Giallo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Giallo (pronounced IPA: ['ʤallo], plural gialli) is an Italian 20th century genre of literature and film, which in Italian indicates crime fiction and mystery. In the English language, however, it is used in a broader meaning that is closer to the French fantastique genre, including elements of horror fiction and eroticism. The word giallo is Italian for "yellow", and stems from the origin of the genre as a series of cheap paperback novels with trademark yellow covers.
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[edit] Literature
The term giallo derives from the series of mystery/crime pulp novels first published by the Mondadori publishing house, starting from 1929, entitled Il Giallo Mondadori, taking their name from the yellow cover background.
Published as cheapish paperbacks, the success of the "giallo" novels soon began attracting the attention of other publishing houses, who began releasing their own versions (not forgetting to keep the by-now-traditional yellow cover). The Giallo Mondadori popularity then established the word giallo in Italian as the widespread translation of the English "mystery".
[edit] Film
The film genre that emerged from these novels in the 1960s began as literal adaptations of the books, but soon began taking advantage of modern cinematic techniques to create a unique genre which veered into horror and psychological thrillers. These films, particularly such 1970s classics by directors like Dario Argento or Mario Bava, are only defined as "gialli" in the English language usage of the term; in Italy they are usually described as thrillers or, as a genre, "Thrilling" or "Giallo all'italiana". In the English-speaking world the term "giallo" became established as an adjective to "thriller" and "horror".
[edit] Characteristics
"Giallo" films are characterized by extended murder sequences featuring excessive bloodletting, stylish camerawork and unusual musical arrangements. The literary whodunit element is retained, but combined with modern slasher horror, while being filtered through Italy's longstanding tradition of opera and staged grand guignol drama. They also generally include liberal amounts of nudity and sex.
Gialli typically introduce strong psychological themes of madness, alienation, and paranoia. For example, Sergio Martino's Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (also known as Eye of the Black Cat) was explicitly based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Black Cat".
They remain notable in part for their expressive use of music, most notably by Dario Argento's collaborations with Ennio Morricone and his musical director Bruno Nicolai, and later with the band Goblin.
[edit] Development
As well as the literary giallo tradition, the films were also initially influenced by the German "Krimi" phenomenon - originally black and white films of the 1960s that were based on Edgar Wallace stories.
The first film that created the giallo as a cinema genre is La ragazza che sapeva troppo (The Girl Who Knew Too Much) (1963), from Mario Bava. Its title referred to Alfred Hitchcock's famous The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), again establishing strong links with Anglo-American culture. In Mario Bava's 1964 film, Blood and Black Lace, the emblematic element of the giallo was introduced: the masked murderer with a shiny weapon in his black leather gloved hand.[1]
Soon the giallo became a genre of its own, with its own rules and with a typical Italian flavour: adding additional layers of intense colour and style. The term giallo finally became synonymous with a heavy, theatrical, and stylised visual element.
The genre had its heyday in the 1970s, with dozens of Italian giallo films released. The most notable directors who worked in the genre were Dario Argento, Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, Aldo Lado, Sergio Martino, Umberto Lenzi, and Pupi Avati.
Avati went as far as satyrising the genre in 1977 with a slapstick "giallo" titled Tutti defunti... tranne i morti (All Are Deceased... Save the Dead).
Although often based around crime and detective work, Gialli should not be confused with the other popular Italian crime genre of the 1970s, the Poliziotteschi, which refers to "tough-cop", action-oriented films. Directors and stars often moved between both genres, and some films could be considered under either banner, such as Massimo Dallamano's 1974 film What Have They Done to Your Daughters?
[edit] Selected films
- The Girl Who Knew Too Much (Mario Bava, 1963, also known as The Evil Eye)
- Blood and Black Lace (Mario Bava, 1964, also known as Fashion House of Death, Six Women for the Murderer)
- The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Dario Argento, 1970, also known as Phantom of Terror, Point of Terror, The Gallery Murders)
- Five Dolls for an August Moon (Mario Bava, 1970, also known as Island of Terror)
- Lizard in a Woman's Skin (Lucio Fulci, 1971, also known as Schizoid)
- The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (Sergio Martino, 1971, also known as Blade of the Killer, The Next Victim, Next!)
- Black Belly of the Tarantula, (Paolo Cavara, 1971)
- The Cat o' Nine Tails (Dario Argento, 1971)
- Four Flies on Grey Velvet (Dario Argento, 1971)
- Short Night of the Glass Dolls (Aldo Lado, 1971, also known as Paralyzed)
- Twitch of the Death Nerve (Mario Bava, 1971, also known as Bay of Blood)
- The Case of the Bloody Iris (Giuliano Carnimeo, 1972, also known as What Are Those Strange Drops of Blood Doing On Jennifer's Body?)
- Don't Torture a Duckling, starring Barbara Bouchet, (Lucio Fulci, 1972)
- Who Saw Her Die? (Aldo Lado, 1972, also known as The Child)
- Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (Sergio Martino, 1972, based on Poe's "The Black Cat" and also known as Eye of the Black Cat)
- What Have You Done to Solange? (Massimo Dallamano, 1972, music by Ennio Morricone)
- Knife of Ice (Umberto Lenzi, 1972, also known as Silent Horror)
- They're Coming to Get You (Sergio Martino, 1972, also known as All the Colors of the Dark, Day of the Maniac, Demons of the Dead)
- Torso (Sergio Martino, 1973)
- Eyeball (Umberto Lenzi, 1974, also known as The Devil's Eye, The Eye, The Secret Killer, Wide-Eyed in the Dark)
- A Dragonfly for Each Corpse (León Klimovsky, 1974, also known as Red Killer)
- Deep Red (Dario Argento, 1975, also known as Profondo Rosso, The Hatchet Murders, The Sabre Tooth Tiger)
- Strip Nude for Your Killer (Andrea Bianchi, 1975)
- The House with Laughing Windows (Pupi Avati, 1976, also known as La casa dalle finestre che ridono)
- The Psychic (Lucio Fulci, 1977, also known as Murder to the Tune of the Seven Black Notes, Seven Notes in Black)
- The Blood Stained Shadow (Antonio Bido, 1978, also known as Solamente nero)
- Tenebrae (Dario Argento, 1982, also known as Unsane or Under the Eyes of the Assassin)
- The New York Ripper (Lucio Fulci, 1982)
- Camping del terrore (Ruggero Deodato, 1987)
- Deliria (Michele Soavi, 1987)
- Opera (Dario Argento, 1988, also known as Terror at the Opera)
- Knight Moves (Carl Schenkel, 1992)
- Sleepless (Dario Argento, 2001)
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ A. Rockoff, Going to Pieces, p. 30.
[edit] Sources
- Adam Rockoff (April 2002). Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, 1978 to 1986. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0786412273. http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0786412275.
- Rick Worland (2006-10-01). The Horror Film: A Brief Introduction. Blackwell Publishing Professional. ISBN 978-1405139021. http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1405139021.
- Mikel J. Koven (2006). La Dolce Morte: Vernacular Cinema and the Italian Giallo Film. Scarecrow Press.
[edit] External links
- KinoEye: An Introduction to the Italian 'Giallo'
- Italian bibliography (1929-1941) of giallo novels
- The Giallo Zone at EOFFTV
- Gialli reviews at Hysteria Lives!
- The Giallo Scrapbook Tribute books to Giallo cinema
- DIY Giallo Kit Do-It-Yourself Giallo Generator
- "Yellow" a short Giallo A short homage to Giallo
- Terrore Italiani: Classical Detective Fiction and the Giallo An academic thesis on the giallo's relationship to classical detective fiction.
- An italian essay about the Giallo lecture
