Any fan of cheap paperbacks or blood-curdling cinema has heard of giallo, a term derived from the Italian word for yellow — the color of the cheap, mystery novels most of the genre is based on. Authors like Ellery Queen, Raymond Chandler, and Agatha Christie were translated into Italian and sold through Il Giallo Mondadori, serving as firsthand inspiration for some sexy, Italian cinema.
READ MORE: Watch 7-Minute Video Exploring The Influence Of Mario Bava On ‘Crimson Peak’
A giallo film characteristically, but not exclusively, features a ubiquitous black-gloved murderer (who may or not may not be the protagonist), sanguinary sequences of the jolting or the grotesque, a concussing, mesmerizing score, and a heap of beautiful victims — naturally. An expansion of Hitchcockian themes, directors like Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, and Dario Argento personified the genre, each with their own dosage of the macabre and bizarre.
Indietrix Film Reviews has created a short video essay on the basics of giallo, and what the aforementioned auteurs have brought to the screen (aside from influencing all American slasher films). While Bava basically invented giallo, Argento perfected it with films like “The Bird With the Crystal Plumage,” “Deep Red,” and the absolutely-cannot-be-missed “Tenebrae.” Fulci, on the other hand, went for a more nihilistic approach with his “Don’t Torture a Duckling,” a precursor to torture porn and barbaric horror flicks like James Wan’s “Saw.”
Without giallo, the John Carpenters, Eli Roths, Nicolas Winding Refns and Brian De Palmas of the world certainly wouldn’t have ascertained their place, so be thankful these Italian masters created their toxically stunning oeuvres. Check out the video primer.