Italian Masters of Horror

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Giallo is Italian for yellow… and Horror






In the wake of the real life horrors meted out on Italians during World War II, brutalized by Mussolini and then by Nazi occupation and then having their country used as one great battleground chessboard between Nazis and the invading U.S. and Allied forces, there was for a long time little appetite for horror in movies. It wasn’t until 1956 that the first genuine horror film (a vampire story) was produced and released. It bombed, soundly rejected by the public. The film would be of little note were it not for its having been “ghost directed” by its cinematographer, Mario Bava. In 1959, Bava created an Italian version of “The Blob” and the Italian horror genre finally gained a toehold.






Bava became the most celebrated of the core trio of great “Giallo” moviemakers.



“Giallo” means “yellow” in Italian. Giallo paperbacks were popular lurid pulp novels with identifying yellow backgrounds on their covers. “Giallo movies,” a unique blend of crime, mystery and sex–infused horror stories would become the equivalent of Britain’s signature Hammer Films. Bava was their first master. Then came Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento. Bava’s Mask of Satan (U.S. title: “Black Sunday”) is considered the first true horror movie in post-war Italy, even if it’s not formulaically a giallo film, owing more to classic Universal Studios horror films than giallo.


The giallo formula is built around a murder mystery often containing a mix of horror and Hitchcockian elements, such as an ordinary person (usually an outsider) thrust into an extraordinary circumstance. Often within this formula the main character is a witness whose credibility and or sanity is questioned by police authorities and people of elevated social standing.


Giallo films have greatly influenced American horror films. Wes Craven utilized the giallo formula very effectively in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). The film’s female protagonist is a teen named Nancy who is being preyed upon by a deceased child murderer in her dreams. Throughout the film her sanity is questioned by her parents, one of whom is played by John Saxon of giallo film fame. Audiences responded approvingly of the giallo madness–or–sanity framing of the film, making it a big success and putting it on the level of the Halloween and Friday the 13th slasher films that were its forerunners. The film spawned many sequels and made Robert Englund a horror icon.







Bava the Maestro







Giallo Queen
by AndreaBere


Mario Bava was the cinematographer on The Day the Sky Exploded (1958) which was the first Italian science fiction film. He directed what is now regarded as the first of the Italian giallo films, The Girl Who Knew too Much (aka “The Evil Eye”) (1963). In both its tone and in its title, this film clearly evokes the spectre of Alfred Hitchcock.  Shot beautifully in black and white, the film plays as an atmospheric mystery/whodunit about a beautiful visitor in Italy, played by Leticia Roman, who may or may not have witnessed a murder after arriving in Italy to visit her ailing aunt.








Bava followed up with another influential giallo film, Blood and Black Lace (aka “Six Women for the Murderer”) (1964). Bava sets this film in a fashion house of beautiful models with dirty secrets. A killer is preying on the models, bumping them off one at time using different methods. The killer’s intention is to acquire a diary that contains proof of the illicit activities going on within the house. Many “body count” slasher films were inspired by this film. The Halloween and Friday the 13th series’ come to mind. This film separates itself from them with a stronger story element that builds its mystery on a killer with a clear motive.


In 1965 Bava directed the odd sci–fi/horror hybrid film Planet of the Vampires. While it is not considered one of his better films, many of its elements appear to have been borrowed by Ridley Scott for his sci–fi/horror juggernaut Alien (1979).


Most of Bava’s fame in the horror genre actually all comes back to his earlier work, especially the 1960 gothic horror film Black Sunday/Mask of Satan. A more classical and highly atmospheric film, Black Sunday’s roots are grounded stylistically in the early Universal horror films. It tells the story of a woman (played by the hypnotically beautiful Barbara Steele) who is found guilty of vampirism and sentenced to death. The method of her execution is to have an “Iron Maiden”–style spiked mask of Satan driven into her face with a large mallet. Accented by dazzling camerawork, this scene of her execution is still one of the most memorable sequences of the horror genre. Still, to this day, the iconic image of Barbara Steele’s spike–gouged face forever cries out: “Bava!” This film’s success led to Bava being courted by Hollywood to work in the States. He declined, remaining in the land of “giallo.”









Your Thoughts






  1. Besides “Black Sunday” and “Black Sabbath,” the two early “Americanized” Mario Bava films that have become late night staples, how many other Italian horror films have you seen?

  2. Would you know the stylistic differences between Bava, Fulci and Argento?

  3. Do you ever find a horror movie too violent, bloody or disturbing?

  4. Is it just the language barrier or are there other reasons Italy’s horror films have never been as popular as British, French, Spanish and other foreign fright flicks?









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HeartBlissMaid's avatar
I love giallo films  tbh