A cycle of stylish, psychosexually loaded Italian crime films which peaked sometime in the late '70s. The name means "yellow," and refers to the yellow covers of the pulp detective novels that were adapted into the first of the films. Gialli are generally plotted as "puzzle" mysteries (with either police or amateurs investigating), but with a heavy admixture of horror and thriller elements.
Major directors of gialli include Dario Argento, Mario Bava, and Lucio Fulci.
Many American movies have been influenced by gialli. These include Basic Instinct, Kill Bill, Vol. 2 (when it isn't being a Spaghetti Western), Se7en, the Hostel movies, and most of Brian De Palma’s filmography. Slasher Movies have their roots in the giallo sensibility, as well. All quite appropriate, considering the considerable stylistic influence the genre draws from Alfred Hitchcock—to the point that many have deemed Hitch the unofficial "father" of Giallo cinema.
And now you too can create your own, with the Do-It-Yourself Giallo Kit.
A related genre is the German "krimis".
Common tropes include:
- Acquitted Too Late
- Animal Motifs: Movie titles often include animals or insects, like The Bird with the Crystal Plumage or Black Belly of the Tarantula.
- Conspicuous Trenchcoat: the default outfit for Giallo killers is a black leather coat with matching fedora and gloves, and sometimes a mask
- Drop Dead Gorgeous
- Everyone Is a Suspect
- Fake Nationality: If the film's set anywhere but Italy, it's a guarantee that there's several of these (and even then there are exceptions).
- Film Noir: Somewhat comparable to this genre, but much more colorful, surreal, and gory.
- Freudian Excuse
- These Gloves Are Made for Killin'
- Going by the Matchbook
- Hand of Death: Almost always the black-gloved version.
- Interplay of Sex and Violence: Murders often done toward Fanservice female characters
- Kensington Gore
- Mood Lighting
- Motive Rant
- Never One Murder
- Peek-a-Boo Corpse
- Police Are Useless: if the main character is a civilian trying to solve the murders on their own, the cops will never figure it out first
- Product Placement: Specifically, bottles of J&B blended scotch whisky are so commonplace in giallo that they've turned into something of an Easter Egg or Running Gag with fans.
- Quirky Work
- Red Herring: Frequently found in mystery films, but in addition:
- Creepy Red Herring: The psychosexual focus of gialli frequently results in characters that are built up to be clearly extremely suspicious, creepy and weird, yet end up dead like any other victim, without so much as a Hand Wave as to their odd behavior.
- Serial Killer
- Sex Signals Death
- Scenery Porn: brutal killings are often contrasted against stunning architecture and landscapes
- The Summation
- Often requires either a Motive Rant or After-Action Villain Analysis to make sense of why the murders happened
- Word Salad Title
Giallo films:
- Autopsy (1975)
- A Bay of Blood
- The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
- The Black Belly of the Tarantula
- Blood and Black Lace
- The Case of the Bloody Iris
- The Cat o' Nine Tails
- Death Laid an Egg
- Death Walks on High Heels
- Deep Red
- Don't Look Now
- Don't Torture a Duckling
- Five Dolls for an August Moon
- Four Flies on Grey Velvet
- Giallo in Venice
- The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963)
- The House with Laughing Windows
- Inferno
- Knife for the Ladies
- The New York Ripper
- Nightmare Beach
- Nine Guests for a Crime
- Opera
- Phenomena
- The Police Are Blundering in the Dark
- Il Profumo Della Signora In Nero
- Puzzle
- Seven Murders for Scotland Yard
- So Sweet, So Dead
- Tenebre
- Too Beautiful To Die
- Torso
- Trauma (1993)
- Watch Me When I Kill
- What Have You Done to Solange?
Giallo homages:
- Alice, Sweet Alice
- American Nightmare (1983)
- Basic Instinct
- Berberian Sound Studio - literally set during the making of a giallo film
- Bloodwash
- Bloody Moon
- The Burning
- City in Panic
- Cruising
- The Dark Half
- Don't Open Till Christmas
- Dressed to Kill
- Eyes of Laura Mars
- The Gore Gore Girls
- Hostel
- I Know Who Killed Me
- Kill Bill, Volume 2
- Knife and Heart
- Knight Moves
- Last Night in Soho
- Malignant
- Maxxxine
- Night After Night After Night
- Night School (1981)
- Pieces
- Schizo
- Se7en
- The Toolbox Murders
- Unhinged (1982)
