Giallo Horror Movies

In a lot of ways, watching Giallo is like watching that Donald Trump asshole guy speak: you never know if it's going to be a demented, freaky mess like Twitch of the Death Nerve (1972) or a linear, scripted screed about murder and preposterous intrigue like The Strange Vice Of Mrs. Ward (1971).

Another thing they all have in common is just how garish and over-the-top they can be – again, kinda like Trump. These suspenseful, often super political murder mysteries tend to be graphic, violent, and totally nuts. The explicitness of the sex and murder varies wildly between movies: it could be tame and mostly heartwarming like The Cat Of Nine Tails (1971). Or... it could be brutal, raw and pornographic, like The New York Ripper (1982). Some shit never changes though: it's always gonna be sexist, anticop, colorful, stylish and weird as all hell.

Movies of the Giallo era get pretty out there in their storylines. Sexy, Hitchcock-y whodunits like Death Walks On High Heels (1971) share shelf space with tense, terrifying slaughterfests like Opera (1987). But that doesn't mean there's not an assload of common tropes: you'll see black leather gloves, a masked killer, really pretty cinematography and J&B scotch – we promise. There'll probably be tons of gratuitous nudity and a bangin' soundtrack too, but not necessarily every time.

This genre's best known for its hip, 70s stylishness, dramatic lighting, and just the mostridiculous killing ever. But it's just as well-known for it's total nonsense plots and terrible writing: legendary Gothic director Mario Bava took an early turn at Giallo with Blood and Black Lace (1964) – definitely no masterpiece of suspense or storytelling but man, it's pretty, it's cool and it's fun. Even the classics like Deep Red (1975) and Strip Nude For Your Killer (1975) don't, like, make a ton of sense.

Giallo movies are pretty much exclusively from Italy in the 70s and 80s. It's not like it's a dead style or anything, films like Berberian Sound Studio (2012), The Strange Color Of Your Bodies Tears (2013), and the criminally underrated Amer (2009) are still being made, and we're pretty sure none of those are even Italian. Do you have a favorite Giallo? Did we not mention it here? Is it Suspiria (1977)? Suspiria totally isn't a Giallo, dude. Go ahead and check through our library – as always, rate what you've seen, watch what you haven't, and let us know what we're missing on Twitter.