Can somebody please help me?!!??!

[DarkSerpent213]

I hear soooo much talk about Giallo movies and Argento this and Fulci that. So I bought Susperia and I thought it was pretty trippy looking but thats it. I want to know what is so special about these types of movies. To me the acting is the worst I have ever seen, especially in "Opera". The kill scenes are good but the plots and acting just drive me nuts. Do you guys agree or do you actually think these are good actors? What do you look for when you watch a giallo movie? What makes them so good to you? I'd really like to get into them but I just can't seem to. Maybe you need a certain mind set to watch it. I've even watched them with a good buzz going on and they still put me and all my friends to sleep. Maybe you just watch them for the gore, but that seems pointless to me, I need gore, "good" acting, and at least a decent plot. Can someone help me open my eyes to giallo films????

[DarkSerpent213]

DUBBING.....who in the world loves to watch a movie with HORRIBLE dubbing? It is the most annoying thing in the world for me.

[Saruman]

Stagefright (Deliria) is a good Giallo.

[jagged halo]

I agree with Saruman 100% Stagefright is an excellent giallo, no obivous dubbing, which completely destroys the impact of the movie itself I find.

Tenebrae for instance a few of my friends told me how good it is, then I checked out the IMDB, the vast majority of posters couldn't praise it enough, so I went out and bought the DVD, a blind purhase you could say, well this is just awful!, I've never heard such terrible dubbing in all my movie viewing days!!.

Another title of mine which is getting the E-Bay treatment :(

In the main most of the giallo movies are vastly overrated IMHO, Suspiria I quite like, a decent trip fest, even if it is a little disjointed at times.

[DarkSerpent213]

yeah, I agree with you jagged halo. I rented Tenebrae and boy that was torture for me. And when you say that these movies are overrated...you couldnt be more right. So my whole point of my thread is, I want to know what it is about these movies that people like. What do they like about boring plots, boring (and horrible) actors, horrible soundtracks, and bad dubbing. I've read all the ratings and reviews and so I went out and rented these movies and I had the totally opposite opinion that all the ratings have. One movie that I did actually enjoy was Zombie (even though the dubbing sucks and so does the acting). Well maybe one day I will see the giallo light at the end of the tunnel...but right now i'm just totally lost why people like these soap opera acting movies.

[!MorganOnyx!]

I hear what y'all are saying and I can understand why some don't like giallo/Italian slashers. I think I got into them because I love slashers and it's nice to see a different style from these foreign directors.

I, for one, liked TENEBRAE but appreciate it isn't the best. The decent gore at the end and a couple of above par kills made it worthwhile. I also dug SUSPIRIA but this one more so for it's fucked up atmosphere and I found it quite scary. But saying that, the opening death scene rocks so that deserves a mention.

Anyway, STAGEFRIGHT is my favourite of the giallos so far. I absolutely love it. It manages to be scary with an almost undescribable atmosphere, but ridiculously gory at the same time (and I think my vhs copy may be cut!). Great slasher!

[jagged halo]

Originally posted by DarkSerpent213
yeah, I agree with you jagged halo. I rented Tenebrae and boy that was torture for me. And when you say that these movies are overrated...you couldnt be more right. So my whole point of my thread is, I want to know what it is about these movies that people like. What do they like about boring plots, boring (and horrible) actors, horrible soundtracks, and bad dubbing. I've read all the ratings and reviews and so I went out and rented these movies and I had the totally opposite opinion that all the ratings have. One movie that I did actually enjoy was Zombie (even though the dubbing sucks and so does the acting). Well maybe one day I will see the giallo light at the end of the tunnel...but right now i'm just totally lost why people like these soap opera acting movies.

You're not lost, far from it, remember these reviews we all read are from a small minority of people who actually take the time to post their opinions.

I personally think, and I mean no offence when I say this, a lot of the appeal these giallo's have come about through notoriety, remember these films came out under a furore of controversy, most if not all were banned or heavily cut, now we live in more liberal times movies like Tenebrae are released and marketed on the basis of the said films previous reputation, look at the adverts for example: "banned in 20 countries" "the most disturbing film of the 80's" the only disturbing features is the inept dubbing !!, when it comes down to it some of these giallo’s carry ridiculous story lines even Stephen Hawkins couldn’t decipher, that coupled with the shameless dubbing, puts me right off a lot of them.

In general I think they are nothing more than lightweight slasher flicks popularized by slick marketing campaigns and snippets from old press reviews.

I also think for a lot of people it’s a case of having a once banned horror film in their collection becomes appealing, likewise you have the completist who will purchase a giallo regardless of the films quality.

Just a thought


;)

[countchocula]

A giallo is a stylized whodunit. Take your average fast food slasher, amplify the meretricious visuals, age the characters by ten years, pour on the red stuff with reckless abandon, strip the narrative of clarity, and blammo! A giallo. I've only seen a handful, but I haven't been bowled over yet. Give Stagefright and Don't Torture a Duckling a shot, though. They're my two favorite spaghetti slashers to date.

[X-Nightcrawler]

Originally posted by DarkSerpent213
DUBBING.....who in the world loves to watch a movie with HORRIBLE dubbing? It is the most annoying thing in the world for me. Ha! Say that to me!! Everytime a movie is on national TV I have to watch it dubbed...to Spanish. It's simply SUCKS! I always watch them in original language if I can.

[ParileseMonster]

OH well, I watch them for what they are, and if they are good in the end then I forgive the annoying dubbing but I do not really get annoyed by it unless it is hard to understand. I hate subtitles with a passion but I also love the movie
DEEP RED so I bare with the off and on subtitles simply because it is a good movie. Watching Argento for me, is like watching a clever mystery that contains a lot of blood, gore and good music. I love it, That is my kind of movie, that is what really floats my boobies!:D