Learning to Love Giallo

Frank Stascik
Jul 11, 2018
5 min read

Of all movie genres, horror probably has the most amount of niche sub-genres. While it is common for horror fans to spread appreciation across the entire map of the genre, it is equally common to find fans who deep-dive into very specific corners, while dismissing anything that strays from those corners. I've met horror fans who only watch found footage movies. I've met fans who only watch ghost stories. I've met fans who check out of the genre completely once the Universal Monster era ends. The zombie craze of more than a decade ago brought in new fans who didn't watch horror in general, but then went bonkers for the living dead- culminating in the success of The Walking Dead TV show when it hit its peak.

But those are just a couple of the major sub-genres. You can break down niches to a ridiculous level if you obsess. Someone could say they are a fan of vampire movies. Sure. Fine. The Night Flier was underrated. But then you find out the only vampire movies they like are vampire movies...from France...in the 70s...directed by Jean Rollin...hopefully featuring the Castel twins...and only in their uncut versions. This is what separates a horror fan from a general movie fan- horror movie fans will find micro-obsessions. It's part of why I love examining horror. We really get deep into the weeds. Horror fandom exhibits much like a sexual fetish- shit gets specific.

Giallo is a huge sub-genre. The hundreds of movies that came out of Italy in the 60s, 70s and 80s that fall under the giallo umbrella have just as many niches and dark sub-sub corners as horror does in general. I love giallo, but I didn't always. It took some work to get myself to a point where I could sit through one without falling asleep. The pacing is odd, the acting maxed-out melodrama, and the plots are usually ridiculously convoluted. I eventually had to force myself to watch a bunch of them in a row just to raise my tolerance, adjust my expectations, and get to a level where I could finally appreciate them.

Recently I read a book by Mikel J. Koven called 'La Dolce Morte'. I recommend this book if you can find it, but primarily for the first half, where Koven examines the social climate of Italy when giallo movies ruled theaters. The second half centers more on specific directors and is ground that has been covered since and is easily accessible via Internet searches, but that first half features some fascinating information about why giallo movies are structured and paced in their own unique way.

Going to the movies in Italy during the 60s and 70s was a different experience than what we are now used to. Here in the U.S. we have first-run theaters, second-run theaters, and now a lot of 'zero theaters' releases where indie films are released direction to an On Demand source or to streaming in general. In this era in Italy, however, while you did still have your first and second-run theaters, these theaters were only located in the major cosmopolitan cities, and they only played the major Italian releases- high-brow movies from directors like Fellini and Antonioni.

At the same time, there was a vast rural population who didn't travel to the major cities. Owning a TV in these huge swaths of the country was rare. So a third type of theater was created- Terze Visione, to service a very specific, under-utilized, and large market. These theaters rarely got the major releases. They got a brand new C-level of movies. That's the fascinating aspect, though. These sub-genres of giallo and poliziotteschi crime movies were shot and released to this third market exclusively. They weren't made to break into first-run theaters in major cities, they were made to entertain the rural masses. We really didn't see this again until the birth of niche cable channels, and now genre streaming sites like Shudder- where content is made specifically to cater to a certain type of viewer.

In rural Italy of the 60s and 70s, going to the Terze Visione was a communal, mostly nightly experience. There were no 'runs'- individual theater owners would change the movie whenever they felt like it. This is because going to the theater was only marginally about watching the movie. The theater was a social gathering. Come home from work, grab some food and a bottle of wine, and go to the theater. It didn't matter if you walked in halfway through, you would mingle and eat and drink. You would change seats when another friend walked in, and go catch up with them for a while before moving on to someone else. And you'd only watch the movie if it put something on the screen to really grab your attention.

Which is why today, when we get a restored giallo on DVD or Blu-Ray, and we sit and commit our full attention to watching it, we are consuming it in an entirely different way from what was intended. The cheesy zooming in to a character's furrowed brow feels so overly obvious and melodramatic, but it's because at the time it had to be. You had to be able to be in the middle of a conversation, and take just a glance at the screen, and from how over-the-top that shot is, and the over-emoting of the actor, you knew in an instant 'Oh, well, Giovanni is super worried about something.' There could be no subtlety...nobody was paying close enough attention to grasp subtlety. Gore and nudity pop up all the time because it's like the movie is waving it's arms and yelling 'Hey! Look at this! Look over here for a second!' Color palettes and shot composition were designed to draw attention.

Sure, there are things you can go back and study now that you can read into. But that's because at the end of the day these were, despite the assembly line of quick, cheap productions, still creative endeavors directed by talented artists. I'm sure directors had larger visions, and purposely added deeper connective tissue when they could. At the same time, art is subjective, and you can spot deeper meaning in mostly anything if you want to see it hard enough.

So the next time you sit down to watch a giallo, keep that in mind. You aren't supposed to study character motivations, or to backtrack after the killer reveal to figure out if it made any sense. You are supposed to enjoy the atmosphere and the colors and visuals, and wait for the moments where the director slams down the gauntlet and yells 'JUST LOOK AT THIS SHIT FOR A MINUTE'. They are the equivalent of movies you put on in the background of a party because you just know there are a couple shots that are going to make your friends pause and look for a few seconds before moving on.

And now, a quick list of my favorite five. I have by no means watched every giallo, so this is a very subjective list. I'm not going to go into individual reviews at this point, as I'll probably do longer, in-depth reviews of each in the future. But if you want to dip your toe into the pond, here's some starting points.

1. Don't Torture a Duckling- dir. Lucio Fulci