"Giallo" simply means yellow in Italian. (You would think it would denote the color red for blood, but the term derives from Italian pulp-type fiction with yellow covers.) But giallo has come to mean a certain type of mystery film or thriller. It has a broader usage in Italy itself, but elsewhere it denotes a specific type of shocker. There is usually an unknown maniac (or at least someone who acts like a maniac but may be quite sane and cunning) on the loose killing several victims in often flamboyant and vicious ways. There is a gruesome emphasis on the deaths. And a convoluted plot that may lead decades back into the past to explain motives or bring the killer to light.
Gialli were influential in some ways on the American slasher films that followed, although these tended to have much more simplistic plot lines. One could also argue that Brian De Palma, who made very classy "slasher" films at the beginning of his career, was as much influenced by Italian gialli as he was by Hitchcock.
Probably the first great giallo director was Mario Bava, whose Blood and Black Lace was very influential on later films, including those by the second great giallo director, Dario Argento. (Argento should certainly have been represented in this week's films, but when I put in my DVD of The Bird with the Crystal Plumage it proved to be defective. However, type in his name in the search bar above and many of his films will come up.) Argento helmed such gems as Deep Red and Dario Argento's Trauma, both of which are masterpieces of the genre.
Hi Bill - very true that dePalma, one of my all time favorite directors, was just as inspired by this genre as by Hitchcock films. Dressed to Kill and Scarface in particular come to mind...
ReplyDelete- Chris
Funny how things go in cycles, here you bring up the giallo flicks and just this evening my brother in law and I were kidding about a local soccer team called "Tormenta" and I suggested that the name sounds like a 50 year old giallo film.
ReplyDeleteFrederico Fellini presents Nero Franco in "Tormenta '68".
Well, we were drinking pretty heavily at the time, and yes I realize "tormenta" is Spanish for "storm"...
Oh, and Chris; I was about to make a great point about DePalma and his influences and then realized I was thinking about Bogdanovich.
It's one of those kinds of evenings!
Neil, sounds as if you've been having fun! I wouldn't doubt that somewhere out there there is a film entitled "Tormenta," although it's probably a soap opera, not a giallo.
ReplyDeleteChris, I think De Palma added a certain elegance and classiness, for lack of a better word, to the genre that even Argento couldn't quite match, although, arguably, Argento's best films may be better than De Palma's psycho-shockers.