SLAUGHTER HOTEL (1971)

               

 Although the ad up there tries to make you think this will be about serial killer Richard Speck it's really more of a standard Eurotrash giallo deal featuring Klaus Kinski as a doctor at a rehab center and a mystery slasher hacking people up. I say standard but this one does feature quite a bit of nudity and sleaze thanks to Rosalba Neri and all the other ladies in the cast. There is some mass nurse snuffing towards the end though so it's not total false-advertising. 

 The original version features explicit vaginal shots which were edited out of the U.S. release to get an R rating. AKA ASYLUM EROTICA

Original Italian title is THE BEAST KILLS IN COLD BLOOD:

This ad just steals a shot from fellow sleazy Italian classic FRANKENSTEIN 80!:

THE FISH WITH THE EYES OF GOLD (1974)

  This is the first fish-based giallo I've ever seen. Besides that though it's kinda forgettable. This is an example of Spain taking a shot at the giallo genre and it's a pretty weak attempt. You get a couple of bloody stabbings, childhood trauma, lots of potential suspects and an obsession with fish. For obscure giallo completists only.

RING OF DEATH (1969)

  Going into this I was thinking this would be a giallo and it kinda/sorta is because you're dealing with people getting killed but the movie focuses more on Franco Nero as a corrupt detective who's trying to figure out who's doing all the killing, and kicking anyone's ass that gets in his way, making it seem more like one of those politziotesche films. Eithr way it was kind of a disappointment. There's too much dialogie and not enough action and Nero comes off as a pretty scummy character that is hard to get behind.  AKA DETECTIVE BELLI(in case that other title is too exciting for you)

GIALLO IN VENICE (1979)

  Called "the goriest giallo" by many there are 2 scenes(one involving a leg and the other a vagina) that help it live up to that moniker. Outside of those show-stoppers it's just a very strange giallo featuring a detective(Jeff Blyne) who seems to always be chomping on hard-boiled eggs investigating the apparent murder of a couple of weirdo sexual degenerates. A top-tier nasty giallo from the end of the sick 70s when they really had to pull out all the stops to get noticed. AKA GORE IN VENICE, MYSTERY IN VENICE and THRILLER IN VENICE.

  Mariangelo Giordano, who would go on to play the mom who gets her boob bitten off in BURIAL GROUND doesn't fare much better here being the victim off a hideous leg dismemberment.  

                                                      Sexy mussels! 

SLEEPLESS (2001)

  I had thought that I had seen this Dario Argento movie before but I guess not since it all seemed new to me. Not bad for a bloody 2000's giallo by Argento. Definitely better than his previous film that crappy PHANTOM OF THE OPERA interpretation and more reminiscent of his earlier best stuff. You get the expected gore including a gruesome death by a musical instrument, fingers chopped off, a head rolls and lots of stabbings occur.  A hunchbacked dwarf is our main suspected killer, nursery rhymes become a major plot point and somehow Max Von Sydow agreed to be in this! While there seem to be a few plotholes(who exactly called the police at the end?) it's still an entertaining one if you're seen all of Dario's classics already. 

       Super generic trailer because it's the 2000s and everyone has lost all their creativity!:

 

Released in Italy as NONHOSONNO which sounds very Japanese to me but I'm no linguist!:

THE WEEKEND MURDERS (1970)

  Caught this as part of a giallo marathon down at the local weirdo arthouse theater yesterday. When it first started I wasn't sure if it even was a giallo since it's set and filmed in England with what are supposed to be a bunch of upper crust rich English types. Little did I know that most of the cast is comprised of Italian actors and the director was also an Italian fellow, Michele Lupo, responsible for a bunch of those old swords n' sandals movies and a personal favorite spaghetti crime flick MEAN FRANK AND CRAZY TONY. Kind of similar to his FRANK AND TONY movie this one straddles the line between comedy, with it's bumbling cop characters and seriousness, with all the murdering going on. It does seem more like a spoof of the whole giallo genre than anything else but it certainly seemed to be a crowd pleaser with all it's goofiness. Sadly it seems to be pretty obscure. 

Known in Italy as CONCERT FOR A SOLO GUN?:

KNIFE OF ICE (1972)

  This Italian murder mystery starts out with a bloody bullfight and that's about the most gore you're gonna get out of this fairly slow-moving giallo by director Umberto Lenzi and starring Carroll Baker. This is the 4th movie these 2 made together and probably the worst of them all. There's a hippie junkie, Snoopy shows up in necklace form and of course lots of red herrings. It's almost saved by the ridiculous twist ending which might be the only thing I will remember shortly after watching this. 

The 3 other Lenzi/Baker films(which are also said to be a kind of trilogy):

ORGASMO (AKA PARANOIA) (1969)

SO SWEET, SO PERVERSE (1969)

PARANOIA (AKA A QUIET PLACE TO KILL) (1970) 

                                                         AKA SILENT HORROR:

THE KILLER IS STILL AMONG US (1986)

 Not the best Italian giallo flick in the world. Late in the subgenre, I think this one is mainly known because it contains one super gory bit where a ladies nipple and genitals are mutilated in very close-up detail. Beyond that though it's  pretty dull experience. Also the fact that it's based on a true story where they never found the killer doesn't lend itself to the most satisfying conclusion I've ever seen in one of these sort of films. While some 80s gialli(ARABELLA for one) can be amusing due to the ridiculous fashions of the time this really isn't one of those. 

Known some places as THE MURDERER IS STILL WITH US:

ARABELLA: BLACK ANGEL (1989)

 Not a blaxploitation flick but rather a very late entry trashy giallo movie about a nymphomaniac lady(Tini Cansino) who spices up her marriage by going to a weird Eurotrash whore house and maybe or maybe not killing various people. Very sex-filled and plays out like a softcore late-night Cinemax-type movie mixed with a bloody murder mystery. Filled with some ultra-80s fashions and some very hot ladies who are often naked this one is definitely a spicy and unique entry into any giallo marathon you might partake in. AKA BLACK ANGEL

MURDER MANSION (1972)

  This Italian/Spanish giallo mixes the supernatural with your more standard murder-mystery fare here. A group of people end up stuck in an old mansion that may or may not be inhabited by a vampire lady, a zombie chauffeur and other sorts of creepy spirits. It all works out in the end though and it's an atmospheric ride along the way.  Check it out if the old haunted house gimmick doesn't bore you too much. AKA MANIAC MANSION

                                    Known in Spain as THE MANSION OF FOG!:

Known in Italy as WHEN MARTA SCREAMS FROM THE GRAVE!:

CRAZY DESIRES OF A MURDERER (1977)

  Allegedly filmed in 1973 but not released for another 4 years most of this Italian giallo takes place in one location, an old castle, and revolves around a rich family, their sneaky servants and drug-dealing friends. There's a creepy relative who lives in the basement and eyeball violence is a recurring motif. Grave-robbing and sex with the mentally handicapped is thrown in to spice things up. Not the best giallo I've ever seen and I didn't recognize any of the actors here but it was OK enough for one viewing. 

AKA THE MORBID HABITS OF THE GOVERNESS

             
Available on Volume 3 of this Blu-ray series of forgotten and mostly very forgettable gialli:

FRENCH SEX MURDERS (1972)

  The weirdest thing about this Italian/German/French giallo flick is that the police inspector in it does a Humphrey Bogart impression throughout. Apparently actor Robert Sacchi did that bit in a bunch of stuff including THE LOVE BOAT tv show. Besides that weirdness this is a pretty good mystery that takes place in France and centers around a whorehouse. There's a few misleading cues that eventually unravel in a  fairly logical way unlike some other films in this sub-genre. There's also a pretty well-known cast of Eurotrash regulars including Howard "AWFUL DR. ORLOF" Vernon, Rosalba Neri, Barbara Bouchet, Anita Ekberg and others.  Black gloves, bloody killings and sexy women! 

Released on video in Norway as CALL GIRLS FOR INSPECTOR BOGART!

                   Known in Germany as THE EYE OF EVIL!:

                                   Known in Italy as APOINTMENT HOUSE:

Known in France as MURDER ON 17th AVENUE:

The video release in England really played up that Bogey likeness!: 

THE KILLER IS ONE OF 13 (1973)

  Obviously modeled after Agatha Christie's 10 LITTLE INIDANS this a very talky giallo from Spain. It's a decent enough mystery though to make it a worthwhile one-time watch if you run out of the more entertaining/outlandish/gory giallos out there. Paul Naschy appears but doesn't have a very big role. Perhaps Italy is the country to stick with for the good stuff in this sub-genre. 

Part of this Blu-ray set that contains movies that were probably forgotten for a good reason!:

 

THE KILLER MUST KILL AGAIN (1975)

  While it's lumped into the giallo genre this is certainly no mystery since we're introduced to the murderer right away. It is a sorta variation on Hitchcock's STRANGERS ON A TRAIN(a cigarette lighter even comes into play) where George Hilton blackmails our killer, that he oversees dumping a body, into offing his wife. Things don't exactly go as planned and there are a few twists and turns which is more typical of a giallo. It's also one of the best movies director Luigi Cozzi ever made. He would go on to do a lot of silly trashy films throughout the 1980s including those dumb Lou Ferrigno HERCULES movies. AKA DARK IS DEATH'S FRIEND 

 Allegedly Cozzi wanted to call the film THE SPIDER and that is what it's titled on some video releases in a couple of other countries. 

WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS? (1974)

  This one starts right out with the discovery of a teenage girl who seemingly has committed suicide, but has she really? Well it wouldn't be much of an Italian giallo flick without a killer running around. In addition to staging fake suicides our killer enjoys running around with a meat-cleaver and giving anyone who is in danger of exposing the young teen prostitution ring he's working for the chop. One of the top tier giallos that isn't made by Argento or Bava(director Massimo Dallamano had made the similarly titled WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO SOLANGE? 2 years prior) complete with a high sleaze and blood quotient. AKA THE COED MURDERS

 The original Italian title translates to THE POLICE CALL FOR HELP which is a pretty dull title for this.

 Some of the music used in this trailer, and the film itself, was previously used in MILANO CALIBRE 9 and MADNESS. It is a great tune though!:

 Some of what I believe is original music for this film, "bla, bla":

                                              The American re-release used this title:

EYE IN THE LABYRINTH (1972)

  This a weird giallo about a woman searching for her missing lover and ending up on an island with a group of rich artsy oddballs. The head teacher from SUSPIRIA(Alida Vali) is the leader of this group which also includes a young Sybil Danning who looks great as always. Some weird turns are taken, a transvestite who hates being called a transvestite(so progressive!) is another of our group and  a minimal but bloody body count racks up. I'm not sure if it was just the sound system where I viewed this or not but whenever someone got stabbed it was super loud on the soundtrack which really added to my enjoyment of this one. 

                                                                 Turkish poster:

       

DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS (1971)

  I caught this one recently as the 2nd movie in an all-day marathon of giallos. Following OASIS OF FEAR  in the lineup this one couldn't help but drag in comparison. It is after all a pretty standard mystery and there's not much in the way of a body count(though the one big kill shown does bring the gore quotient). It is also fairly stylish throughout and the soundtrack grooves. Strangely there's a cross-dressing guy with a fake hand that shows up and a stripper in black-face. Nowhere near the best giallo I've seen but a decent enough watch. AKA DEATH STALKS ON HIGH HEELS

 Director Luciano Ercoli would make the similarly titled DEATH WALKS AT MIDNIGHT the following year. The plots have no connection.    

AN IDEAL PLACE TO KILL (1971)

  This was the first film shown during a recant giallo-marathon at the local weirdo art theater and it really started things out nicely. A fast-moving tale of two hippies who sell porn to finance their anarchic adventures through Europe. This was one of those films which made me want to be magically transported into the world portrayed in the movie, at least up until the murder stuff shows up because this is a giallo after all. Directed by Umberto Lenzi, who's probably best known now as a gore director for stuff like MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY, this is a great example of one of his early gems. Not a very high body count but quite a few twists and turns and sexy adventures to keep you watching. The only downside to starting off a marathon of gialli with this one is that it's kinda hard to keep the pace up. 

 I have read that Lenzi wanted to make something akin to EASY RIDER but the producers wanted a more typical giallo formula which explains the mashed-up feel of this one. AKA OASIS OF FEAR and DIRTY PICTURES

 Lenzi did make the similarly-titled A QUIET PLACE TO KILL the year before but it has no connection to this film.

THE RED STAINED LAWN (1973)

 After watching FOOTSTEPS ON THE MOON years ago and being disappointed with it's lack of science fiction I had been searching for an actual sci-fi giallo. Well I finally found one! This movie contains a bloodsucking robot that is used by a rich family to suck the blood from lowlife/undesirable-types that they then sell to third world countries in a scheme that I'm not entirely sure of the goals of but it certainly works as an ideal metaphor for society with the wealthy living off the blood of the poor and all that. Beyond any political musings though(our main character  makes sure to call the bad guys "fascists" in case we misunderstand anything) we get all the trappings of a sleazy exploitation flick including lots of nudity and bloodletting and as a bonus one goofy-ass robot. Give it a watch. AKA THE BLOODSTAINED LAWN

                                     Some easy-listening bloodsucking jams!:

MY DEAR KILLER (1972)

  This Italian/Spanish giallo starts right off with a bang as a guy gets his head lopped off by a construction vehicle. Things do slow down a bit but the gory kills are pretty consistent throughout. The main mystery here revolves around who kidnapped a little girl and left her to starve to death so it doesn't exactly leave you with a very uplifting feeling after viewing. Check it out if you're not too sensitive because this might be one of the most depressing giallos I can think of.