SPOTLIGHT ON: GIALLI

In honor of the recent release of BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO, we are turning the spotlight on the Italian films that it celebrates: those colorful mystery/thrillers (with strong horror tones) that set themselves apart from other films in the Thriller Genre by being larger-than-life, over-the-top, and like-no-other. In other words, by being Italian...

Unlike most other people (i.e. normal ones), my first childhood encounter with Italy was not through some postcards or travel book or cookbooks or fashion magazines which made me want to visit the place for its gorgeous people, luscious food, and stunning vistas. Nope, my first taste of Bella Italia came through the movies. And if you're thinking I mean films by Fellini, Antonioni, Pasolini, or Bertolucci, you are sorely mistaken, dear reader.

Nope, the movies that whetted my appetite for Italy as a wee kid and made me determined to visit it one day (and visit and live there, I did - but that is another mega-adventure story) were not the conventional classics listed above. No, sir... they were more of a, shall we say, risque nature. I first fell in love with Italy because of... The Giallo.

Gialli (plural of Giallo) are mystery/thrillers with elements of colorful horror, drama, and erotica that are uniquely, inherently, intrinsically Italian. Gialli got their nickname from the color of the front covers of the cheap, mass-produced suspense novels that became popular in Italy starting in the early 1930s: yellow. In Italian, the word for yellow is... Giallo. Hence, the movies that sprung from these stories were also called... Giallo. And when there are a whole bunch of them in the room together they are called... Gialli.

Clear as mud? Good. Let's proceed. Anyhow, Gialli novels became so popular that it was a no-brainer that these tomes would soon be converted to films. Kind of like the Harry Potter books and the ensuing movies that followed - except Gialli are even more fucked-up. Gialli, both books and films, became so popular in Italy, that modern-day Italians now refer to all thrillers - regardless of type and nationality as "Gialli."

However, to World Cinema enthusiasts and experts, the term "Gialli" doesn't refer to all films in the Thriller Genre. Instead, they consider Gialli to be those specific mystery/thrillers that came out of Italy starting in the early 1960s, exploding in the 1970s, fading in the 1980s, only to be revived somewhat in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In short, Italian mystery/thrillers with very striking characteristics.

Classic Gialli share some basic elements that make them distinct from other mystery/thrillers: (1) An Italian or sometimes other European setting; (2) A protagonist who is usually foreign, often American or British; (3) a brutal crime (usually a murder) that the protagonist accidentally witnesses and is pulled into; (4) inept or disinterested police authorities who force the protagonist to solve the mystery on his/her own; and (5) a mysterious killer hidden by a fedora hat, dark raincoat, and black gloves; (6) a series of murders committed by the killer, often as revenge for a past injustice - but also sometimes for other motives such as greed or passion.

Gialli were heavily influenced by the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, and his body of work. Hitchcock's favorite type of protagonist - The Ordinary Person Thrown Into Extraordinary Situations - is often the lead in most Gialli. In fact, the most famous and celebrated Giallo director of all, Dario Argento, is often referred to as "The Italian Hitchcock" because of how he cemented the popularity of the Gialli Sub-Genre with the release of L'UCCELLO DALLE PIUME DI CRISTALLO (outside Italy: THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE) in 1970. With the soaring success of this film, Gialli were soon flooding Italy and opening in theaters everywhere. The 1970s became known as "The Golden Age Of Gialli." After THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE, Argento went on to release eight more Gialli between 1971 and 1987 that are considered to be the strongest entries in the sub-genre.

However, whereas Hitchcock's films were inherently British and American in their restraint and linear movement, Argento's (and other Gialli directors') films are more explosive and non-linear in their storytelling. In other words, more Italian.

Still, the very first Giallo released in Italy was closer to Hitchcock's cool, methodical style than to the fiery, operatically Italian technique that would soon become the norm for Gialli in later years. It came out in 1963, and was titled LA RAGAZZA CHE SAPEVA TROPPO (outside Italy: THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH). Directed by Mario Bava, THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH was almost an homage to Hitchcock, going so far as to mimic the title of one of his films: THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1934 & 1956). As with your average Hitchcock film, Bava's story featured an American protagonist who travels to a foreign locale (Rome) and instantly finds herself engulfed in a complex mystery after witnessing a murder in Piazza Spagna at midnight. However, unlike many later Gialli, it was a more restrained, sedate mystery that lacked a distinctly Italian flavor.

It wasn't until 1964, when Bava released his second Giallo, that the true, classic "Giallo Style" began to emerge. Titled SEI DONNE PER LA ASSASSINO (outside Italy: BLOOD & BLACK LACE), the film proved to be more flamboyant and colorful - more Italian. This time, however, Bava also played with the formula somewhat: instead of a central, innocent protagonist visiting Italy, we got a bunch of Italians and foreign ex-pats who worked in a fashion house plagued by a series of murders - and are all potential suspects. There was no clear hero or heroine, and the characters were all either inscrutable or unsympathetic - and this was the film's key flaw. Despite BLOOD & BLACK LACE's many strengths and numerous stunning setpieces, it is ultimately a weaker film than its less colorful predecessor because, unlike THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, there is no one here to care about.

Then 1970 came - and so did the release of Argento's THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE. And with its worldwide success, the Giallo Sub-Genre was cemented in Italy - and officially born overseas. Argento's film (his first of any kind) was, at the time, the best Giallo to date. It still remains the second-best entry in the sub-genre today, with only PROFONDO ROSSO (outside Italy: DEEP RED) overtaking it for the top spot. Oh, guess who also directed DEEP RED: Dario Argento. The man truly is "The Italian Hitchcock."

With THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE, Argento side-stepped the things that tripped up THE GIRLWHO KNEW TOO MUCH and BLOOD & BLACK LACE before it. With GIRL, Bava gave us a sympathetic heroine, but a rather pedestrian mystery with very few thrilling sequences. With BLOOD, Bava gave us the opposite: a colorful, twisting mystery filled with scary setpieces - but not a single character worth rooting for. In BIRD, Argento gets both sides very right: we get a very likable lead character and a serpentine, vivid mystery peppered by strong suspense showcases.

The plot of THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE is essentially a twist on the premise of THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. Basically, an American writer on a working sabbatical in Rome witnesses an attack on a beautiful Italian woman in an art gallery. His intervention scares off the unknown assailant (unknown, because the would-be killer wears a fedora and black raincoat), but the woman is wounded. She survives, and the American writer finds out from the local cops that she is "The One Who Got Away." That is, Rome has been plagued recenly by "Jack-The-Ripper"-style killings - and she is the only victim who has lived to tell about it. Soon, the American writer, his British girlfriend, the Italian woman's husband, and the Italian woman herself, are all caught in a web of mystery and murder as the killings continue - and the mysterious killer draws nearer and nearer again. THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE was such a landmark film that it not only inspired dozens more Gialli in Italy - but reportedly also American films at the time like Alan J. Pakula's KLUTE.

From 1971 onward, Italy was inundated with tidal wave of Gialli. Some were successful, other not. And just when it looked like the sub-genre was waning in the mid-1970s, The Italian Hitchcock released another Giallo that would not only top the success of his first Giallo, THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE, and give Gialli a strong second wind. In 1975, Argento released PROFONDO ROSSO, known everywhere outside Italy as DEEP RED. Often referred to as a "Turbo-Giallo" by fans and audiences because of the confident way it took the classic Giallo elements and amped them up considerably to visceral effect, DEEP RED is widely regarded as the best Giallo out there. It is indeed my second favorite Giallo, and my second favorite Argento film after his 1985 entry into the sub-genre starring a young Jennifer Connelly: PHENOMENA. Like THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE, DEEP RED also had a huge impact on the Thriller and Horror genres. In fact, John Carpenter was reportedly inspired by this movie to create a little film called... HALLOWEEN. And we know what happened after HALLOWEEN was released, don't we. The rest, as we know, is history

With the back-to-back successes of THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE and DEEP RED - as well as Argento's other two early-70s Gialli: THE CAT O'NINE TAILS (1972) & FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET (1972) - the Giallo was red-hot in the 1970s. Flicks with translated-to-English titles like: THE BLACK BELLY OF THE TARANTULA, THE CASE OF THE BLOODY IRIS, TORSO/THE BODIES BEAR TRACES OF CARNAL VIOLENCE, THE FIFTH CORD, SEVEN NOTES IN BLACK, THE RED QUEEN KILLS SEVEN TIMES, SEVEN BLOOD-STAINED ORCHIDS, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE?, DEATH WALKS WITH A CANE, DEATH WALKS AT MIDNIGHT, WHO SAW HER DIE?, TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE, and many, many, many, many more. To put it mildly, these movies pulled in a hell of a lot of lire in Italy (and every other currency, overseas) during the 1970s.

In the 1980s, Gialli started to fade due to the rise of a sub-genre within the Horror Genre: the American Slasher movie. These U.S. films were heavily influenced by the suspense setpieces of Italian Gialli. As mentioned above, HALLOWEEN was reportedly influenced by DEEP RED - and HALLOWEEN is widely-recognized as the GrandDaddy Of The American Slasher Movie. The crucial difference between the Italian Giallo and the American Slasher Movie is one thing: style. Gialli are very Italian in that they are operatic, theatrical, flamboyant, and utterly stylish. American slashers are more direct and brutal in their execution. Another difference is that the Italian Giallo is very much rooted in the Thriller Genre, which some horror overtones - whereas the American Slasher Movie is firmly embedded in the Horror Genre. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied the Gialli of 1960s & 1970s clearly had an influence in kick-starting not only first wave of American Slashers starting with HALLOWEEN in 1978, but also the second wave in 1996, with the release of SCREAM. In fact, the opening double-murder in SCREAM is reportedly an homage to the opening sequence of SUSPIRIA (1977) - another classic Argento Giallo (albeit with supernatural overtones).

By the 1990s, Dario Argento was pretty much the only Italian director still making Gialli. While TRAUMA (1993), set in Minneapolis, was an ill-advised attempt on his part to try to win over U.S. audiences by transplanting an Italian story into an American setting, he made up for this misstep in 1996 by going back to Italy and giving his most atypical and intense Gialli, LA SINDROME DI STENDHAL (outside Italy: THE STENDHAL SYNDROME). I was surprised by how much I liked THE STENDHAL SYNDROME, and after the very disappointing TRAUMA, it was a breath of fresh air not only for the Giallo sub-genre - but also for the director himself.

Argento's next Giallo was NON HO SONNO (outside Italy: SLEEPLESS) in 2001 - and it was very well-received by critics and audiences alike. While not as good as the Gialli from Argento's "Golden Age" between 1970 and 1987, or even as riveting as THE STENDHAL SYNDROME from fours years before, SLEEPLESS was still a solid Giallo that retained all the classic elements - but also tweaked and updated them for the 21st century. In the next few years, Argento went on to film and release IL CARTAIO (outside Italy: THE CARD PLAYER), LA TERZA MADRE(outside Italy: MOTHER OF TEARS), and (fittingly enough) GIALLO. Of these latter-day Gialli, THE CARD PLAYER was the best, and is thought to have influenced the 2008 Diane Lane cyber-thriller UNTRACEABLE. It's nice to know that Gialli are continuing to influence American cinema even in the 21st century.

With Dario Argento being pretty much the only Giallo director still active today, Gialli fans are eagerly awaiting his next move. In an interview from several years ago, he mentioned a project called OCCHIALI NERI (DARK GLASSES), which reportedly would revolve around an Italian fashion supermodel who is blinded in an accident. Soon, she finds herself involved in a series of murders of other fashion models - and must track down the killer using only her remaining senses - which are now heightened because of her blindness. Argento mentioned that the script is tied up in legal wrangling of some sort with the studio that was initially backing the project (or something) and it in unclear when production will begin. I sincerely hope DARK GLASSES moves forward, because it sounds like a fantastic premise that is both elegant and suspenseful at the same time - just as all classic Gialli should be.

Ultimately, whether or not American audiences realize it, the Italian Giallo has paved the way for our thrillers and horror films to evolve and expand - and basically turn suspense into art. With the release of BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO this year, that has never been more clear. And let's pray the Dario Argento's next movie will be... DARK GLASSES.

Please expect our GIALLI SAMPLER to post by the end of the week, with 15 Giallo films that are essential viewing for any Gialli beginner.

Have a wonderful week, folks....