Best and worst giallo's

[Hans, wihout Franz]

what's the best one and the worst one(that you've seen)?
For my best I do a tie between Argento's Deep Red and Martino's Torso(this guy was very underrated).
For the worst I'll say Lamberto Bava's Blade in the Dark(trash that Argento did before and better in Tenebre. Lamberto is such a hack)
What's your's

[thedarklamb]

best: A blade in the Dark........ I love Bava's POV shots

worst: Short Night of Glass Dolls.......nice story idea, but really boring, slow and un-entertaning

[neco82]

Sorry if I sound ignorant, I really know nothing about Foreign Horror, but just out of curiosity (and to feed my movie-loving mind), what exactly is a GIALLO?

Are they worth watching or do you have to like certain types of movies to enjoy them?

[thedarklamb]

exploitation suspense/thriller flicks from the 60's 70' 80's. back then they got a bad rap because they were considered extremely violent and sexually explicit. Hmmm have yet to come across a "true" Giallo flick. Short Night of Glass Dolss was suppossed to be all that, but very dissapointing. I think most of it is hype. Also
Giallo means Yellow in Italian since most Gaillo flicks came out of Italy.

[Hans, wihout Franz]

basically bloody murder-mysteries. Giallo's came from yellow novels which were crime stories. Had it's heyday in Italy from about 1960 to the mid 1980's(Argento's Sleepless was the most recent that I know of and that was just 2 years ago). Most of them had a black-gloved killer, filled with atmophere, bloody or sadistic murders, loud or disturbing music, wooden acting, and tons of style with little substance(aka plot, storyline, etc.). Most of giallo's looked like moving paintings as a couple of reviewers called them.
By the way I lloovveedd the scene in Short Night of the Glass dolls with the dead girl in the fridge and the autopsy scene at the end was good too.
Basically the way the rooms in Cube were very giallo-ish, with the wall colors. Very artistic.

[CrazyRalph]

I just got Lamberto Bava's Delerium(starring Serena Grandi)today for Xmas. I'll probably watch it in the next couple of days and will let you know if it's worth watching. Looks good, an unrated cut by Shriek Show.

[Romero&Juliet]

My favorite Gaillo is Antonio Bido's Cat with the Jade Eyes/the Cat Murders... I have the HBO copy under the RIDICULOUS title

watch Me When I kill..

FANTASTIC Gaillo.. I finished watching it for the first time last night and it knocked me on my ASS! Great stuff. Not as Pomp as the cinematography that Argento used back then (this was made in 77, I believe), it was as if I were watching a tinier version of the kind of gaillo that I'm used to.. Very dark, broody..
fucking KILLLER climax!

[Hans, wihout Franz]

Actually there's this video store near me that has it. I'm gonna have to try and get it. I'm talking about watch me when I kill of course.

[Jason13thh]

A Blade In The Dark ( L. Bava ) is too underrated according to me but I must admit that Delirum ( L. Bava,too ) was awful !!!!!!
The best - ones ( I have seen ) :
Deep Red ( Argento ) A Hatchet For The Honeymoon ( Mario Bava ) The Bird With The Crystal Plumage ( Argento ) Stage Fright ( Soavi ) Non Ho Sonno ( Argento ) A Bay Of Blood ( Mario Bava )
Opera ( Argento )
Average - ones :
Murder Rock ( Fulci not as bas as you may think ), U Will Die At Midnite ( L.Bava )
Awful : Delirum ( L.Bava )

[MelloKiller aka]

Here are a few Giallo films I like:

Blood and Black Lace
Don't Torture a Duckling
Profondo Rosso aka Deep Red
A Blade in the Dark
The Bird with the Crystal Plummage
Cat o' Nine Tails
Five Dolls for an August Moon
*the beginning* of Four Flies on Grey Velvet
Lizard in a Woman's Skin
Murder to the Tune of Seven Black Notes aka The Pyshic
Tenebre
Torso
Bay of Blood aka Twitch of the Death Nerve
All the Colors of the Night
Black Belly of the Tarantula
What have they Done to Solonge ?

[The Jaff]

Ok, for as much as I want to like giallos I never seem to be very impressed.

I watched about twenty minutes of A Blade in the Dark and turned it off. Boring as hell.

I bought Deep Red and couldn't seem to pay attention to it.

I bought Short Night of Glass Dolls and mildly enjoyed it at best. Great title though.

I bought Delirium because the breasts and gore on the package suckered me in. I ended up watching it in fast forward and stopping only for the kills and sex which were way too few and far between to make it worth watching the whole way through. One thing I did like: Potential Spoiler!!!!



Was the way that the women appeared in the image of how they were killed with eyeball and bee heads respectively. I thought this was an awesome idea that never really got to shine like it should have.

Maybe I should gives these flicks another chance but I'm certain I'm going to stop buying the damn things first. I'm intrigued by Don't Toture a Duckling cause Fulci seems like the only Italian director I can really get into. But most of his movies are supernaturally based so, we'll see.

The Jaff

[Antonio]

I finally saw DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING! While I'm not usually a giallo man, I did appreciate the complicated, religious-themed storyline, beautiful Italian actresses and Lucio Fulci's Peckinpah-style direction/editing. Interesting enough to earn a "B+" from this new Italian horror fan.

[DawnOfTheDead]

DEEP RED/TENEBRE are the best... DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING was boring, slow, and all-around weak, making it the worst.

[Hans, wihout Franz]

One thing I've been noticing a lot about these flicks is that one person will find one they love that another one hates and thae one that person loved the other one hates and so on. Just kinda odd.

[Final Girl]

MY TOP GIALLO'S

1. DEEP RED - Engrossing mystery, great visuals, scary set-pieces. Atmospheric music.

2. THE PSYCHIC - Very underrated and almost unknown giallo by Lucio Fulci. People cite DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING as his best piece, but I think this one is it.

3. TORSO - I always wanted this one to be remade. The story is that timeless. The sequence with Suzy Kendall trapped in the house with the killer is classic.

4. SEVEN BLOODSTAINED ORCHIDS - With a little more polish on the script, this one could have been the best. A more complex plot than other giallos, which is good. Just needed some real tweaking.

5. PHENOMENA - Whatever they say, this is still a giallo, albeit with strong supernatural overtones. Even DEEP RED had a hint of those. Dream-like and hypnotic.


WORST GIALLOS

The Tormentor
New York Ripper
Short Night of the Glass Dools

[Duke Nukem]

Best:

Opera
Deep Red
The Bird With The Crystal Plummage
Phenomena

-All classic Argento at his best!

Worst:

Tenebre

-Sorry, I didn't find this film to be all that. It wasn't interesting to follow, the kills were mostly disappointing, and it lacked the style Argento was known for.

Also Worse:

Suspiria
Inferno

Sorry again, but these aren't that "classic" to me either. They have the style, but in the long run, they aren't that interesting to follow. Not that much stuff happens in them.

[Jason13thh]

Inferno is actually my favorite film from Dario Argento and it is far, very far to be bad,sorry.
Technicaly Inferno is even better than Suspira or Deep Red.

[Whiggles]

Suspiria and Inferno are not giallos anyway.

[Jason13thh]

I know it well.