Few film genres have as much influence as the Giallo. For that matter, few genres also spark such fierce debate and misunderstanding. The genre takes its name from the Italian word for yellow, inspired by the yellow-covered crime books that popularized the types of stories that inspired the films. Those stories can vary, especially in tone and presentation, but all Gialli (the plural form of Giallo) have one thing in common. In English, we’d call them “whodunnits.”
Whether the question of “whodunnit” applies to a series of murders or one inciting death, these films of the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s bring their mystery plots to the screen with a phenomenal amount of style and twists and turns that have been making audiences’ heads spin (with joy) for decades.
For those looking to dive into the genre and get a taste of what it offers, find here an intro to Giallo in films.
Blood and Black Lace (1964)
While Mario Bava’s previous Giallo, The Girl Who Knew Too Much, may have ushered in the genre, but his second, the lavish Blood and Black Lace, remains his best and most popular. The film introduces several elements that become staples in the genre, including a masked and black-gloved killer who commits violent and stylish murders.
The film’s plot centers around a fashion house and the diary of a murdered girl that could expose several scandals that would destroy the reputations of the designers and models who work at the house. The many employees lend the film both cannon (or rather knife) fodder for the staged suspense and murder scenes and for salacious plotlines that see multiple romantic pairings among the characters.
Blood and Black Lace offers a perfect entry point for someone who has never seen Giallo before. It’s a mix of striking imagery, bright colors, beautiful women, and a labyrinthine plot that may equally confuse and satisfy.
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)
Bava may have originated the genre, but Dario Argento remains the director most synonymous with the Giallo. Argento’s first film, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, follows American journalist Sam (Tony Musante), who witnesses an attempted murder through the glass doors of an art gallery. The attempted murder comes in the middle of a series of killings of young women, and the police think that Sam may help them find the killer.
But Sam knows there’s something off about what he saw. As Sam investigates, the killings continue, offering viewers some shocking murder sequences that combine the carnal and the macabre. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage helped explode the popularity of the Giallo, and watching more than fifty years later, viewers can see why.
Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972)
While Blood and Black Lace and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage center on the murder of young women in Rome, Don’t Torture a Duckling takes place in a small rural village and the disappearances of young boys. A less colorful, more disturbing film, it tackles serious topics like abuse and sexuality in the Catholic Church.
Don’t Torture a Duckling also stands out as one of the first films by “Godfather of gore” Lucio Fulci that features significant practical gore effects, offering audiences some stomach-churning images of human bodies. There’s nothing quite like Don’t Torture a Duckling, but that’s why it’s an excellent place to start. It’s a singular Giallo that highlights the genre’s malleability.
Opera (1987)
Perhaps Argento’s final Giallo masterpiece, Opera, may also claim the title of Argento’s best Giallo. The film follows aspiring opera singer Betty (Cristina Marsillach), who takes on the starring role of Lady Macbeth in a production of Verdi’s Macbeth after the original star sustains an injury. Betty’s first performance is a massive success, but things quickly take a turn for the worse when a masked killer binds her hands and forces her to watch the murder of her boyfriend.
Opera’s horror sequences terrify not only because of the violence and suspense but also because the killer forces Betty to watch his crimes. The film functions as a horror film about horror films, a film that won’t let its protagonist look away from the horrors enacted in front of her. The mystery elements remain as solid as usual in Argento’s Gialli, though the highly-stylized, heavy-metal-soundtracked murder sequences make Opera a must-watch for fans of formally exciting horror films.
The Fifth Cord (1971)
The Fifth Cord tells another story of a journalist (as do many Gialli) at the center of a series of murders. What starts as an investigation into who attacked but didn’t kill a colleague soon expands into a dangerous exploration into an underworld filled with carnality and violent death for Andrea (Franco Nero).
The dense plot of The Fifth Cord challenges viewers and may well elude comprehension on first viewing. But the film offers more aesthetic than narrative rewards. Shot by Oscar-winning cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, The Fifth Cord draws from film noir’s intense light and dark contrast to create what filmmaker Sean Baker called “the most beautifully shot Giallo film.”
Short Night of Glass Dolls (1971)
While The Fifth Cord draws on the visual language of film noir, Short Night of the Glass Dolls dives headfirst into one of noir’s most iconic storytelling structures. The film begins with a seemingly dead man in a morgue, but he’s not dead. In voiceover, he takes the audience into a flashback as he attempts to remember how he got here.
The film then moves back and forth between the narrative of tests performed on his inanimate body in the morgue and the story of how he became a living corpse. It starts with the disappearance of his girlfriend. Soon, he investigates the disappearance of several young women and connections to a mysterious club.
Short Night of the Glass Dolls may be the most similar to a classic noir of any Giallo, with its voiceover, flashbacks, and a slowly revealed grand conspiracy. Because of that, the film serves as a fantastic stepping stone from one genre to the other for fans of noir.
The Possessed (1965)
The Possessed, based on the novel La donna del lago by Giovanni Comisso, follows a writer who takes a vacation to a lakeside town that he previously visited and where he became infatuated with a hotel maid. When he arrives, he learns that the maid has died by suicide.
Refusing to believe that she would do such a thing, the writer begins to investigate. As he investigates, more questions arise, and bodies pile up. The Possessed features an even more quintessential noir voiceover style than Short Night of the Glass Dolls, drawing the audience into the protagonist’s headspace. As the film goes on, he struggles to tell the difference between his memories and reality, and dreamlike flashbacks hint at his unreliability as a narrator.
The Possessed also stands as not just one of the few black and white Gialli but also one of the most beautiful. Again shot by Vittorio Storaro, starring strong-jawed Peter Baldwin as the writer and the gorgeous Virna Lisi as the obsession-worthy maid, The Possessed offers cinematic and human beauty in spades.
The Psychic (1977)
Fulci may carry the title of “godfather of gore,” but not all his films bathe in blood and guts to the same extent. The Psychic functions more as a psychological horror film than a viscerally intense one. The film’s supernatural premise motivates the focus on psychology.
Virginia (Jennifer O’Neill) has a vision of a murder and attempts to piece together the elements of her vision with the world around her. She discovers a body in the walls of her and her husband’s new home, unfolding a mystery that evolves throughout the film.
The Psychic pulls the audience into Virginia’s perspective, in real-time and through the frequent flashbacks (or flash-forwards?) of her vision to create an enveloping atmosphere. That atmosphere makes The Psychic feel almost more similar to a ghost story than the more grounded crime plots of most Gialli, but the whodunnit elements and many twists and turns ensure The Psychic belongs firmly in the genre.
The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972)
Like The Psychic, The Red Queen Kills Seven Times gestures towards the supernatural. But unlike that film, which confirms its supernatural element in the opening, The Red Queen Kills Seven Times asks whether the supernatural even exists. The film centers on two sisters who survived their third sister, who just so happens to look a lot like a recent killer, based on sketches.
The movie follows the drama between the two sisters, their loved ones and colleagues, and the inheritance of a castle. At the same time, they attempt to avoid death and solve the mystery of the eponymous “Red Queen” killer. The Red Queen Kills Seven Times almost feels like a soap opera, with its many characters, each with some interest in the inheritance, and several overlapping romantic pairings made and broken over the film’s runtime.
Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972)
Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key offers a more manageable number of characters for those looking for complicated family dynamics in the Gialli. The film centers on a washed-up author, his wife, and the vivacious niece who appears at their home shortly after the murder of the author’s mistress.
The film plays out like a game of cat and mouse between three players, with some murders thrown in to keep the audience assured of the film’s horror bonafides. But more than the horror or whodunnit elements, the scandalous relationships between niece Floriana (Edwige Fenech), her uncle, and her aunt keep audiences rapt to Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key. The more interesting question is not who has killed and why, but rather the motives and desires of each of the three leads.
A Bay of Blood (1971)
Any American Slasher fan, especially fans of the Friday the 13th franchise, will feel at home watching A Bay of Blood. By far Mario Bava’s most violent movie, the film tells the story of a fight over inheritance (a staple of Gialli) in and around the bayside mansion of a recently murdered matriarch.
But more than the setting near a body of water and the high body count, A Bay of Blood introduces a group of teenagers who add a dose of salaciousness before their graphic deaths. In fact, one kill that sees a spear go through two teens in the throes of passion and combines the selling points of sexuality and death, so much so that Friday the 13th Part 2 would rehash it years later.
Torso (1973)
The remote villa setting and the student characters mark Torso as another Giallo that directly inspired the explosion of slashers on the other side of the Atlantic a few years later.
The film centers on a group of young women who escape to a remote villa after one becomes the target of a masked serial killer. Of course, the killer follows them and soon begins picking off beautiful young ladies. The killer strangles women with scarves and then dismembers their bodies in shocking detail.
Film and TV Critic, Pop Culture Writer
Expertise: Horror, Animation, Queer Film
Education: Master’s Degree in Philosophy from Boston College, Dual Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy and Political Science from Boston College
Organizer of Queer Film Challenge on Letterboxd
Over 200 reviews, essays, articles, and lists across various sites
Experience: Kyle Logan has been writing about film since studying film and philosophy as an undergraduate at Boston College. Kyle began writing about film professionally in 2020 and has written for many sites including Screen Anarchy, Film Stories, and Fangoria. Kyle has also organized the Queer Film Challenge on Letterboxd since 2020, highlighting the queer history of film and bringing attention to rising queer filmmakers. Kyle now works full time with Wealth of Geeks, contributing lists, reviews, and podcast appearances on topics as varied as film, travel, and Halloween candy.