BLOOD AND BLACK LACE
“The Giallo Rose of Texas”
Oct 14 – Nov 4
A retrospective examining the origins and the influence of Italian Horror Genre known as “Giallo”, taken from the pulp book covers colored yellow throughout Europe. Although the popularity of these films can be seen in later entries largely by the powerhouse Dario Argento, it was actually Mario Bava who was deeply influenced by the film PSYCHO dir. by Alfred Hitchcock. The Arrival of this semi-non linear film that bucked the system and created a “girl in trouble” motif that was turned on its head for decades to come. Early versions of Giallo crime genre was linked to American Noir, itself a reaction to Italian realism. But “Psycho” took these elements and exploded them into the various factions we know today.
THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (AKA EVIL EYE) -dir. MARIO BAVA was the first to directly riff of the Hitchcock film, while introducing Italian trademarks both in shot choices and style that would cement the difference.
Bava’s follow up film BLOOD AND BLACK LACE ushers in the most essential ingredient to the Giallo genre and its antecedents, aesthetics and beauty. The story is pinned by the fashion house it the 60’s, an unsurprising choice but gorgeous and horrifying at once.
ARGENTO’s follow up THE BIRD with the CRYTSAL PLUMAGE riffs on the fashion element while introducing the hard left plot twist that would keep audiences guessing.
There is no doubt Brian DePalma saw Argento’s Giallo work. He was also a student of all things Hitchcock so it seems impossible for him not to have made DRESSED TO KILL as an ode to Giallo.
DEEP RED has it all. Some like myself, don’t place Argento and Bava in such direct competition considering Bava was already upping the game with BAY of BLOOD into slasher territory and ARGENTO was introducing mystical elements. Regardless, DEEP RED is considered rightly so, the apex of the era’s GIALLO movement as it progressed and influenced filmmakers for decades to come.
Roman Polanski’s film REPULSION has been added to the lineup because of a spiritual connection that split into the metaphysics of Giallo storylines and varying degrees of acceptance. It most certainly had an effect on Argento’s work and the Horror Genre as a whole in this period.