Giallo

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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 which 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), the Hostel movies, and pretty much anything by Brian De Palma. Slasher Movies from Friday the 13th onward have appropriated bits and pieces of the giallo sensibility, as well.

And now you to can create your own, with the Do-It-Yourself Giallo Kit.

Common tropes include

• Acquitted Too Late
• Animal Motifs
• Death by Sex
• Drop-Dead Gorgeous
• Everyone Is a Suspect
• Freudian Excuse
• Going by the Matchbook
• Hand of Death: Almost always the black-gloved version.
• Kensington Gore
• Mood Lighting
• Motive Rant
• Never One Murder
• Peek-a-Boo Corpse
• Red Herring: Often an incredibly cheap variety in which one character is clearly extremely suspicious, creepy and weird and end up dead like any other victim without so much as a Hand Wave as to their odd behavior.
• Serial Killer
• The Summation
• Word Salad Title