Bye for now!

Ok, that's it for now. I've posted all the giallo locandine in my collection. There are still quite a few posters I'm looking for, so hopefully I'll back to add some new posters once in a while. Big thanks to those of you who have checked the blog regularly and those of you who have posted comments!

I've still got a few doubles laying around, so if you're interested in any of the posters below just send me an email. I'll either sell them (prices from about 15€ and up) or possibly trade them for giallo locandine that I haven't got. Most of the posters below are the ones that have been posted on the blog, but I'm happy to send more info on the individual posters.

Spasmo

The Card Player

Mystere

The Iguana with a Tounge of Fire

Hatchet for the Honeymoon

Opera

The Weapon, the Hour & the Motive

Double Face

Deep Red

Deliria (Stagefright)

I've never really considered Michele Soavi's debut a gialli, but since it's featured in Luther Smith's Blood and Black Lace I've decided to include here. Ostensibly a slasher since there's no mystery or any doubt as to who the killer is and basically the whole cast is just waiting to be picked off one by one. Of course, this doesn't stop Deliria from being one of the more entertaining genre entries from the 80's. Poster art by Sciotti

AAA Massaggiatrice bella presenza ofresi... (A.A.A. Masseus, Good-Looking, offers her services...)

Demofilo Fidani's AAA Massaggiatrice bella presenza ofresi... is yet another one of those rare gialli that I never thought I'd get a chance to see, but late last year a fantastic looking print surfaced on one of the torrent trackers. The film isn't great. It's a bit too talkative and slow moving, but there are a few suspenseful sequences and it features a great soundtrack by Lallo Gori. Poster art by Pivano

Caramelle da uno sconosciuto (Sweets for a Stranger)

Franco Ferrini's Caramelle da uno sconosciuto is yet another film I haven't had a chance to watch yet. I've got a subbed copy, but considering it's a late 80's giallo that even the most favorable reviews call mediocre, it's nowhere near the top of my "to watch" pile at the moment.

Istantanea per un delitto

That Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up influenced Argento's Profondo Rosso is fairly common knowledge, but it seems like it's not the only one of the maestro's films that influenced a giallo. After watching Mario Imperoli's Isantanea per un delitto it seems like the director looked towards Antonioni's L'Aventura for inspiration. Needless to say the result isn't anywhere as brilliant as Profondo Rosso. Istantanea is a pedestrian giallo. I'm glad I got a chance to see it with subs, but really unless you're on a mission to see every giallo ever made, you can easily give this one a miss. Poster art by P. Franco.

Crimine a due (Crime for Two)

Romano Ferrara's Crimine a due is another rarity that I've only recently managed to get my hands on, so I can't say much about this 1964 thriller, but the poster art is by Piovano.

Fotogrammi mortali (Fatal Frames)

I know there are lots of people that love Al Festa's Fatal Frames and consider it something a "cheese classic", but I find it mindnumbingly boring and really hard to sit through. Considering it's a quite recent film, I'm bit surprised how difficult it's been to track down the locandina. No info on the poster artist.

Diabolicamente sole con il delitto (A Treason Story: Carla and Nora)

I watched José Antonio Nieves Conde's Diabolicamente sole con il delitto for the first time over Christmas and unlike many of the lesser known gialli I've been watching recently, it's fairly entertaining. Starring Marisa Mell, Stephen Boyd, Fernando Ray, Sylva Koscina and Simon Andreu, the film full of twists & turns and is reminiscent of the Lenzi's Baker/Sorel gialli made around the same time. No info on who's responsible for the poster art.

Doppio Delitto (Double Murder)

I've only seen an unsubbed copy of Steno's Doppio Delitto and while it's never the best way to enjoy the film, I really liked Steno's 1977 giallo and would love to see it with subs one day. A lot of the enjoyment is of course due to a great performance by the always watchable Marcello Masteroianni. Soundtrack by Riz Ortolani (who would re-use at least one of the cues here in Cannibal Holocaust three years laster). No info on the poster artist.

Le Notti della Violenza (Call Girl 66)

I've only got an unsubbed copy of Le Notti della Violenza, but I'm hoping subs might surface one of these days so I'm holding off watching it for now. Not sure how well you can see it in the photo, but the text in the tiny square in the poster says: "Ferma di tre mesi in censura per oscenità e pornografia "LE NOTTI DELLA VIOLENZA" ha finalmente ill permesso id proiettato in Italia ed all'estero". My Italian is limited, but I think it roughly translates as "Stopped for three months by the censors due to obscenity and violence, but finally allowed to be shown in Italy". No info on who's responsible for the pulpy looking poster art.

Femmine insaziabili (The Insatiables)

This is one of the two poster available for Alberto De Martino's Femmine insaziabili. The one I've managed to find so far has the Gli insaziabili title (which imdb lists as a working title), but there's a Femmine Insaziabili one around as well.

The film itself is a quite decent thriller set i LA where Italian journalist Paolo Sartori (Robert Hoffman) tries to find his friend Giulio's murderer. I think I've expressed my dislike for Hoffman in earlier posts here, but he's actually ok in this. Joining him in the cast are Frank Wolff, Luciana Paluzzi and Romina Power and the film also features a fantastic swinging score by Bruno Nicolai.

La Morte scende leggera (Death Falls Lightly)

More or less all of La Morte scende leggera is set an empty hotel where Giorgio Darica (Stelio Candelli) is hiding out with his girlfriend since finding his wife murdered and himself without an alibi. Soon the isolation starts to take its toll and Giorgio's mind slowly start to unravel. Or does it?

Even with almost all the action taking place in this one location and an obviously limited by a low budget, Leopoldo Savona manages to deliver a quite good thriller. Not a classic by any means, but I have to say I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. Poster art by Renato Casaro

La Lama nel corpo (The Murder Clinic)

Set in England in the 1800's and featuring all the trappings of the period piece gialli (a doctor, a newcomer to the house and a horrible secret hidden in the attic). Elio Scardamaglia's La Lama nel corpo is utterly predictable and while it's safe to say I'm not a big fan of the gothic gialli, Murder Clinic remains one of the better entries of this small and not very appealing sub-genre. There are two different locandina avilable for this film but I've only managed to find one so far. Poster art by Enzo Nistri.

Camping del Terrore (Body Count)

Ruggero Deodato's Camping del Terrore has very little in common with what most readers of this blog would consider a giallo. Set in the states and featuring an American teen cast being picked off one by one by what may or may not be an "old Indian Shaman", the film has far more in common with any American bodycount film of the 80's than with any golden age gialli. Although the film is a very average slasher, it's still quite nice to see Mimsy Farmer, David Hess, John Steiner and Ivan Rassimov in action. Poster art by Armando Testo.

Terza ipotesi su un caso di perfetta strategia criminale (Who Killed The Prosecutor and Why?)

Terza ipotesi su un caso di perfetta strategia criminale is yet another giallo that's spent years in my "to-watch" pile and that I only recently got around to watching. Unfortunately it feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity. Mainly because the script is fairly decent and I would love to have seen what a director like for example Duccio Tessari would have been able to do with it. Giuseppe Varis direction is workmanlike, but the film lacks any visual flair and the films low-budget origins clearly shows. Worth checking out if you can get your hands on it, but not as good as I think it could have been. No info on the poster artist.

Le Tue mani sul mio corpo (Shocking)

The English title of Brunello Rondi's Le Tue mani sul mio corpo is Shocking, but as a description of the film that title is pretty far off the mark. It sounds pretty good when you look at credits, it features a script by Luciano Martino & Mino Loy, a soundtrack by Giorgio Gaslini, it stars Lino Capolicchio and even Sergio Martino pops up a "Organizzatore generale". With a line-up like that you'd be forgiven for thinking you're in good hands, but unfortunately the giallo links are tenuous at best and the film really is more of a character study than a thriller. There are a few interesting visuals on display here and there but on the whole it's a far too slow moving to be of interest to most genre fans. No info on the poster art.

Perversione (Diary of an Erotic Murderess)

Manuel Mur Oti's Perversione or La Encadenada from 1975 is a fairly uninspired affair. Marisa Mell plays Gina who is hired by Alexander (Richard Conte) to look after his mute and disturbed son Mark. Unsurprisingly both men fall for her. Add the Holy Grail (!) and Anthony Steffen as Gina's ex-husband to the mixand you just know it's gonna end in tears.
The English language version of the film that I've seen appears to be trimmed (mainly for nudity), but I doubt an uncut version of the film would alter my thoughts of it. You can easliy give it a miss if you're not a rabid Marisa Mell fan.
Poster art by Renato Casaro

Assassino senza volto (Killer Without a Face)

The only copy of Assassino Senza volto I've managed to find is a low quality avi without subs, so I can't really tell you too much about the plot of the film. What I can tell you is that it's set in the Balsorano Castle (Check out this interesting post about the castle on the euro fever if you want to find out more). Considering the gothic castle setting and the fact that it's shot in black and white makes it feel slightly dated. Especially when you consider that a visual tour de force like Blood and Black Lace was shot a four years prior to this. The poster art by Studio Paradiso has got a pulpy kind of feel to it, but the film itself certainly feels more like a gothic horror than a 1968 giallo.

7, Hyden Park: la casa maledetta (Formula for a Murder)

To me, Alberto De Martino 80's gialli (this and Blood Link) are far better than the ones he directed in the 70's (The Man with Icy Eyes & The Killer Is on the Phone). 7, Hyden Park: la casa maledetta suffers a bit from the very 80's look and one of the worst synth scores ever (composed by the normally reliable Francesco De Masi), but apart from that it's a decent thriller with some interesting plot twists. The airbrushed artwork by Symeoni is a dead give-away to its 80's origins.

Ciak, si muore

I've had an unsubbed Italian language copy of Ciak, si muore laying around for years, but it wasn't until recently when I managed to get my hands on an subbed copy that I decided to watch Mario Moroni 1974 thriller. Can't say it was worth the wait. Filled with scenes that seem to go on forever, poorly shot murders and no suspense adds up to a fairly flawed thriller.
The locandina is a bit unusual. It's slightly oversized compared to your standard locandina which explains why I'm not keeping it in a "foglie" like all the other posters. Poster art by G. Calma.