Anybody into those sick and stylish giallos?

[Kalevi Kolttonen]

During the past 3-4 years, I have watched a big amount of giallos, most
of them of course Italian, and very few Spanish. Anybody else into
giallos? There is so much more to see in addition to your standard Argento
movies.

br, KK

[Ciarán Ainsworth]

I love Giallo movies. Some of the best horror of the 70s came out of
this genre and its effects are still being felt to this day. I recently
watched the remake of Suspiria, and while I admit it's technically the
better film, it just doesn't have that same otherworldly feeling you get
from Giallo.

I'd be interested to actually try reading some of the pulp that inspired
the Giallo movement. I'd like to see exactly what it is about those
books that inspired Argento, Bava, Martino etc.

cda

[Kalevi Kolttonen]

Ciarán Ainsworth <ciarana...@protonmail.com> wrote:
> I'd be interested to actually try reading some of the pulp that inspired
> the Giallo movement. I'd like to see exactly what it is about those
> books that inspired Argento, Bava, Martino etc.

I would like to read them, too, but I know only a few Italian words so
it is not an option for me.

br, KK

[spo...@ycombinator.com]

kal...@kolttonen.fi (Kalevi Kolttonen) writes:

> I would like to read them, too, but I know only a few Italian words so
> it is not an option for me.

Yeah, unfortunately that kind of work isn't usually mainstream enough to
get translated into other languages. It's a shame, but it's also what
makes them so fascinating to me. Here is this movement of writing that
was seedy and underground, but still clearly popular and effective
enough that people make movies based on them.

Obviously, pulp exists in all cultures and many film industries have
taken to working with them to produce crowd-pleasing horror and thriller
flicks. But there's something captivating about Giallo. Far from the
noir pulp of the USA it seems to revel in color. It forces you to gaze
at horrible things through a heightened lens in a way that should be
farcical but somehow comes across totally sincere. Its characters buy in
to the otherworld so convincingly sometimes that the unreality becomes
reality.

Everything about Giallo is heightened, to be fair. The violence, the
sexuality, the emotions... It's just a joy to behold. Plus, a lot of
Giallo films benefited from some of the best scores ever put to film.
Goblin and Morricone did some of their finest work in this area.

cda

[Smirking Asshole]

On Thu, 08 Dec 2022 03:21:27 +0100
Ciarán Ainsworth <ciarana...@protonmail.com> wrote:

> I'd be interested to actually try reading some of the pulp that inspired
> the Giallo movement. I'd like to see exactly what it is about those
> books that inspired Argento, Bava, Martino etc.

Giallos ultimately derived from Hitchcock's *Psycho*.

[Kalevi Kolttonen]

spo...@ycombinator.com wrote:
> Plus, a lot of Giallo films benefited from some of
> the best scores ever put to film. Goblin and Morricone did
> some of their finest work in this area.

So very true! Bruno Nicolai was also a really talented
composer. The giallo soundtracks are usually awesome.

Speaking of Italian horror in general, Fabio Frizzi
composed fantastic scores for many Lucio Fulci films.

I don't know whether Walter Rizzati composed that much,
but his music in Fulci's House by the Cemetery is so
good.

br,
KK