An Introduction to Giallo Movies [Documentary about Horror Italian Genre called Giallo]

This is not really a true documentary but appears as an extra material on Death Walks at Midnight DVD. This is a short 17-minute documentary/interview about the giallo genre. Adrian Smith, who is the author of the excellent book Blood and Black Lace The Definitive Guide to Italian Sex and Horror Movies, guides us through many a giallo films (including Death Walks at Midnight). He provides a concise introduction to the genre and its various tropes plus an introduction to the film itself. Admittedly, this does waver towards the fanboy style of criticism but Smith is clearly a knowledgeable and infectiously enthusiastic guide.

Part 1


Part 2


Giallo:
(From Wikipedia)
Giallo (pronounced IPA: ['ʤallo], plural gialli) is an Italian 20th century genre of literature and film, which in Italian indicates crime fiction and mystery. In the English language, however, it is used in a broader meaning that is closer to the French fantastique genre, including elements of horror fiction and eroticism. The word giallo is Italian for "yellow" (see Wiktionary: giallo) and stems from the origin of the genre as a series of cheap paperback novels with trademark yellow covers.

The film genre that emerged from these novels in the 1960s began as literal adaptations of the books, but soon began taking advantage of modern cinematic techniques to create a unique genre which veered into horror and psychological thrilling. These films, particularly such 1970s classics by directors like Dario Argento or Mario Bava, are only defined as "gialli" in the English language usage of the term; they are not called such in Italy, where they are usually described as thrillers instead. This stems from the fact that in Italian the Argento and Bava movies were defined as "giallo-thrillers" or "giallo-horrors"; in the Italian tongue the coupling of the two words, meant as substantives, had to indicate the public the salient characteristics of the new genre where the search for a murder culprit (hence "giallo") was interspersed with shocking and grandguignolesque events (hence "thriller" and "horror"). English-speaking people, instead, following the use of their native grammar, took "giallo" as an adjective to "thriller" and "horror", hence appropriating the term in their own language while being only partially aware of its broader meaning in Italian.

"Giallo" films are characterized by extended murder sequences featuring excessive bloodletting, stylish camerawork and unusual musical arrangements. The literary whodunit element is retained, but combined with modern slasher horror, while being filtered through Italy's longstanding tradition of opera and staged grand guignol drama. They also generally include liberal amounts of nudity and sex.

Gialli typically introduce strong psychological themes of madness, alienation, and paranoia. For example, Sergio Martino's Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (also known as Eye of the Black Cat) was explicitly based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Black Cat".

They remain notable in part for their expressive use of music, most notably by Dario Argento's collaborations with Ennio Morricone and his musical director Bruno Nicolai, and later with the band Goblin.

As well as the literary giallo tradition, the films were also initially influenced by the German "Krimi" phenomenon - originally black and white films of the 1960s that were based on Edgar Wallace stories.

The first film that created the giallo as a cinema genre is La ragazza che sapeva troppo (The Girl Who Knew Too Much) (1963), from Mario Bava. Its title referred to Alfred Hitchcock's famous The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), again establishing strong links with Anglo-American culture. In Mario Bava's 1964 film, Blood and Black Lace, the emblematic element of the giallo was introduced: the masked murderer with a shiny weapon in his black leather gloved hand.[2]

Soon the giallo became a genre of its own, with its own rules and with a typical Italian flavour: adding additional layers of intense colour and style. The term giallo finally became synonymous with a heavy, theatrical, and stylised visual element.

The genre had its heyday in the 1970s, with dozens of Italian giallo films released. The most notable directors who worked in the genre were Dario Argento, Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, Aldo Lado, Sergio Martino, Umberto Lenzi, and Pupi Avati.

Although often based around crime and detective work, Gialli should not be confused with the other popular Italian crime genre of the 1970's, the Poliziotteschi, which refers to 'tough-cop', action-oriented films. Directors and stars often moved between both genres, and some films could be considered under either banner, such as Massimo Dallamano's 1974 film What have they done to your daughters?

In Italy, in Tuscany, there are many new authors as: Graziano Braschi, Giampaolo Simi, Mario Spezi, Leonardo Gori, Divier Nelli, Parigi & Sozzi, Riccardo Cardellicchio, Linda Di Martino and others.