So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films

What is a Giallo?

Giallo is not a detective story, it is not a thriller, not a suspense movie, not a horror film. But it can be any one of these things and also all of these things rolled into one. What sets a giallo apart from another story? Two things: a difficult to explain event and its rigorously logical explanation based on the evidence and details provided in the story. The event is almost always a murder. Both in literature and in cinema, the gialli that pay respect to the intellect of the audience members are few in number. Often, more so in the movies than in the literature, the author cheats. In the movies, the filmmaker is able to show you what he or she wants you to see, thus enabling things to be hidden that should be in plain view; but this would destroy the mystery, so it is easier to simply cheat. One of the most famous cheats is the climax of the film The Bird With the Crystal Plumage, where the protagonist suddenly remembers that when he witnessed the attempted murder, it was not the man that was trying to kill the woman—it was the woman that was trying to kill the man!

How do you build a giallo? Each author has his way. Many prefer to fine-tune the whole story before starting to write it, while I often do the opposite; it seems more fun to me that way. Try to imagine a murder, which revolves around a number of strong suspects with manias of their own. Writers are well aware of how the characters will take the action in their own hands, sometimes in opposition to the wishes of the author. Often the characters rebel against the author and refuse to do what He wants. Anyway, after describing the mysterious murder and surrounding it with a good number of suspects, it pays to stop and examine what you have written. It is up to you to find the logic and motivation of the murderer, though you may not yet know who he is just yet. But by following a logical progression and paying attention to the facts, you will eliminate many possible suspects; it is your job to find the path that leads to the guilty party. Maybe it seems that there is no need for logic. I would insist, there usually is. If you just cannot find it, you can always follow the example of P.G. Wodehouse, who ended one of his gialli with the revelation that the killer was Mario Rossi … who was clever enough to have never appeared in the book.

Beginning with the release of Mario Bava's THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH in 1963, Italian filmmakers developed and perfected their own peculiar brand of mystery-thriller known as the giallo. Named after the yellow (giallo in Italian) covers of the murder mysteries published by Mondadori, the giallo is awash in fetishistic imagery. For many fans, these films—popularized in the works by writer-director Dario Argento, whose name is synonymous with the genre, thanks to such films as THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE and DEEP RED—focus on stylized images of violent death: killers dressed in black stalking glamorous-looking victims through baroque architecture, literally painting the walls red with their blood. This is only one aspect of the giallo, however. With their groovy soundtracks by legendary composers like Ennio Morricone and Stelvio Cipriani and glamorous damsels-in-distress like Edwige Fenech, Rosalba Neri and Asia Argento, these films offer a heady mixture of sex, horror and suspense; at their best, they took excess to a hypnotic level. Troy Howarth, the author of THE HAUNTED WORLD OF MARIO BAVA and the co-author of the up-coming THE TOME OF TERROR series, examines the genre from its inception through its inevitable decline. Covering everything from popular fan favorites by the likes of Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento to lesser-known gems by Cesare Canevari, Massimo Dallamano and Paolo Cavara as well as the worst of the worst by the least inspired of hacks, SO DEADLY, SO PERVERSE provides an in-depth examination of a genre that has too often been marginalized in other studies of the horror film and the thriller. In addition to reviews of every giallo made between 1963 and 2013, this two-part study of the giallo—with volume two (covering 1974 onwards) coming later in the year—is also lavishly illustrated with rare and colorful stills and poster art.