Spring Break, wet t-shirts contests and biker gangs is not something you'd normally associate with a giallo. Umberto Lenzi's Nightmare Beach really has far more in common with your average American 80's slasher than any giallo. But John Saxon is always worth watching though and you do have to admire the ingenuity of a killer builds an electric chair at the back of his bike. Poster art is by the always dependable Renato Casaro.
The Mya dvd of this Maria Mell starring thriller is finally out under the title Death Will Have Your Eyes. The dvd certainly isn't anything to write home about (it basically looks like a pretty poor VHS copy) and while the film is more like a jet-set/home invasion type thriller than your typical giallo, I'd say it's worth a look. No info on who's responsible poster art.
Piccio Raffanini's erotic thriller is something as odd as a futuristic giallo. Obviously the budget restraints stops it from going all Blade Runner on us, but it does feature a few "futuristic" cars and ray guns. It basically looks like an 80's rock video, complete with dancing dwarves, Kid Creole and more nudity more than you can shake a stick at.
It's not a good film by any stretch of the imagination, but I have to say that it's quite entertaining and I wouldn't mind a dvd at some point.
The poster, with artwork by Sciotti, took me quite some time to find but here it is, in all it's 80's glory.
Although I've had the film for a while now, it wasn't until recently that I had the chance to check out Mario Sabatini's fairly rare giallo. Unfortunately (but perhaps not unsurprisingly) it wasn't the lost gem I had hoped for. Generic and instantly forgettable, the film featured to some locations that could (and probably would) have been used to better effect in the hands of a more competent director than Sabatini. Not even the presence of Sylva Koscina, Pier Paolo Capponi, Luigi Pistilli and Krista Nell can save this below average giallo.
No info on who's responsible for the poster art, but you got to love that amateurishly added underwear.
A quick look at Franco Rossetti's imdb page shows that he's got writing credits on films like Django, Texas Adios and Zabriskie Point, but his directing career seems fairly unremarkable and after seeing this it's easy to see why. Delitto al Circolo del Tennis doesn't really make me want to seek out any of his other films. The weak plot revolves around a blackmailing scheme and I found it quite plodding and lacking any suspense. The sole redeeming feature is the look of the film (which is unsurprising considering it's shot by Vittorio Storaro), but not even that is enough to save it. I'm quite fond of the poster art by Ciriello though.
Luigi Zampa's 1977 giallo/drama doesn't have the most inspiring poster art, but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised when I finally got a chance to see with fansubs last month. The story centers around a newspaper reporter who receives a letter from a killer and starts exploiting the fact to his own advantage. The traditional giallo elements aren't kept to a minimum, but the direction is competently handled and the ending is really quite powerful.
There’s little about this Filippo Walter Ratti directed giallo to make me recommend it. Since the film is set in a castle, there are a few scenes with a somewhat gothic touch to them that I liked, but it’s a slow moving story filled with uninteresting characters and a minimal amount of suspense. There’s an eyeball removal scene and a fair amount of nudity to liven the proceedings but that doesn’t compensate for the fact that is a rather lacklustre effort.
The poster has been quite difficult to find, but when I finally came across it, I ended up with two copies within a week. Artwork by Crovato
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