Welcome
Hello. I’m Bob Pastorella, co-host of the This Is Horror podcast, website manager for This Is Horror, and writer. I’m the author of Mojo Rising, They’re Watching (with Michael David Wilson), and have numerous short-stories and non-fiction online and in print in various publications.
Hey everybody!
Welcome to my first newsletter.
I guess introductions are in order. I’m Bob Pastorella, co-host of the This Is Horror podcast, website manager for This Is Horror, and writer. I wrote Mojo Rising, They’re Watching (with Michael David Wilson), and have numerous short-stories and non-fiction online and in print in various publications.
I’ve been writing for a long time. (This is the part of the newsletter where I simultaneously age myself and give the Roy Batty monologue … “I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate.”). I’ve seen the horror industry rise and fall and rise again, as well as witnessed the changes in publishing and film production, all the good, the bad, and the terribly ugly … but mostly good. I’ll spare you all the “back in my day, we used to walk five miles in the snow to the post-office and snail mail our stories, knowing we probably would never get a reply, and we liked it!” talk to say that there have been some monumental changes I’ve seen, and most of them are for the better. I’m no expert, but I’ve had some experiences, gained some knowledge along the way, and I think I have something to share.
I haven’t decided if I’ll do these weekly, monthly, quarterly … I don’t know. A lot of it depends on response, which takes time to build, but also I’m extremely busy with writing and podcasting and a soul-sucking, mind-numbing day job that has really good benefits and the hours aren’t that bad. As with anything else, time will tell.
Giallo.
This is a topic that’s been on my mind for a while, and not just because of the recent film Malignant. I predicted Malignant would be the most polarizing horror film this year, and damn I was right. It’s a love it or hate it film, and I love that aspect of it. Many did not enjoy it, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. There’s plenty of stuff out there I don’t enjoy either, so let’s not dunk on those with different tastes than ours.
I think it’s important to know what horror is capable of doing in different mediums, and giallo is one of the more expressive sides of genre. The Italian word for yellow, giallo was first designated for the covers of thriller literature, including the works of many British and American authors. Just like horror in general, the stories did not require a supernatural element. These covers were lurid, bright, and easy to spot on shelves. In the film medium, which didn’t begin proper until the 1960’s, giallo pushed the boundaries of explicit content for that time.
James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice was adapted as a giallo in Italy in the 1940’s, but it was condemned by the government. This was well before the traditional features we’ve come to expect with giallo were in place. At lot of this came down to directors wanting to adapt classic noir for film starved audiences. Twenty years later, Mario Bava kicked it off with The Girl Who Knew Too Much. Again, the basic genre is noir, and that’s been a mainstay in the giallo genre since the beginning. No doubt the first inklings of giallo arose from classic film noir, and the stories have never strayed too far from that mark, usually with a fish-out-of-water private detective or everyday citizen in over their heads trying to solve a quirky mystery, often as much as a victim as the dead, and sometimes a very compromised spectator of the very violence they’ve witnessed.
As cinema pushed back on the boundaries of explicit content, the genre really began to find its wings. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that the genre exploded. Dario Argento’s first film, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, heralded the true beginning of modern giallo, though the hallmarks of the genre were already set in stone--the black gloves, the reveal of the killer in the last act (complete with dark trench coat and hat (or hood) and mask), the convoluted plot line leading to a deranged antagonist(s), each kill scene a well developed set-piece, distinctive and memorable. Argento simply blew all of those aspects of the genre out of proportion with a style many have imitated but never duplicated.
Incidentally, Argento’s most well-known film, Suspiria, is not a giallo. While the genre can have supernatural/paranormal tropes, it’s not a requirement, and Suspiria is most certainly a supernatural horror film. I think the reason so many people list it as a giallo has more to with Argento’s style than anything else. The bright colors, the convoluted storyline, the dreadful mounting paranoia, the cinematic set pieces for each death scene, the Goblin soundtrack, all of these can and often are present in a giallo, but with Suspiria, it is Argento’s stylistic flair showing through. The distinction is subtle, no doubt, but it’s there nonetheless.
Style over substance. That’s what makes a giallo stand out from thrillers, or mysteries, or even slashers. Many giallo films have stories that refuse to make sense, with giant plot holes you could drive through, and silly stilted dialogue no human would actually say. We don’t watch giallo because of the academy award winning acting. It’s all about the color and the lighting, the tone and atmosphere, the violence and gore, the screams and the pulsing soundtracks. Now if you’re thinking that all you need is some neon lights and wide angle shots with unnatural camera zooms of people’s eyes to make a giallo, then you’re not paying attention. It is so much more than having some skills with the camera. Giallo is a visual and auditory attack of the senses. It works best when everyone in the cast and crew are on the same page, in sync with the director, driving the film with a unified vision that dares the audience to look away.
Without giallo, there would be no slashers. Think about it. Slashers have their own rules and tropes, but none of those characteristics would even exist if it wasn’t for giallo. Got to give a little shout-out to the German Krimi films here as well, because without some of the traits of those earlier Krimi films, especially the weird close-ups and zooms, we wouldn’t have modern giallo. While the slasher tends to dominate the US film market, it contains many of the traditional traits and hallmarks of giallo. Substitute horny teens for adulterous adults, focus on the violence of the kills instead of the grand settings, and there you go … slasher. It’s still style over substance, but for me, they tend to get a little formulaic. I grew up watching the classic slashers and enjoyed them then because it was easy to relate to the characters. As I’ve gotten older, and the characters have stayed in the same age group, I find it more difficult to give a shit about any of them. To me, all the characters usually deserve to die a horrible death, and maybe that’s the idea. Giallo tends to focus on adults, so maybe that’s more on me showing my age, or just being a grumpy old dude screaming that all slashers are just giallo films for teens.
Modern giallo films are B-title horror flicks with bigger budgets for set and sound design that are probably headed straight to VOD streaming, relying on word-of-mouth advertising, and you’ll miss the first go-round then plop down fifty bucks for the steel-book when the limited edition 4K UHD Director’s Cut goes on pre-order after it’s called a “classic of the genre”.
(Sorry, but it’s so true.)
Though the genre has become largely forgotten because of American studio marketing tactics, giallo films are still being made today. And occasionally someone like James Wan will take the reins and make something everyone calls batshit crazy when in fact all he did was make a modern giallo like Malignant.
It’s nothing new, we just haven’t seen it a long time.
My intent here is not to review Wan’s film. Many have and will continue to critique the shit out of it. I hope this newfound fascination with giallo, and with directors going wild with their material, hangs around for a bit, because love it or hate, you have to applaud Wan for sticking to his guns and making the film he wanted to make.
I’m not done with this topic, so how about I come back in a couple of weeks and list some really cool giallo films?
Deal?
Okay. See y’all soon.
peace&love
Bob
peace&love
Bob