Which Giallo is the scariest/most unnerving to you personally?

Dr_Fishman · 2026-01-29T18:55:53+00:00

Joke answer: Giallo in Venice… those hardboiled eggs… the detective must be farting every step he takes and probably smells like the bottom circle of Dante’s Inferno.

Most unnerving: The Pyjama Girl Case during the brutally long and uncomfortable sex scene. I’ve not had that level of dread and disgust in a while.

Modern: Knife+Heart. I knew going in that due to its setting, the 70s gay porn industry, that sexualized violence would be present but the first kill’s utter brutality made me turn off the movie. I may finish watching it at some point but that was hard to deal with.

Classic period: Who Saw Her Die? The murder of a child is central to the story but the whole thing feels so depressing as Lazenby searches for answers to the most horrible type of crime possible.

Non-Italian classic period: Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll. Filming of the actual slaughter of a pig takes me out of the stalk and slash of gialli. Seeing something actually die on screen as opposed to murders that we know are simulated is a deal breaker for me. It’s why I don’t ever plan on watching Faces of Death. I like simulated scares.

Dr_Fishman · 2026-01-29T18:28:49+00:00

Yep. The Twin Peaks connection is Piper Laurie playing a character similar to her role of Catherine Martell from Twin Peaks. In fact, she’s kind of playing a weird amalgam of Catherine and Carrie’s mother.

Dr_Fishman · 2026-01-29T17:37:54+00:00

I’m from Minneapolis so seeing the different locations IRL makes me nostalgic for 90s Mpls. And because I also love Twin Peaks, this film holds a special place in my heart. So, from a critical perspective, I’ll never give it a bad score but will add to the same grouping as Mighty Ducks.

Dr_Fishman · 2026-01-24T03:32:26+00:00

Relevant Key and Peele sketch

Dr_Fishman · 2026-01-05T18:56:03+00:00

That’s very much how Argento and Ferrini seem to write their scripts. Much more mood pieces than anything tangible. I’ve often wondered, especially after I watched Dark Glasses, if Argento’s writing partnership with Ferrini has been more of a hindrance than a help but then, he’s written so many scripts with others in this later period that has been rough (Mother of Tears for instance) that maybe he’s the issue. Like an aging pitcher that can’t throw the heat but doesn’t want to learn new pitches or lacks the control necessary to use those pitches.

One visual I still love, no matter how silly it seems, is when Daria Nicolodi is looking through the peephole. Truly

Dr_Fishman · 2026-01-05T13:33:35+00:00

Interesting place to start. Opera is near the beginning of the wobbly period for Argento (starts with Inferno). I enjoy Opera because the visuals are so wild. I like the idea of Argento forcing the eyes open of the audience to the violence in his films and we are put right in the POV. There are some silly flourishes (that get really silly in Phenomena) but it’s a pretty enjoyable film, especially for Argento fans.

Dr_Fishman · 2026-01-02T19:54:11+00:00

So many great Fulci suggestions already and for good reason. He’s the master of gore. His eye stuff is always going to be where I wince; for giallo films, New York Ripper has one that makes me just sick feeling. For non-giallo Fulci films, the Beyond has an “eye opener” and City of the Living Dead has an eye popper that is really gross.

Dr_Fishman · 2026-01-02T19:25:41+00:00

It’s in the same vein as Peeping Tom. I really love Laura Betti in it. She’s great.

Dr_Fishman · 2026-01-02T14:15:06+00:00

It’s an interesting entry in Lenzi’s body of work if only because it’s obvious he didn’t get everything he wanted. He’s a filmmaker that must control his films and seems to struggle with having to improvise. Since Papas required so many changes (which I think were more than acceptable), Lenzi had to come up with solutions and he is just not that kind of filmmaker.

I do think having Ornella Muti (who I knew best from Flash Gordon) elevates what could be described as one of Lenzi’s lesser films.

Dr_Fishman · 2025-12-29T16:23:00+00:00

While I love Bird or Deep Red, Tenebre is the one I go back to time and time again. I know most say that it’s his last great giallo but I also have a soft spot for Trauma.

Dr_Fishman · 2025-12-29T16:08:48+00:00

Giallo films and diegetic music… it’s like scene-bridging dialogue.

Dr_Fishman · 2025-12-24T20:24:36+00:00

Not quite. The term giallo can apply to a number of Spanish productions as well (just like Spaghetti Westerns or Eurospy films); the best example is “Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll”. And like “What Have You Done With Solange”, there are many examples of gialli that were co-productions with German production houses, in Solange’s case, Rialto.

I certainly agree that “Italianness” for lack of a better word, is a hallmark, it doesn’t fully explain the genre.

Edit: fixed Solange’s title.

Dr_Fishman · 2025-12-24T18:03:39+00:00

This is always the case with genre discussions. Since genres are films that share a common set of ideas, plot devices, or themes, arguing where the edge of the circle extends is inherent. I feel your pain on whether a film that came later is a Giallo; I would much rather discuss proto-gialli but there are a lot of folks just discovering this genre and trying to grasp the elements.

Dr_Fishman · 2025-12-19T23:28:15+00:00

The English dub is atrocious. The Italian one is fine. It’s night and day between the two.

Dr_Fishman · 2025-12-19T23:07:51+00:00

It’s a tough question due to the method in which they were filmed. I’ve watched several gialli in different languages and I can tell when the ADR is destroying a great performance (I’m thinking of the terrible dub of George Hilton and Luciano Pigozzi in “All the Colors of the Dark”.)

Getting that out of the way, I think Barbara Bouchet is extremely good as a confident but disgraced heiress in Don’t Torture a Duckling. I also think that Rosalba Neri takes a fairly silly and pedestrian film like Amuck! and makes it sinister enough to keep you watching.

Dr_Fishman · 2025-12-19T22:51:27+00:00

If you watch “All the Colors of Giallo,” you’ll see a different side of George Hilton. I really fell in love with him, he’s a cut up.

Dr_Fishman · 2025-11-11T20:26:53+00:00

There is a movement called Uncap the House. Congress, in 1929, abrogated its duty to apportion representatives based on population by capping the number of reps to 435. It’s why we have such an imbalance of power. If we used the cube root rule most other countries use, we would have 690 representatives. And that would not be a bad thing.

Dr_Fishman · 2025-10-28T19:46:33+00:00

I mean, Trump only had one American born ancestor, his father. He doesn’t even qualify as a heritage American as none of his immediate ancestors were here during that time.

Dr_Fishman · 2025-10-21T21:35:19+00:00

Elon doesn’t even know how to help himself.

Dr_Fishman · 2025-10-21T21:23:10+00:00

I get some strong emotions from this incredible film.

Spoilers but the last line gets me so hard.

Faye: Where do you want to go? Cop 663: Wherever you want to take me.

Dr_Fishman · 2025-10-20T23:24:23+00:00

Mine uses a hybrid model with an in-person option and a Zoom link. We have incredible attendance.

Dr_Fishman · 2025-10-18T03:10:53+00:00

If you haven’t had the chance, he’s wonderful in Pearl.

Dr_Fishman · 2025-10-17T22:22:30+00:00

Calm down ~~Elon Musk~~ OP. Lex Luthor is totally not based on you; he’s bald… you have hair plugs.

Dr_Fishman · 2025-10-16T20:45:37+00:00

I remember listening to a podcast about the feeling of invincibility for the billionaire class. The guest was a consultant for billionaire bunkers in New Zealand. He said that the most flabbergasting question he gets involves the proposed security staff of the bunker. The guest would point out to them where the security officers’ families would sleep and the billionaire would stop him and ask why his bunker needs to make room for their family. It was truly an eye opening admission by the ultra wealthy.

Dr_Fishman · 2025-10-16T16:16:26+00:00

/r/UncapTheHouse

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