THE SUSPICIOUS DEATH OF A MINOR (a.k.a. Too Young To Die) *** Italy 1975 Dir: Sergio Martino. 100 mins An oddity from genre veteran Martino, this opens as a standard giallo (a teenage girl has her throat slashed at a seedy motel by a mystery killer in dark shades) before…
Browsing: Giallo
THE FORBIDDEN PHOTOS OF A LADY ABOVE SUSPICION **** Italy / Spain 1970 Dir: Luciano Ercoli. 93 mins To the gorgeous strains of another early 70’s giallo score by Ennio Morricone, the first shot of this movie is of Dagmar Lassander enjoying a bubble bath prior to a night-out in…
A BLACK VEIL FOR LISA **** Italy / West Germany 1968 Dir: Massimo Dallamano. 95 mins A pre-Argento giallo influenced by Hitchcock, the German “krimi” cycle and American film noir, this largely lacks the more overtly horrific elements that would rapidly redefine the genre in the wake of THE BIRD…
THE FIFTH CORD **** Italy 1971 Dir: Luigi Bazzoni. 92 mins A strong, engrossing giallo with an unnerving opening: we are immediately thrust into the world of its killer, his voiceover explaining his plans to kill someone while we (and he) spy on New Year’s Eve revellers. Handsome journalist Franco…
One of several ‘animal-in-the-title’ cash-ins released in the wake of Dario Argento’s box-office smash The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, THE IGUANA WITH THE TONGUE OF FIRE is a gloriously excessive giallo that boasts a rogues gallery of perverse characters; violent, fetishized murders, and one of the genre’s most nonsensical, red-herring laden…