Giallo: Difference between revisions
| Line 5: | Line 5: | ||
==Literature== |
==Literature== |
||
The Italian term ''giallo'' (which literally translates as "yellow") was originally coined to describe a series of mystery/crime [[pulp magazine|pulp novels]] printed by the [[Mondadori]] publishing company in the 1930s through the 1960s. Their yellow covers contained [[whodunit]]s, much like their American counterparts of the 1920s and 1930s. The giallo novels were so popular that even established foreign mystery and crime writers, such as [[Agatha Christie]] and [[Georges Simenon]], were both labeled gialli when first published in Italy. |
The Italian term ''giallo'' (which literally translates as "yellow") was originally coined to describe a series of mystery/crime [[pulp magazine|pulp novels]] printed by the [[Mondadori]] publishing company in the 1930s through the 1960s. Their yellow covers contained [[whodunit]]s, much like their American counterparts of the 1920s and 1930s. The giallo novels were so popular that even established foreign mystery and crime writers, such as [[Agatha Christie]] and [[Georges Simenon]], were both labeled gialli when first published in Italy. |
||
[[Image:Giallo001.jpg|frame|right|An example of a typical Montadori giallo cover]] |
|||
==Film== |
==Film== |
||
Revision as of 19:36, 11 July 2005
Giallo is an Italian 20th century genre of literature and film. It is closely related to the French fantastique genre, crime fiction, horror fiction and eroticism.
Literature
The Italian term giallo (which literally translates as "yellow") was originally coined to describe a series of mystery/crime pulp novels printed by the Mondadori publishing company in the 1930s through the 1960s. Their yellow covers contained whodunits, much like their American counterparts of the 1920s and 1930s. The giallo novels were so popular that even established foreign mystery and crime writers, such as Agatha Christie and Georges Simenon, were both labeled gialli when first published in Italy.
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. Giallo films are characterized by extended murder sequences featuring excessive bloodletting, stylish camerawork and unusual musical arrangements. Intense colors predominate. The term giallo has become synonymous with a heavy, theatrical and stylised visual element. Thus the literary whodunit element is retained, but combined with modern slasher horror, while being filtered through Italy's longstanding tradition of grand guignol opera.
The first giallo film was The Evil Eye by Mario Bava. But it was in Six Women and the Murderer that the emblematic element of the giallo was introduced: the masked murderer with a shiny weapon in his black leather gloved hand.
The most notable directors who worked in the genre are Dario Argento, Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci and Pupi Avati.
Notable Giallo Films
- The Girl Who Knew Too Much (Mario Bava, 1963) a.k.a The Evil Eye
- Blood and Black Lace (Mario Bava, 1964) a.k.a Fashion House of Death, Six Women for the Murderer
- The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Dario Argento, 1970) a.k.a Phantom of Terror, Point of Terror, The Gallery Murders
- Five Dolls for an August Moon (Mario Bava, 1970) a.k.a Island of Terror
- Lizard in a Woman's Skin (Lucio Fulci, 1971) a.k.a Schizoid
- Next! (Sergio Martino, 1971) a.k.a Blade of the Killer, The Next Victim, The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh
- The Cat O' Nine Tails (Dario Argento, 1971)
- Short Night of the Glass Dolls (Aldo Lado, 1971) a.k.a Paralyzed
- Who Saw Her Die? (Aldo Lado, 1972) a.k.a The Child
- Knife of Ice (Umberto Lenzi, 1972) a.k.a Silent Horror
- They're Coming to Get You (Sergio Martino, 1972) a.k.a All the Colors of the Dark, Day of the Maniac, Demons of the Dead
- Eyeball (Umberto Lenzi, 1974) a.k.a The Devil's Eye, The Eye, The Secret Killer, Wide-Eyed in the Dark
- A Dragonfly for Each Corpse (Leon Klimovsky, 1974), a.k.a Red Killer - Spanish
- Deep Red (Dario Argento, 1975) a.k.a The Hatchet Murders, The Sabre Tooth Tiger
- Strip Nude for your Killer (Andrea Bianchi, 1975)
- The House with the Windows that Laugh (Pupi Avati, 1976) a.k.a The House with Laughing Windows
- The Psychic (Lucio Fulci, 1977) a.k.a Murder to the Tune of the Seven Black Notes, Seven Notes in Black
- Tenebrae (Dario Argento, 1982) a.k.a Unsane, Under the Eyes of the Assassin
- The Pencil Murders (Guy Lee Thys, 1982) - Belgian
- Opera (Dario Argento, 1988) a.k.a Terror at the Opera
- Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon, 1997) - Japanese (anime)
- Sleepless (Dario Argento, 2001)
External Links
 | This Italy-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |