giallo – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

NAME ABOVE TITLE (Nightstream Fest) – Review by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

October 6, 2021October 10, 2021 Alexandra Heller-Nicholas Carlos Conceição, giallo, Matthieu Charneau, Name Above Title, Nightstream Film Festival, Portuguese film

Name Above Title is bold, daring, wild, dark, sexy and perversely fun, all with an unexpected climactic twist that plants the film firmly in the territory of the audacious. Eurosleaze for a new generation, the spirit of neo-giallo is strong here, and along with filmmakers such as Yann Gonzalez, Nicolas Pesce, Peter Strickland, the Onetti brothers, and Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, Conceição’s film is proof that neo-giallo – true neo-giallo – is a growing, enthralling, formally ambitious and conceptually dazzling terrain.

Commentaries

For the Love of Gialli – Maitland McDonagh comments

July 13, 2019July 15, 2019 Maitland McDonagh 0 Comments gialli, giallo, Iguana With a Tongue of Fire, italian films, Perversion Story, Strip Nude for Your Killer

There was a time when few American moviegoers knew what giallo meant, but the gialli genre helped change the landscape of American films during the 1970s, a time of tumultuous changes in American filmmaking. Gialli brought a new sensibility to American shores—not to art houses, but to local cinemas and then television, video, DVD and streaming—one that has thrilled generations of moviegoers and moviemakers. Nightmares are discomfitingly potent dreams, and gialli are candy-colored nightmares it’s oh-so hard to resist.

Reviews

THE IGUANA WITH A TONGUE OF FIRE – Review by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

July 13, 2019July 13, 2019 Alexandra Heller-Nicholas 0 Comments Dagmar Lassander, gialli, giallo, Riccardo Freda, The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire

Even by giallo standards, The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire is noteworthy for the extremity of its violence, participating in an ongoing spirit of ‘upping the ante’ that would peak in giallo’s classic era with outright nasty efforts such as Mario Landi’s near indescribably brutal Giallo in Venice at the end of the decade (a challenging watch for even the most dedicated giallo loyalists).

Reviews

THE FIFTH CORD – Review by Marina Antunes

July 13, 2019July 13, 2019 Marina Antunes 0 Comments franco nero, giallo, Luigi Bazzoni, quad cinema, the fifth cord

There’s much to love about The Fifth Cord. One of multiple Oscar-winning cinematographer Vittorio Storaro’s early works, the movie looks amazing and Storaro’s camera work is mesmerizing. From the first-person camera shots to the amazing framing and cinematography of the cityscapes, every frame of The Fifth Cord offers something new and interesting. Ennio Morricone’s unmistakable score adds flare. And Franco Nero, embodying the proto-typical 70’s macho-man who does things his way and even when he’s wrong, is perfectly cast in the lead.

Reviews

FORBIDDEN PHOTOS OF A LADY ABOVE SUSPICION – Review by Maitland McDonagh

July 13, 2019July 13, 2019 Maitland McDonagh 0 Comments Dagmar Lassander, forbidden photos of a lady above suspicion, gialli, giallo, Luciano Ercoli, Nieves Navarro

Forbidden Photos of A Lady Above Suspicion is a thriller that takes on a whole new significance in our era of, to be honest, frightening biotechnology, in addition addressing—however indirectly—still hot-button issues related to agency, consent and larger social constructs that define a woman’s right to say, “Hell no.”

Reviews

PERVERSION STORY – Review by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

July 11, 2019June 8, 2020 Alexandra Heller-Nicholas 0 Comments elsa martinelli, gialli, giallo, jean sorel, Lucio Fulci, marisa mell, One on Top of the Other, Perversion Story

Next to Mario Bava and Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci is unarguably one of the giants of Italian horror. His extraordinary Gates of Hell trilogy – City of the Living Dead, The House By the Cemetery and The Beyond – are still as simultaneously beautiful and terrifying as they were on their first release in the early 1980s, The Beyond alone undeniably one of the greatest horror films of that decade full stop.

Reviews

THE POSSESSED – Review by Marina Antunes

July 11, 2019July 13, 2019 Marina Antunes 0 Comments Franco Rossellini, giallo, Luigi Bazzoni, peter baldwin, Pia Lindstrom, Piero Anchisi, quad cinema, the possessed, Virna Lisi

Bernard is a well respected, award winning writer but when we first meet him in The Possessed, he’s just another man breaking off a relationship over the phone. So opens Luigi Bazzoni and Franco Rossellini’s feature film; a scene which marks not only the introduction to our protagonist but also the last time Bernard is in control.

Reviews

STRIP NUDE FOR YOUR KILLER – Review by Maitland McDonagh

July 11, 2019July 13, 2019 Maitland McDonagh 0 Comments andrea bianchi, Edwige Fenech, gialli, giallo, Strip Nude for Your Killer

Where to begin? Strip Nude for Your Killer is a mind boggler—how many movies that suggest they’re all about sexy hijinks open with a pretty young woman—a model, it ensues–legs spread, having a heart attack as she undergoes an illegal abortion? Yes, that’s the start of a fun time at the movies.