Whilst the giallo has often bordered on sleazy and misogynistic, usually the filmmakers have been wise to tread carefully when flirting with sex and violence, often avoiding featuring both in any given shot. Mario Bava’s Reazione a catena (aka Twitch of the Death Nerve) had disgusted audiences and Dario Argento’s ‘Animal Trilogy‘ had boasted impressive murders, but these were usually displayed with a level of subtlety and style.
Italian horror has always been a little derivative. I vampiri (also known as The Devil’s Commandment) reflected the gothic sensibilities of Hammer, that were enjoying their most prolific period at the time of its release.
Whilst the likes of Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci have become cult figures in Italian cinema, it is arguable that the country’s greatest export for horror was Mario Bava, an ingenious and stylish filmmaker who, much like Alfred Hitchcock, was a disciplined and intelligent storyteller who would fill his movies with visual metaphors, subtle clues and a dazzling array of beautiful images and breathtaking set pieces.
Some may find it hard to believe but there was more to the giallo genre than Dario Argento and Mario Bava. Whilst they had become the most respected and successful filmmakers, there were countless other directors who would leave their mark and help raise the profile of Italian cinema during the seventies.
1975’s Profondo rosso (aka Deep Red) saw Italian filmmaker Dario Argento return to the giallo format that he had desperately tried to distance himself from after a string of successful murder mysteries had threatened to leave him typecast as a horror director.