Examples include: Deep Red (1975), A Lizard in a Womans Skin (1971), Opera (1987), Amer (2009), Berberian Sound Studio (2012) Giallo is an Italian blend of mystery and horror that was popularised in the early 70s and still has a considerable cult following today. The name stems from a series of cheap, paperback mystery novels that were published around the time (Giallo is Italian for Yellow), but the move from book into film is a huge transformation in theme and style. Using lurid and vivid colours and extraordinary set designs, Giallo films can often feel like a serial killer in a school disco (which actually occurs in 2014s The Guest). Using many of the conventions of earlier horror films like Psycho, such as the camera providing the killers perspective in murder scenes, Giallo developed its own retelling of the mystery and horror hybrid, adopting a supernatural quality which appealed to Italys Catholic heritage and Edgar Allan Poe fans across the globe. Instead of the investigators finding the culprit through their skills in logical deduction, the protagonist is thrown into the paranormal; where only spirits, ghosts and invisible powers can save them from death and madness. In the US, prog-rock was associated with sci-fi (Vangelis for Blade Runner, the bands U.F.O. and Yes) but in Italy, they took the otherworldly sound of the synthesiser as a method of building the tension in a horror format. Artists like Fabio Frizzi and Goblin chill the spine with tinkling keys and then blast your senses raw with their over-fuzzed electric guitar crescendos. If youre looking for a spot of unexplained, unadulterated creepiness, Argentos Deep Red and Tenebrae are seen as pioneers in the genre and leave you with the chills long after watching.
