La stirpe di Caino

I haven’t been able to find out much about Lamberto Benevenuti's La stirpe di caino. There are no reviews on imdb and it’s not avilable on any of the usual torrent sites. One of the few places I’ve seen it mentioned is in Antoni Brsucshini & Stefano Piselli’s “Giallo & Thrilling all’Italiana”, so I guess I won't be seeing it anytime soon. Artwork by Caroselli. 

Dark Bar

Anna, a young saxophone player, searches for the killers of her sister Elizabeth who have been involved with "the gangs from the North" (some of the least scary loooking gangsters you'll ever see). All traces leads to a club called Dark Bar.

Considering Stelio Fiorenza history as assistant director on the infamous Play Motel, you'd be forgiven for expecting Dark Bar to be a similarly sleazy affair. In reality it's a far more subdued film. I'd heard some good things about this, but ultimately found it a lackluster thriller that is lacking in both suspense and style. I'm far more fond of the poster than the actual film. Poster art by Sciotti

Delitto allo specchio (Death on the Fourposter)

I didn't have very high hopes for Jean Josipovici & Ambrogio Molteni's Delitto allo specchio, but came away pleasantly surprised by this early giallo. 

A group of friends go away to Ricky (Michel Lemoine) castle where they indulge in some dancing and play some mildly erotic party games until the first body shows up. The film takes a while to get going and there's an odd caretaker who's a very obvious red herring but overall this was better than expected and I certainly recommend this early but enjoyable sixties giallo.

No info on the poster artist.

200th post

It took a while to get here but this is the 200th post on Giallo locandine, so I thought I’d post something special to celebrate. You’ll get not one, not two, not three, but four posters this time.

During the last 12 months or so I’ve finally managed to a few of most wanted alternate posters so I thought I'd share a few with you today.  

The first one up is the alternate poster for Paolo Cavara’s giallo classic La Tarantola dal ventre nero. Beautiful artwork from an unknown artist where the two Barbaras (Bouchet and Bach) and Giancarlo Giannini are featured more prominently than on the poster most people know (since it used for the Blue Underground DVD Cover).  

The next two posters are alternate posters to Lamberto Bava’s 1992 giallo, Misteria (or Body Puzzle). I find the film slightly underrated and actually think it’s one of the best 90‘s gialli by far. The artwork in itself is not that inspiring, but that’s seldom the case with a 90’s film.

The last locandina is the alternate artwork to Luciano Ercoli’s La morte cammina con i tacchi alti. I’ve been searching for this ever since a narrowly missed out on a bidding war on ebay a five years ago or so. Great artwork by the mighty Sandro Symeoni. 

Trhauma (Trauma)

Directed by Gianni Martucci (who also directed Milano…difedersi o morire and wrote the scripts for Gianfranco Piccoli's Il Fiore dai petali d'acciaio and Alfonso Brescia's Ragazza tutta nuda assassinata nel parco) Trhauma doesn't reach the same sleazy heights as Giallo Venezia and Play Motel, two of the other infamous gialli made in 1979.  

This is more of a slasher where a group of friends heads out to a country villa and get pick off one by one. There's is little doubt as to identity of the killer and the twist is bascially revealed by the prologue. It's a low budget affair with a poor actors and mediocre direction. There really is very little to recommend about the film, but it's mercifully short at 78 minutes.

Delitto carnale (Killing of the Flesh)

Delitto carnale turned out to be both Cesare Canevari and Marc Porel last film. Marc Porel sadly died later on during the year and Cesare Canevari (who had previously directed the mildly entertaining Iena a Casaforte, western Mátolo and Ajita Wilson vehicle La Principessa Nuda) never directed another feature again.   

The film seems more of an exploitation/softcore film with giallo elements added to it than anything else. A group of relatives gather at a hotel to sort of the inheritance after their uncle and end up having sex. A lot of sex. Apparently it was shot in a "hard version" as well and it seems likely considering that the first 50 or so minutes are just a succession of sex scenes. A dead body turns up, but there really is no plot to speak of, there is no characterization and certainly no suspense. 

It really is as close to the bottom of the barrel as you're going to get if you're a giallo fan. I recommend you stay well clear of this unless you're hellbent on seeing every giallo ever made.  

Iena a Casaforte

I was a bit surprised to see this very rare giallo turning up on a gorgeous looking Italian dvd a while back. There is no English option, but luckily enough master fan-subber Merlin did subs for it and I was finally able to see it. Certainly no classic, but it's enjoyable and stylish yarn about a gang of criminals who are holed up inside a castle to divide the loot but are being picked off one by one. Slightly odd size to the poster. It's bit smaller than your usual locandina. 

No info on the poster artist.

Time flies

It’s been nearly 17 months since I last posted anything here so an update is long overdue. I’ve managed to find a few posters since I last posted. A few rare ones and a some that have just eluded me for some time. 

A couple of the posters are from films that are very much borderline gialli, but all of the posters are from films that are included in Antonio Bruschini and Stefano Piselli’s “Giallo & Thrilling all’Italiana” so I’ve decided to post them here anyway. I hope you enjoy the new posters!

I’ll leave you with a couple of updated posts where I’ve managed to find alternate artwork. First new post will be tomorrow.

Updated posts:

E tanta paura

L'Uuomo dagli occhi di ghiaccio

Una Ragazza piuttosto complicata