Giallo: The Best of Italiano Horror
Article by Ray Schillaci
Giallo is best known for its atmospheric horror. It can be unusually violent, tawdry at times, and groundbreaking for the genre. Many well-known directors have been inspired by these horror/thriller filmmakers. There’s also a big split among fans as to whether or not to watch it with subtitles and receive the best translation and full effect or to view it dubbed in English, recalling the early days of first viewing these frightful films. Either way can be a delightful treat for the uninitiated. I present ten of the best representations of this famed Euro horror.
1.) Suspiria (’77) – Well known for its tag line, “The only thing more terrifying than the last 12 minutes of this film are the first 92”. That was enough to get me and my friends into a darkened theater in Studio City on a Friday night. Everything about that tag line proved to be true. We had never seen anything like it. Writer/director Dario Argento presented an unnerving portrait of a witches’ coven hiding behind a ballet academy. Ghastly murders overshadow the performances, and our star, a very young Jessica Harper (Stardust Memories, Pennies From Heaven), has her life literally hanging in the balance. Not since Hitchcock’s Psycho has a musical score been such a dominant force in a film.
2.) Black Sunday (’60) – Director Mario Bava is considered by many to be the father of Giallo cinema. For over fifteen years, Bava worked as a cinematographer until he had his big break with this gothic chiller. Sumptuously filmed in black & white, Bava presents the persecution of a witch that returns from the grave to take over the body of a descendent. And what an unforgettable body, Barbara Steele in her breakout role. Steele would go on to be the reigning horror queen of Italy for years to come.
3.) Black Sabbath (’63) – Once again, Bava proves to be the master of atmosphere horror with three tales of terror. This time he enlists the legendary Boris Karloff (Frankenstein, The Mummy) to help with the eerie settings. Each story is creepy as hell, but the first one proves to be the stuff real nightmares are made of with the help of some great makeup effects. The Drop of Water has a nurse steal a ring from a dead spiritualist. What transpires will send shivers to the warmest of individuals. With The Telephone, a hooker is terrorized by a dead client. And The Wurdalak has the reliable Mr. Karloff as a ghoulish vampire.
4.) Deep Red (’75) – Take a good look when this film was made. Three years predating John Carpenter’s Halloween. One cannot help but see the influence, in both the visuals and the music, Deep Red had on Carpenter’s masterpiece. But, the crazy thing is, after three successful Hitchcock-like movies (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Cat o’ Nine Tales, Four Flies on Grey Velvet), Dario Argento finally found his footing in the supernatural with Deep Red, yet he was influenced from an American film shot two years before by famed director Nicolas Roeg, Don’t Look Now. Either way, the story of a musician teaming with a reporter to find the murderer of a psychic is very eerie with its small red-hooded mystery person being chased throughout Italy.
5.) Twitch of the Death Nerve (’71) – Another one to note since it’s nearly ten years predating a very popular American horror film, Friday the 13th! AKA Bay of Blood, maestro Mario Bava broke new ground in horror thrillers with this story of people on an island that are systematically killed in several gruesome ways. Not only was the film banned in several countries, it was originally edited for its extreme violent content, and friend Christopher Lee (Dracula Has Risen From the Grave, The Lord of the Rings) walked out during a private screening anointing it as “shit”. The mind blower is the kills from this film are completely lifted by Friday the 13th. What was considered an outrage to critics eventually became a giant franchise for American audiences.
6.) The Beyond (’81) – Lucio Fulci dabbled in Giallo with Don’t Torture a Duckling, and went on to fame and fortune with the grisly horror epic Zombie followed by City of the Living Dead and The Black Cat. But, it was the shocking and violent The Beyond that made him a staple with the genre. A woman inherits an old hotel in Louisiana and discovers that it sits on the entrances to hell. Fulci utilizes the eeriness of Louisiana as Alan Parker did with Angel Heart with all of its ghostly settings. This is a favorite among fans of Giallo cinema, and Quentin Tarantino.
7.) Zombie (’79) – Tropical island madness ensues as strangers find a doctor searching for a cure to an undead epidemic. Inspired by George Romero (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead), Lucio Fulci set out to create the ultimate zombie movie. According to Italians and many others abroad, he accomplished the zombie-gore factor. He even took things a step further from Romero by including an extremely gruesome and memorable eye-gouging scene. Anyone witnessing that piece of grand guignol was either thrilled or running up the aisles to the bathroom.
8.) Cemetery Man (’94) – Just when you think you’ve seen it all, director Michael Soavi brings his own brand of lascivious horror to the screen. Rupert Everett, who went on to play more leading man-type roles, is cast against type as the demented cemetery man that stalks the graveyards to kill the undead a second time around. Black humor abounds in this tale of tawdriness.
9.) Demons (’85) – No list of this sort is complete without the inclusion of Lamberto Bava’s horror-filled romp of demons taking over a movie theater, and possessing their audience. The gore quotient is high and the makeup effects are cringe-worthy. Bava easily invokes a sense of claustrophobia as Romero did with his original zombie film. Lamberto, like his father (Mario Bava), has a wonderful eye for the camera, delivering an almost psychedelic effect that keeps us unbalanced and unnerves us while the demons have their way with their victims.
10.) The Church (’89) – Being a huge fan of Dario Argento, director Michael Soavi set out to bring true evil to the screen. He more than accomplished it with his tale of a ghost from a 12th Century massacre held up in an old Gothic cathedral attempting to resurrect an ancient demon while entrapping those who had just come for some peaceful prayer. This movie left me with nightmares. Soavi has come up with visuals that are purely demonic. Most of these films can be seen as entertainment for the horror hounds, but there is an unsettling seriousness about Soavi’s venture into the unknown. Warning: turning the lights off while watching this film could lead to you questioning your sanity.
With that, I leave with an “arrivederci” and Happy Halloween!
