12. Footprints on the Moon (1974)
This haunting film has the distinction of being the only Giallo to make me cry (though What Have You Done To Solange comes close). Another standing ovation for the amazing Florinda Balkan, whose acting skills never cease to astound me. Alice (Balkan) has a nice life as an interpreter but she gets sacked from her job due to poor attendance and memory loss. The problem is, she is addicted to tranquilisers as she is tormented by flashbacks to a movie she watched as a young girl featuring cruel experiments on astronauts on the moon. Alice gets a strong urge to go to a less than majestic tourist resort called Garma where everyone seems to know her as 'Nicole'. Pieces of the puzzle fall into place and Alice begins to lose her mind.. Advertised as 'the saddest, most melancholy Giallo', Footprints is extremely downbeat. I just felt so bad for Florinda at the end where she hallucinates astronauts are coming to get her, I shed a little tear. I do admit that the film is quite confusing in places and perhaps drags out the heroine's trauma for too long. But as a mood piece and a study of madness, Footprints on The Moon will haunt your dreams.