Giallo thread

[Scyther Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Scyther]

Huge Sleepless fan here. It's not Suspiria or Tenebre, but it's better than anything after Opera. I need to revisit Stendhal.

Agreed. I dig me some Sleepless.

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

I genuinely don't get the appeal of NonHoSonno. Maybe it's like one of those 3D images you have to stare at to the point where you get a splitting headache and lose all focus and you suddenly have to take a leak and then (and then and then and then) you see the picture.

Tempted to start a Fulci vs Argento thread but I genuinely believe that Fulci was the better filmmaker (Don't Torture A Duckling, Lizard in a Woman's Skin, Beatrice Cenci, and Four of the Apocalypse cement this as fact. Not opinion, but fact. Has Argento made any non-horror film nearly as good as the Fulci films I mentioned? No? Point for the win for Fulci.) but the vast majority of Fulci diehards admit that his later films are shit. Many point to House of Clocks or Cat in the Brain or (for some reason) Devil's Honey as being "Pretty good." But Argento's later films seem to receive a big pass in terms of quality from fans. No offense, not trying to be catty passive aggressive, but that's what I've noticed.

[Cinematic Shocks Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Cinematic Shocks]

I genuinely believe that Fulci was the better filmmaker (Don't Torture A Duckling, Lizard in a Woman's Skin, Beatrice Cenci, and Four of the Apocalypse cement this as fact. Not opinion, but fact.

I think Lucio Fulci was a better non-horror filmmaker than a horror filmmaker. His four pre-Zombi gialli are some of the best of the genre. I've always considered Zombi overrated. 'City of the Living Dead' is solid and 'The Beyond' is his horror masterpiece but I don't think he made anything good after that.

[Paul L Scholar of Sleaze Find all posts View Profile Close Paul L]

I think Lucio Fulci was a better non-horror filmmaker than a horror filmmaker. His four pre-Zombi gialli are some of the best of the genre. I've always considered Zombi overrated. 'City of the Living Dead' is solid and 'The Beyond' is his horror masterpiece but I don't think he made anything good after that.

I like Fulci's 1980s horror output, but it's hard not to see a division between that era of his career and some of his earlier films - for example, his thrilling all'italiana pictures. The thrilling films he made in the 1970s feel rich in social commentary; this is present in his horror pictures but not so much. He's always felt to me very much like a filmmaker who began as an idealist, then lost any semblance of idealism at some point in the mid-1970s, and from that point onwards allowed his films to become invested with a profound sense of cynicism. Those later pictures of his feel dominated by a sense of utter exhaustion.

[Tom Clark Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tom Clark]

He's always felt to me very much like a filmmaker who began as an idealist, then lost any semblance of idealism at some point in the mid-1970s, and from that point onwards allowed his films to become invested with a profound sense of cynicism. Those later pictures of his feel dominated by a sense of utter exhaustion.

I'll wager his wife's suicide and his later health issues had a lot to do with that. I remember Thomas Milian saying Fulci's first wife killed herself before he started Four of the Apocalypse which no doubt played a hand in how depressing that movie is. In a way a lot of his later stuff feels like therapy sessions, like the films were his way of venting his rage at the world. Even Antonella feels that to be the case as well.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

He's always felt to me very much like a filmmaker who began as an idealist, then lost any semblance of idealism at some point in the mid-1970s, and from that point onwards allowed his films to become invested with a profound sense of cynicism. Those later pictures of his feel dominated by a sense of utter exhaustion.

I see this too, shades of Peckinpah in that regard.

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

I think Fulci's films have always been nihilistic. Going as far back as Beatrice Cenci, which his wife had watched and enjoyed, and even Massacre Time had a Nihilistic quality when it came to it's main villain.

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

I think Fulci's gialli are overrated. I mean I love 'em but they're still not the films they are often cracked up to be. The Psychic is a lot of fun but only the most dimwitted will not have solved the mystery seconds in. After that you're waiting for your heroine to catch up and boy, does she take her sweet time about it. There is so much original and good about Don't Torture A Duckling but it's very messy stuff from a storytelling front. Who's our protagonist? People keep arriving and threatening to be it. Eventually we settle on the slutty rich girl and the reporter with the magnificent pornstache. They would have been a great crime fighting duo but they are only given about five minutes to fight crime before we have the inevitable fight on a cliff top. One On Top Of The Other, maybe my least favourite. When you're remaking a classic you've got to be damned good. Fulci's brings the giallo trappings (and Marrissa Mell!) which looks great but they somehow don't meld with the original story. Lizard In A Womans Skin should be in the top few gialli made. Love Florinda Bulkan. Love the gialli sewt in London. The dream sequences are sweet. Somehow I'm stll tapping my toes in frustration waiting for this one to finish. The man just on a base level doesn't understand story progression or pacing.

Saying that Fulci's is better than Argento because his non horror films are better is not real fair given Argento only made 1 and that very on. Post Bava Argento was the auteur with the strongest vision. His films are the most influential from that period because they have the strongest authorial voice. He was the guy the other guys wanted to be so just for that for that he's got to be considered the best even if not your favourite.

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

I will have to re-watch Don't Torture a Duckling again before I comment. It's been a long ass time for me. But I disagree that once you know the mystery that it takes the piss out of the film. After being raised on Slashers and watching Giallo's in my teens it's always the same thing with movies that have the "Who dunnit?" Aspect. It's almost always the person you least expect. Tenebre -which I love- could be the only film that really flips that idea on its head.

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

I re-watched Duckling and I will agree that it doesn't really have a main protagonist until roughly the 3rd act but I don't see that as a detriment. I think the fly on the wall approach to the storytelling worked in the film's favor and separates it from the majority of Gialli.

I never got into One on Top of the Other and have no desire to revisit it. I disagree in regards to Lizard. I think the story and logic are pretty sound in that one.

Let's be honest; you could pick apart the logic in a lot of Eyetalian films, even the good ones. For example, I like Argento's Opera. It took me 2-3 viewings to appreciate it. But the logic in that film is incredibly frustrating. Our protagonist witnesses her boyfriend being murdered by an insane fan. She does not go to the police. Instead, wanders the streets, just so happens to be picked up by the director of the opera, and instead of telling him what just happened she gets annoyed when he says something very vaguely sexist. The pair still don't go to the police when she eventually tells him about the murder. I don't think they go to the police until the 2nd murder. Don't even get me started with the ending.

[Jason C Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jason C]

THE KILLER RESERVED NINE SEATS is a delight. The abandoned theater makes for an interesting setting. The pace never slows down as snotty rich people start getting bumped off one-by-one. One obvious knock on the film is how illogical the characters act, but it's so ridiculous that I found it amusing. Besides with so much fine euro-babe flesh on screen why nit-pick when they wander off in dark corners by themselves. The whodunnit aspects kept me intrigue up to the reveal and I was very pleased with how the film wrapped up. If there are any glaring flaws, they're easily forgettable as the film is too much fun. Camera Obscura's BD release is stunning and well worth the premium price. This is a film I can see revisiting often.

[enandalusiskhund An Andalusian Dog Find all posts View Profile Close enandalusiskhund]

Code Red have announced Engima Rosso, aka. Red Rings of Fear for release on BD! As far as gialli go, this is not a bad little entry, however it was supposed to be the third part of Dallamano's schoolgirl trilogy, and it's hard not to contemplate what could have been.

[IanIcon Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close IanIcon]

THE KILLER RESERVED NINE SEATS is a delight. The abandoned theater makes for an interesting setting. The pace never slows down ad snotty rich people start getting bumped off one-by-one. One obvious knock on the film is how illogical the characters act, but it's so ridiculous that I found it amusing. Besides with so much fine euro-babe flesh on screen why nit-pick when they wander off in dark corners by themselves. The whodunnit aspects kept me intrigue up to the reveal and I was very pleased with how the film wrapped up. If there are any glaring flaws, they're easily forgettable as the film is too much fun. Camera Obscura's BD release is stunning and well worth the premium price. This is a film I can see revisiting often.

Really? I may need to check it out. Pretty much every review I have a read says it's a tepid bore at best, and a complete nutty log at worst. The only Camera Obscura releases I own so far are the "Like Rabid Dogs" blu-ray and the DVD of "Nine Guests for a Crime." I wanted the blu of "Short Night of Glass Dolls," but $35 with no English language track killed it. I'd probably pick up "The Killer Reserved Nine Seats" and take a chance if it were normally-priced.

[Bogart Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bogart]

I also like The Killer Reserved Nine Seats. Its a nice proto-slasher with a good and creepy masked killer and great atmosphere. It definitely has its peaks and lulls but who cares the good definitely outweighs the bad.

[Recoil Member Find all posts View Profile Close Recoil]

THE KILLER RESERVED NINE SEATS is a delight. The abandoned theater makes for an interesting setting. The pace never slows down as snotty rich people start getting bumped off one-by-one. One obvious knock on the film is how illogical the characters act, but it's so ridiculous that I found it amusing. Besides with so much fine euro-babe flesh on screen why nit-pick when they wander off in dark corners by themselves. The whodunnit aspects kept me intrigue up to the reveal and I was very pleased with how the film wrapped up. If there are any glaring flaws, they're easily forgettable as the film is too much fun. Camera Obscura's BD release is stunning and well worth the premium price. This is a film I can see revisiting often.

Does this film work best in Italian?