watch them. I wonder if I would like Krimis or if they would be too stale or lacking sizzle, I haven’t been able to get my hands on any.

Giallo is an area I’ve yet to dip into; I’ve considered it from time to time but haven’t really been too sure of where to start, so these lists are incredibly handy for me.

I suggest you start with Argento chronologically, as he is definitely no.1 giallo director with richest opus. Bava and Fulci are next common milestones, but be careful with them, because their work is not even. Bava’s Blood and Black Lace is first real proto-giallo, so maybe the best starting point. For later exploration, among more hidden gems not mentioned on the list, I’ll recommend The Perfume of the Lady in Black, Who Saw her Die? (from which Don’t Look Now borrowed a LOT), The Killer Must Kill Again and La ragazza dal pigiama giallo. Each of those manages to add some interesting new angle on genre rulebook.

Sergio Martino’s films are good to start with too. Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh and Case of Scorpion Tail for example.

Yes, I agree.

Damn, not enough words, have to add something: I’d like to add that I prefer Mrs. Wardh’s sort-of-sequel (with one of the best titles) Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key. Very sexy (in a demented way, off course).

BLOOD AND BLACK LACE / Sei donne per l’assassino (1964, Mario Bava)

I started filling in the gaps of my Giallo knowledge by watching this early genre example, according to giallo fanatics a proto type, very important for the development of the genre. It’s easy to see why. The distinctive elements all there: the masked killer, the black gloves, the razor sharp knives and the blood-spattered images.

A mysterious killer is murdering models of a Roman fashion salon and all people working within the salon become both suspects and possible targets. That’s a typical giallo premise, but the conspiracy plot, and the way it is unfolded, is closer to a traditional Agatha Christie novel than to the wayward plots about traumatized or psychotic killers of most gialli. Those who know their Shakespeare will also notice some influences of Macbeth.

The film is beautifully made, in Bava’s trademark picturesque style, full of rich color schemes and meticulous compositions, plus a couple of killings that feel as trashy as they look gorgeous; the killing in the bath tub is a definite genre highlight. It’s also interesting to see how graphic some of the slayings are. While spaghetti western directors, working around the same time, showed as little blood as possible to avoid an “18 rating“ in their home country, this apparently was not taken into consideration by Bava: he must have concluded that the giallo was an adult genre by definition.

Bloody good and very dark, but - and this is a shortcoming of more gialli - it suffers a little from cold (occasionally very stupid) characters that fail to generate much sympathy.