Genre deep dive: What is a ‘Giallo?’

by Alex Ross Managing Editor

Horror’s complex history contains a wide-array of sub-genres, but none are as unique or celebrated as the Giallo films from Italy.

Giallo (pronounced dji-ah-lo) translates from Italian to “yellow,” a reference to the yellow backing of cheaply-made novels popular in Italy throughout the early to mid 20th century.

Giallo stories dealt with murder-mystery plot lines or had an investigative slant to them. While most of the stories were originally written in English and translated to Italian, these little yellow books became a staple in stores around the country due to their cheap prices and eye-catching artwork.

The popularity of these kinds of stories bled into the film genre, as filmmakers started to embrace these exploitative storylines and mix them with eccentric visuals, horrifying effects, and supernatural story-elements.

“The Girl Who Knew Too Much,” directed by Mario Brava and released in 1963, laid the groundwork for the typical Giallo struc- ture which would be used by future directors.

The structure typically goes like this: an outsider, the protagonist, becomes entangled with a murder-plot that is referenced near the beginning of the film. The unknown murderer follows the protagonist to murder them, as the protagonist usually holds information that would bring the murderer to justice.

Close to the very end of the story, the murderer is revealed and the protagonist is vindicated in their actions. While there may be slight deviations to this structure, most films follow it beat for beat.

With a basic story structure like that, the films might come off as redundant, but what sets most of them apart are their creative production choices and unique visual styles. Their production quality feels equal to that of their novel counterparts, but there-in lies the charm.

Emphasis is often placed on the cinematography, or how the camera is set up in each shot. The angles of the camera are often absurd or distorted. Mixed with the expansive use of colors, bombastic soundtracks, over-the-top death scenes, and odd overdub- bing of voice lines, they all coalesce into an unnerving experience that would simply be tough to explain through words.

Giallo’s popularity peaked between the mid60s to the early-80s, but films under the genre are still being made today.

Directors like Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci and the previously mentioned Mario Brava are all considered to be masterminds of the genre, specifically Argento. His filmography includes “Inferno,” “Opera,” “The Bird with the Crystal Plumage,’’ and considered by many critics and film-fans to be the definitive film of the genre, “Suspiria.” Due to the exploitative nature of its approach to storytelling, Giallo is far from accessible to the majority of audiences.

However sects of the filmmaking and horror communities appreciate the unique style. Directors like Eli Roth, Quentin Tarantino and Brian De Palma have all cited Giallo as a big influence for their movies.

Without the cheaply made works of Argento and Brava, classic movies like Pulp Fiction or Basic Instinct may not exist in the form that they do today.