Opening Thoughts: I blame my love of Giallo films, on my local arthouse theater The Film Bar Phoenix. The Film Bar Phoenix has a unique set of programming every month that has various tracks of programming whether that Cinemania, BS Movies, American Genre Film Archive, Arthouse Society, and more. Name a theater in the world that you can see Spice World, Roma, The Candy Tangerine Man, The Stuff, Deep Red, and Metropolis all on the same screen on the same day? Yes I am spoiled where I live.
So as you can see the variety leads to a journey with many different paths. One of those paths includes Giallo films, Italian Slasher films. Last year alone I saw Deep Red, Don't Torture a Duckling, and The Bird With the Crystal Plumage on the big screen. In a few weeks, I will get to see Martino's Torso on the big screen. All of these are top tier films that make you want to find and explore more Giallo, but where do you start there are hundreds of films to consider?
It's a difficult and somewhat complicated process if you pick the wrong films you might lose your love of all things Giallo. So when Severin-films.com announced an in depth look in the form of a documentary that will take a look into the history of Giallo I got excited. Alot of promises were made with this release mostly hours upon hours of Giallo trailers with Kat Ellinger doing audio commentary, a 2nd disc focusing on Krimi films from Germany, and a 3rd disc that is a cd filled with Giallo music. Not a bad deal at $28 if it lives up to promise. It's time to put on the black gloves to see if this release can survive.
Review: Disc 1 for the most part carries the guts of what was promised that any Giallo fan would love to get their hands on. A full feature length documentary by Severin that features interviews all across the board from the filmmakers and stars of who is still with us along with interviews with historians all giving the background from the humble beginnings in book format to its premiere on the big screen to what Giallo is through the 80s. Some jaw dropping facts from the masters themselves, like did you know the same man who created the creepy doll in Deep Red also created the Alien costume and ET. The documentary really gives you a deeper appreciation for these films.
Now you get to the fun part of the disc 1, the Giallothon. The Giallothon is 82 handpicked Giallo Film Trailers to mark the beginning of the Giallo era to what many people feel is the end of the Giallo's as you know them. Now to watch the evolution Giallo from trailers is great. Yet Severin said there was supposed to be over 100 trailers. Seems to be 19 short of what was promised to us, but my guess is that is because they were counting the Krimi trailers in that amount. The playtime is just over 4 hours and in that time you get to see laughing houses, killer nuns, mutant chickens, and killers on motorcycles. Now if you just want to watch the trailers that is fine, but you do have the option of watching this with film herstorian Kat Ellinger.
Ellinger does a fantastic job of leading you from The Girl Who Knew Too Much the beginnings of Giallo to A Blade in the Dark while not the end of Giallo by any means, but definitely hanging on by a thread then. Kat painstakingly takes the time to describe each film within the trailer talking about actors, directors, plots, and anything else about the film or other projects. Just to hear her talk on Mario Bava, Massimo Dallamano, Dario Argento, and Fulci is fantastic. Kat doesn't hold much back she will be honest if a trailer is misleading. You should be able tell by the end of each trailer with her commentary if you want to add a film to your watch list or not. The good thing is you can watch the trailers individually if you want as well. You can't ask for much more.
Disc 2 I am going to be brutally honest about. I didn't purchase this release for Krimi so it's a nice to have edition, but after spending over 10 hours watching disc 1 I am in no hurry in watching this soon. Plus I already have enough addictions as is with films.
Disc 3 The Strange Sounds of the Blood Stained Films CD Soundtrack
As always a random set of scores on a disc, means you may like some and may dislike others it really depends on your music preferences. You might be a fan of Goblin, but dislike Morricone. In the pictures above I attached a list of songs and their credits you decide for yourself. My personal favorites on there are Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai. This CD is just a nice add on touch.
Closing Thoughts: If you are a fan of giallo or just looking for a reference guide to giallo style horror films this BluRay/DVD/CD set is a steal at $28, but you may find it hurting your pockets in other ways. I own 29 of the 82 films in the Giallothon and honestly I want to own probably around 20 more in this set. So you can understand why I don't want to watch the Krimi part because that can burn even more of a hole in my pocket. I wish the documentary was more in English vs. Italian, but that is just me. Either way it is a fun laugh at times. This maybe the Ultimate Guide to Giallo that comes in a home media format.
Overall 9 out of 10
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