Giallo
Giallo. That word you have heard a thousand times before. Maybe you've heard it before being a true Giallo aficionado and you know your Locked Room Vices from your Forbidden Photos.
Or maybe, just maybe, you've heard that name and thought "What on earth is that??" but have been shamed in to a corner to not pop your head up and know more. Well, your friends here at ARROW want to make that right. This is a space you can watch things for the first time or watch them for the hundredth time - let us help out with our ARROW Giallo collection!
Consider it a kind of starter pack to the wonderful Giallo sub-genre and delve in to some of the most iconic examples of Giallo that have ever been made. Marvel at the visual splendour of The Fifth Cord. Coil back in horror at the murderously violent glee of Strip Nude For Your Killer (USA and Canada only). Watch what many say is one of the greatest examples of Giallo in Dario Argento's Deep Red. Or maybe see what a modern take on the genre looks like in the ARROW Exclusive The Last Matinee.
That's all there, and more, as we present to you an incredible selection to start with and explore in the ARROW Giallo collection
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Smile Before Death
1972 • Italy • Directed by Silvio Amadio
In Silvio Amadio’s Smile Before Death, familicide with a sprinkling of Oedipal love is the order of the day when teenager Nancy (Jenny Tamburi, The Suspicious Death of a Minor) returns home to discover the apparent suicide of her mother, and quickly comes...
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The Weapon, the Hour, the Motive
1972 • Italy • Directed by Francesco Mazzei
Horny priests and self-flagellating nuns abound in Francesco Mazzei’s The Weapon, the Hour, the Motive, as police commissioner Franco Boito (Renzo Montagnani, Massacre in Rome) investigates the brutal murder of a young clergyman, only to enter into an ...
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The Killer Reserved Nine Seats
1974 • Italy • Directed by Giuseppe Bennati
In Giuseppe Bennati’s The Killer Reserved Nine Seats, an assortment of wealthy degenerates – including Italian cult mainstays Andrea Scotti (Django, Prepare a Coffin) and Howard Ross (The Pyjama Girl Case) – answer the summons of an eccentric nobleman ...
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Deep Red
From Dario Argento, maestro of the macabre and the man behind some the greatest excursions in Italian horror (Suspiria, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage), comes Deep Red - arguably the ultimate giallo movie. One night, musician Marcus Daly (David Hemmings, Blow Up), looking up from the street be...
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The Cat o' Nine Tails
When a break-in occurs at a secretive genetics institute, blind puzzle-maker Franco Arnò (Karl Malden: Patton, One-Eyed Jacks), who overheard an attempt to blackmail one of the institute's scientists shortly before the robbery, teams up with intrepid reporter Carlo Giordani (James Franciscus: Ben...
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Death Walks at Midnight
Valentina - a model who, in the midst of a drug-fuelled photoshoot, witnesses a brutal murder in the apartment opposite hers. But when it becomes clear that the savage slaying she describes relates to a crime that took place six months earlier, the police are at a loss - forcing Valentina to solv...
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Death Has Blue Eyes
1976 · Greece · Directed by Nico Mastorakis
Death Has Blue Eyes is a gripping paranormal action thriller with shades of giallo from the director of the cult classic video nasty Island of Death (1976). When local gigolo Chess (Chris Nomikos) greets his vacationing friend Bob Kovalski (Peter Winte...
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Death Walks on High Heels
In Death Walks on High Heels (1971), exotic dancer Nicole (Navarro), the daughter of a murdered jewel thief, finds herself terrorised by a black-clad assailant determined on procuring her father's stolen gems. Fleeing Paris and her knife-wielding pursuer, Nicole arrives in London only to discover...
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Torso
A sex maniac is prowling the streets of Perugia, targeting the picturesque university town's female students. Alarmed at the plummeting life expectancy of the student body, Jane (Suzy Kendall, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage) and her three friends elope to a secluded country villa - only to dis...
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Don't Torture A Duckling
From Lucio Fulci, the godfather of gore (The Psychic, The Beyond), comes one of the most powerful and unsettling giallo thrillers ever produced: his 1972 masterpiece Don't Torture a Duckling.
When the sleepy rural village of Accendura is rocked by a series of murders of young boys, the supersti...
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The Case of the Scorpion's Tail (original Italian audio)
One of the major consequences of Western Europe's post-war Economic Miracle was the proliferation of international travel. Eager to tap into audiences' desire to experience the glamour of the jet-set lifestyle, the popular filmmakers of the day rushed to make the most of the exotic locales at the...
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The Case of the Scorpion's Tail (English version)
One of the major consequences of Western Europe's post-war Economic Miracle was the proliferation of international travel. Eager to tap into audiences' desire to experience the glamour of the jet-set lifestyle, the popular filmmakers of the day rushed to make the most of the exotic locales at the...
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The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion
Before the influence of Dario Argento's 'The Bird with the Crystal Plumage' permeated every corner of the giallo genre, another strain of these distinctive Italian thrillers enjoyed considerable success. These "melodrama gialli", heavily inspired by Clouzot's 'Les diaboliques', relied less on gra...
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The Fifth Cord
The success of Dario Argento's 'The Bird with the Crystal Plumage' ushered in a host of imitators, seeking to capitalise on this new, modern take on the giallo thriller. Many were highly derivative, but a number nonetheless rose above the crowd thanks to skilful execution and a willingness to exp...
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The Pyjama Girl Case
1977 • Italy • Directed by Flavio Mogherini
Throughout the late 1960s and into the 70s, the Italian giallo movement transported viewers to the far corners of the globe, from swinging San Francisco to the Soviet-occupied Prague. Only one, however, brought the genre's unique brand of bloody mayhem...
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The Red Queen Kills Seven Times
1972 • Italy • Directed by Emilio P. Miraglia
An age-old family curse hits sisters Kitty and Franziska following the death of their grandfather Tobias. Every hundred years, so the legend goes, the bloodthirsty Red Queen returns and claims seven fresh victims. Was Tobias just the first... and are...
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The Suspicious Death of a Minor
In the wake of the success of Dario Argento's ground-breaking giallo "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage", numerous other directors stepped forward to try their hand at these lurid murder-mysteries. At the forefront was Sergio Martino (The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh, Torso), whose sensual 70s thril...
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The Possessed
The Possessed' is a wonderfully atmospheric proto-giallo based on one of Italy's most notorious crimes, The Alleghe killings, and adapted from the book on that case by acclaimed literary figure Giovanni Comisso. Peter Baldwin (The Ghost, The Weekend Murders) stars as Bernard, a depressed novelist...
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Double Face
In the post-war years, the proliferation of transnational European co-productions gave rise to a cross-pollination of genres, with the same films sold in different markets as belonging to different movements. Among these, Riccardo Freda's ('I vampiri', 'The Horrible Dr. Hichock') 'Double Face' wa...
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Killer Nun
1979 • Italy • Directed by Giulio Berruti
Aging blonde-bombshell Anita Ekberg ('La Dolce Vita', 'Pick-up Alley') gives a full-bodied performance as a sex-crazed sister with some seriously bad habits in the lurid cult classic 'Killer Nun'. One of the most notorious 'nunsploitation' films, 'Killer...
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Who Saw Her Die?
Sculptor Franco Serpieri (Lazenby) welcomes Roberta (Nicoletta Elmi, 'Deep Red') - his young daughter from a failed marriage - to Venice, unaware that a disturbed child-killer is stalking the city's canals. When Roberta's body is found floating face-down in the river, the lives of Franco and his ...
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Strip Nude For Your Killer
A spate of highly sexualized murders is rocking a prestigious Milanese fashion house. Ambitious photographer Magda (Edwige Fenech, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key) and her on-off boyfriend, love rat Carlo (Nino Castelnuovo, The English Patient), team up to crack the case. But, ...
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Mill of the Stone Women (Italian version)
1960 • Italy • Directed by Giorgio Ferroni
Before Black Sabbath, before I Vampiri, director Giorgio Ferroni (The Lion of Thebes, Blood for a Silver Dollar) introduced audiences to period horror Italian-style with his chilling 1960 shocker Mill of the Stone Women – a classic tale of terror redole...
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Profondo Giallo
A brand new visual essay by Arrow Films' Michael Mackenzie featuring an in-depth appreciation of Deep Red.
