Let’s Talk Giallo and Indie Horror…Merry Christmas!
Article by Ray Schillaci
Alfred Hitchcock is known more for suspense than horror. But, his style spawned the Italians to up the ante and create giallo cinema, delivering just as much tension with bloody terror, an emphasis on a jarring soundtrack to keep the audience on edge, and sometimes a title that sounded great but made little sense. Mario Bava is considered the master that created this bit of movie madness and ten years later Dario Argento would continue to follow in his gruesome footsteps actually exceeding a nasty body count that is still shocking by today’s standards.
Bava started as a cinematographer with a very distinct look and in 1960 he terrorized audiences helming a horror anthology, Black Sunday, with one of the most famous movie monster stars, Boris Karloff. From there he would deliver a string of tawdry terrors that involved mystery, crime, plenty of bloodletting and sometimes the supernatural. His hits included Blood and Black Lace, Kill Baby Kill and A Hatchet For The Honeymoon. He worked with many well known genre stars including Karloff, Vincent Price and Christopher Lee.
As mentioned before, years later Dario Argento would grace the screen with his notable Hitchcockian flair and nod to Bava with Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Four Flies on Grey Velvet, Deep Red and the most famous (and brutal) – Suspiria starring American actress Jessica Harper (Phantom of the Paradise, Love and Death). Both genre artists would be known for starting the American slasher films of the ’70s.
In fact, Bava’s A Bay of Blood aka Twitch of the Death Nerve would not only have his friend Christopher Lee walk out declaring it garbage because of the sheer volume of horrifying killings depicted at the time, it would also spawn Friday the 13th, which mimicked the stylized murders. Bava would also inspire Quentin Tarantino with his film about a bungled robbery in Rabid Dogs that would eventually be QT’s first film, Reservoir Dogs.
Technically, Giallo films were notorious for bad dubbing. But, the stories and style far exceeded whatever production or post-production problems within the genre. Both Bava and Argento are artists that have huge followings, but there are other directors and works that are considered just as exciting to watch.
One of the more obscure pieces of giallo that should be checked out is Aldo Lado’s Short Night of Glass Dolls. The film has a very unusual way of telling a suspense-filled story: the main character mistaken for dead, heading for autopsy all the while recanting his story in his head as to how he ended up in this terrifying predicament. This film may feel dated and it may be hard to look over the bad dubbing, but the story is powerfully gripping and a pure horror show.
Moving from giallo to indie creepies that have made just as much of a mark on the world of cinema with their creativeness, ingenuity and individual style that sets them so far apart from main stream movies… The ’50s and ’60s may have birthed mostly laughable low budget horror with a few exceptions, i.e. George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, but the ’70s released the talents of filmmakers that loved the genre.
That was the decade that jolted audiences with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, and John Carpenter’s Halloween. The ’80s and ’90s had gallows humor and horror cross one another with Friday the 13th and Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream that grew exponential franchises. Indie horror has gotten more creative over the years with a variety of sub-genres: comedy horror, body horror, found footage, zombie horror, gothic, supernatural, and even holiday horror to name just a few.
Names like Stuart Gordon, Frank Henenlotter, David Cronenberg and Sam Raimi became infamous for their cult films: Re-Animator, Basket Case, Scanners and The Evil Dead. Not to mention some of the more bizarre entries that that decided to splash blood and humor into the mix. This included a killer tire in Rubber. Brain Damage, tickling the dark funny bone with a song and dance tumor. And, full blown violent musicals with Stage Fright and Anna and the Apocalypse. This challenged other creative minds to go even further out of the states. South Korea, Russia, Sweden and Latin America have stood out as ones to watch for.
South Korea has bloodied the screen with rip roaring zombie action with both Train to Busan and #Alive. They also gave us a rampaging monster in The Host and chilled us with the cat and mouse game played by a determined police detective and serial killer in I Saw the Devil. Russia dazzled audiences with a fantasy thriller about mythical beings that looked to control night and day with Night Watch and introduced one of the most terrorizing alien movies in a long time with Sputnik. Sweden quietly entered the scene with a remarkable vampire film, Let the Right One In. Do not confuse this with the American version that is far less powerful. And, Sweden’s Wither is an outrageous nod to The Evil Dead.
Latin America has come on strong in the fantasy horror department with a variety of memorable scares. Guillermo del Toro led the march into the inner sanctum with Cronos, an unusual and near poetic vampire tale along with one of the very best ghost stories, The Devil’s Backbone. But, del Toro is not the only master of the macabre from Latin America. Two other notable directors should be sought out.
Alex de la Iglesia’s wild, horrifying and darkly funny bloody string of films: The Day of the Beast, Perdita Durango (starring a very young Rosie Perez and Javier Bardem), and The Last Circus. Iglesia’s Witching and Bitching pitted thieves against witches with an underlying message about the difference between men and women. The result had one critic calling it a cross between Tarantino and Pedro Almodovar. And, then there is writer/director Issa López’s harrowing social commentary about the children affected by the cartel and how one of them learns to survive through her fantasies in Tigers Are Not Afraid. Possibly the most impressive artist since Guillermo del Toro.
This part of the world is plentiful with dark delicacies. A slacker vs. a zombie apocalypse in the hysterical and political Juan of the Dead. Prepare to be jarred with the intense found footage of Rec that spawned three other sequels and an American version as well. Brazil’s first horror villain Coffin Joe unearthed a whole franchise that ended up being banned in its own country. And, one of the most bizarre entries, a haunted neighborhood in Terrified. That one will have you keep the lights on at night.
So, next time you are stream-surfing for something different, look no further than an indie or foreign horror. Don’t let subtitles or limited budgets hinder your night of fright. Have an open mind and you’ll probably discover a treasure trove of terror.
Visit Ray’s blog at themonsterinmyhead.com
