giallo

A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (REVIEW)

Submitted by Tor on Friday, Aug 7th 2009

Lucio Fulci is probably most famous for his role as accelerant in the Italian gore arms race of the late 70’s and early 80’s. If Argento and Umberto Lenzi were Kiss and Alice Cooper then Fulci was Gwar. His signature works of grue abandoned logic and cohesive narrative in order to push the splatter factor past revulsion to near parody. Films like “Zombi 2”, “City of the Living Dead” and “The Beyond” sought out increasingly severe and unconventional ways of getting entrails, connective tissues, and the four humors onto the screen by the bucketful.

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (REVIEW)

Submitted by Tor on Friday, Jul 24th 2009

A young girl enters an old Roman apartment building in the middle of the night. The lobby is empty and the elevator is broken. She starts cautiously up the stairs and the lights go out. She continues onward with only the glow from her cigarette lighter to guide her through the darkness. At the top of the stairs a killer lies in wait… Not the most original sounding set up for a kill sequence. However, any material in the hands of Dario Argento is bound to come out sideways, backwards or upside down and it will inevitably be much more interesting than a simple synopsis would suggest.

Hatchet for the Honeymoon (REVIEW)

Submitted by Tor on Friday, Jul 10th 2009

“A woman should live only until her wedding night, love once, and then die.” So says the unerringly evil inner voice of John Harrington, the lead character and bride-to-be-murdering madman of Mario Bava’s “Hatchet for the Honeymoon”. Needless to say, Johnny is a twisted cat. But his murderous bent has a mysterious root; a root that John is convinced becomes a little more exposed each time he kills.

Argento's "Giallo" Has a Trailer

Submitted by Eric on Monday, Jul 6th 2009

Here's the official English language trailer for Dario Argento's "Giallo". The film, written by Jim Agnew and Sean Keller, is an homage to the subgenre which it takes its name from, and stars Elsa Patakay and Oscar winner Adrienne Brody.

This is Argento's first film since "Mother of Tears", a curiously awful movie that has made me wonder if Argento hasn't completely lost the magic he once had as a horror director. I'm not sure this trailer has my hopes up, but maybe that's the way to go into Argento films from now on. Keep the expectations low and hope he returns to form.

The Girl Who Knew Too Much (REVIEW)

Submitted by Tor on Friday, Jun 26th 2009

Black gloves, black raincoat, beautiful but unstable women, more red herrings than a Finnish wedding reception, metaphorical animal titles, Haute Couture, J&B whisky, and a slightly naive protagonist caught in a killer’s path. If this is ringing a bell then chances are you have seen at least one giallo in your lifetime. ‘Giallo’ is of course, the generic term given to a spate of hundreds of violent whodunit films to come out of Italy between 1963 and present day (though the heyday was the 60’s and 70’s).