GialBlog

List moved to blog

2011-11-27T08:49:00.001+01:00

Giallo dvd list is moved from Elitisti server to the blog. On the right hand side there's a section called Pages and there you find a link to the list. It's just been copy-pasted. I'll see what I can do with a layout later.

My intention is to create at least one new page to giallo blurays. And perhaps a list to post-Blood and Black Lace films which can be considered as giallos/gialli.

MYA Entertainment has released some latter-day giallos

2011-09-03T12:54:00.000+02:00

MYA Entertainment (http://myadvd.blogspot.com/) have released couple of 90s giallos:

Appuntamento in nero released as Blind Date
Spiando marina released as Naked Obsession
Delitto passionale released as Crime of Passion
Girl from Cortina released as... well... Girl from Cortina

I haven't seen any of these, and they are not in the top-10 of my shopping list. Comments on the films are appreciated though, so click the comment button and inform me and the others. I'd love to support the company but the prices of their dvds are pretty hefty to buy just by the title.

Some dvd news and X-rated zine focusing on giallo

2010-07-31T06:36:00.005+02:00

Yeah, several months have passed without an update, so I'll gather news already discussed on Elitisti discussion board.

Code Red have released Armando Crispino's L'etrusco uccide ancora aka Etruscan Kills Again aka Dead Are Alive. Review can be read on DVD Drive-in. It was previously released as a bootleg by Eurovista, and in Germany where it was included in Bryan Edgar Wallace 3 collection. Good news indeed.

Lucio Fulci's Lizard in a Woman's Skin has seen an UK release, and DVD Beaver has done some comparison.

The last news is targeted mostly for Finnish audience. Nowadays when everything is in internet, it gives me a great pleasure when someone is still making zines. The excellent Finnish X-rated zine has always been focusing on European genre films, but the number 12 is even better when having a long article on giallo. The another article on Italian crime and police film is in my opinion even better as the films included are maybe a little more obscure than the gialli, as the ever-growing Giallos on DVD list proves. Those familiar with X-rated know what to expect and won't be disappointed. You will also get the instructions on how to paint your walls. When I'll have enough space to be able to dedicate my living room for drinking J&B only, those instructions will be handy. More info (in Finnish).

Comments in English only

2010-03-19T09:06:00.001+01:00

If you comment our posts, do it in English. Everything else is deleted. I assume so far the comments have been some sort of spam.

The Perfume of the Lady in Black

2010-01-24T11:05:00.002+01:00

This Franco Barilli's film is included in the Blood and Black Lace book even though it's quite atypical giallo. It's more of a slow paced psychological thriller with a twist ending probably influenced by one succesful film by Roman Polanski. Not much seems to happen during most of the running time but it's still pretty hypnotic.

The film is released on dvd by Raro in Italy. The quality is excellent, and one can choose between English and Italian soundtrack, and the latter is accompanied by English subtitles.

2009-12-07T21:22:00.014+01:00

Bassi Istinti aka Private Detective is erotic noir-giallo from year 1991. The plot of the movie is basic giallo plot seasoned with indifferent dialogue, bearable acting and travel guide scenery. The camera work is however suprisingly atmospheric. What makes this movie unique is that it's pure hardcore porn starring such names as Rocco Siffredi (Then known as Rocco Tano), voluptuous Raven and former Playboy Playmate Teri Weigel at one of the first hardcore scenes of her life. There is also half hour shorter softcore version available, but only in vhs format.

Silvio Bandinelli, the director of the movie has his own publishing company called Showtime that has published the hardcore version under the name of Private Detective. There is also dvd from publisher called Colmax, but it doesn't have english options and has already gone out of print anyway. Showtime version has english audio and the picture quality is pretty all right.

Quick peek at Deborah's sweet body

2009-11-20T11:04:00.005+01:00

I just received Sweet Body of Deborah dvd, and had a brief look at it. Yes, the aspect ratio is wide, spoken in English and you have to select one of the Scandinavian subtitles. Brief test on my PC didn't reveal any problems in sound. The source print has some wear and speckles and is somewhat soft, but I didn't spot any digital artifacts. All in all, the transfer seems very film-like but the age shows. I will post more comments after viewing the complete film. Here's a random screen capture (compressed). Thanks Fin de Siecle Media for bringing this film from 1968 available on dvd!

Sweet Body of Deborah

2009-11-11T20:53:00.002+01:00

Great news! Dvd debut! Sweet Body of Deborah, directed by Romolo Guerrieri, will be released by Fin de Siecle media. Unfortunate news for those living outside Scandinavia is that subtitles will be forced. Read more from their website: Fin de Siecle media

The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh from MYA

2009-10-31T16:41:00.002+01:00

Yes, The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh already released by No Shame in USA, will be re-released by MYA. The name will however be Blade of the Ripper.

The Weekend Murders

2009-06-23T16:40:00.003+02:00

Great to break the silence with good news. Code Red will release The Weekend Murders directed by Michele Lupo. It should be out on August 11th. The film has not been released on dvd before, and according to Code Red this will be the first time ever in widescreen as well.

I have forgot to mention that sometime ago Cult Epics released Tinto Brass' Col cuore in gola. It has been available in Italy before, but this time it has English subtitles as well. The release carries the name Deadly Sweet.

Bazzoni's Footprints coming?

2009-05-11T10:02:00.002+02:00

Play.com lists interesting title, Luigi Bazzoni's Le Orme aka Footprints, for pre-order. No details available yet, but let's see.

Iguana with the Tongue of Fire

2009-02-07T10:51:00.003+01:00

Another quality report, this time on Riccardo Freda's Iguana with the Tongue of Fire. This is another German release, from the company called New Entertainment World. English option is available, but the picture quality is pretty bad. Avoid, unless you're a completist, and spend your money on better releases and wait if this one gets a better release. Especially since the movie isn't good either. It has some brief gore moments and in unintentional comedy department there's more to enjoy as well. Score by Stelvio Cipriani is top notch though. The German name of the film is Die Bestie mit dem feurigen Atem, and the ugly cover image reminds of those early vhs days.

Death Carries a Cane & Bloodstained Butterfly

2009-02-05T21:01:00.003+01:00

Death Carries a Cane by Maurizio Pradeux and Bloodstained Butterfly by Duccio Tessari both have a German release. Death Carries a Cane, which is so by-the-book it almost feels like parody, is released by X-rated and is available with several different cover designs. The German release carries the name Die Nacht der rollenden Köpfe. The release is decent, and the biggest flaw is the mandatory German subtitles when watched in English.

Bloodstained Butterfly on the other hand is very atypical combination of court drama, police procedural and melancholic giallo. The release by Eyecatcher Movies is nice package, offering both the English dub as well as Italian dub accompanied by English subtitles. The extras include bunch of trailers and more importantly full soundtrack (not cd, but playable via dvd menu). The German name is Blutspur im Park.

Both releases have this book-like dvd-case, which resembles old vhs-cases and are typical to German releases by marginal distributors.

Suspected Death of a Minor

2009-01-25T11:29:00.005+01:00

Earlier this week it was time for this year's first giallo, or at least so I thought, Sergio Martino's Suspected Death of a Minor aka Morte sospetta di una minorenne. As Martino says in the interview included on Sazuma's dvd that the movie is "poliziesco", not a giallo. According to Martino it was originally supposed to be titled Milano Violenta which sort of closes the case. And I agree, even though it has giallo elements such as murders performed with straight razor. The film however is definitely recommended even if it was little bit slow occasionally. Claudio Cassinelli is good in the main role, and despite the dark subject the film has plenty of humour which actually works. Some political commentary is included, and there are several car chases. Suspected Death of a Minor is not of course the only film where the genre definitions are not that clear. I'd say this one is not a giallo, while I'd call Blazing Magnum (the name of course is sheer police stuff inspired by Dirty Harry) one even though that's e.g. left out of the book Blood and Black Lace.

Sazuma's dvd of Martino's film is recommended as well. The picture quality (naturally anamorphic, 2,35:1) is very good, and it comes with the Italian soundtrack supported by English subtitles. It includes some extras as well; featurette Crime Scene Milan including director Martino as the main one. I only watched the first 2 minutes of the featurette, but I'll get back to that later if needed. It also has audio commentary by film critics but I'm not sure whether I'll ever have time for that (I haven't actually checked whether it is in English in the first place), as well as trailer and poster gallery. "Jewel case" type of packaging is nice looking, and comes with a short essay (in English and in German) by Christian Kessler who is the other one of the critics on the commentary track.

Nothing Underneath

2008-12-04T18:38:00.004+01:00

I received earlier this week a review copy of Another World Entertainment's dvd of Nothing Underneath. Movie itself is decent giallo with excellent cinematography and Pino Donaggio's score. Exploitation focuses more on the scantily clad models than violence.

The dvd has English soundtrack, and subtitles include Finnish, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian. The film is also viewable without subtitles. Credits are in Italian. Picture is anamorphic (ratio approx. 1,78:1), and quality is ok. The film looks grainy, and the source print has some speckles. Some compression artifacts are visible especially during the opening credits. Extras are minimal: some filmographies and the disc contains trailers of other movies. All in all, disc worth getting if the movie interests. At the moment this is the only dvd release of Nothing Underneath. The screen capture is somewhat compressed, but gives you the idea of the picture quality.

The Devil Has 7 Faces

2008-11-26T09:28:00.006+01:00

Minor update again. Some time a go Simple Movie released The Devil Has 7 Faces in Germany. It's a clear improvement compared to the earlier unauthorized release from Alpha Video in US. This German release has also english audio and it's presented in widescreen format (anamorphic 2.35:1) with much better picture quality. There are five different covers available and also two limited edition (150 pieces each) covers.

Simple Movie release features also French and US opening credits as an extra. The actual movie has German title text in french opening credits. The Alpha Video has used logically the US opening credits in their release.

Fulci's The Psychic and other releases added

2008-11-24T18:21:00.006+01:00

I did little updating on the list. Several releases were added, but mostly to titles already having a (superior) release. One thing I have completely missed even though I've been aware of the release. And that was Severin's release of Lucio Fulci's Murder to the Tune of the Seven Black Notes aka Sette note in nero aka The Psychic.

Soon we'll also have another contributor to this blog page which hopefully results in much more active blogging than what I've been able to do.

Paranoia

2008-11-18T19:36:00.003+01:00

I apologize the mistake in my previous post. I claimed that Italian dvd of Orgasmo aka Paranoia would have English dub without doublechecking. Unfortunately, there's only Italian language option. The list is not yet updated but I'll update that next weekend.

Big update

2008-11-16T11:48:00.003+01:00

Thanks to fellow elitists (especially Dremez) at www.elitisti.net a big update to giallo list: German uncut Bloodstained Butterfly. Of course the upcoming legitimate R1 release of Argento's Four Flies on Grey Velvet. Copkiller from BCI Eclipse. Italian releases of Deadly Inheritance, Lenzi's Orgasmo, So Sweet... So Perverse, Nine Guests for a Crime, Foxy Lady, The Girl from Cortina, Killer Wore Yellow Shoes and The Strange Story of Olga O. All those are dvd debuts, but none seem to have English options. Damn, just the title So Sweet... So Perverse sounds enticing.

Bluray disc of The Stendhal Syndrome will be released next week. As a happy new owner of PS3 I guess I have to order this.

And I have to say I'm pretty pleased to win the auction of this nice Belgian poster of What Have They Done to Solange?

Minor updates

2008-10-25T16:51:00.002+02:00

I've been lazy, I know. I just updated giallo list a bit. I added the upcoming Blue Underground blu-rays, and several Stendhal Syndrome discs in general.

I should receive Nothing Underneath review disc once it'll be released, so you can expect the report as soon as I'll get my hands onto it, and have time to view the disc.

Apologies

2008-08-18T21:49:00.004+02:00

Apologies for not updating giallo database for a while. I spent my summer elsewhere than behind the keyboard. During the summer I watched one giallo however. Or at least it's listed in Blood and Black Lace book which has been the qualification to make it on the list. The movie was Gabriele Lavia's Sensi aka Evil Senses. Yes, it's a thriller and it's italian but I wouldn't call it giallo. Erotic thriller perhaps, and indeed plentiful sex and occasional violence keep it mildly entertaining. It still lacks things I consider essential for a giallo. It has mystery element, but still there's no crime for antagonist to solve as in most (all?) of classic giallos. It's hard to come up with definition of a giallo. It's just the feeling you are having than something you can easily point your finger at, and that "something" was missing in Evil Senses. Perhaps it's worth mentioning that Mimsy Farmer who starred in Armando Crispino's Autopsy has mentionable role in Evil Senses.

It also looks like that release of Nothing Underneath has been postponed until October.

Giallo trailer collection

2008-06-19T18:23:00.003+02:00

Not exactly news about giallo DVD release but close.

Another blog, Prevues of Coming Attractions have released a DVD collection of giallo trailers. I am not sure how legal this actually is, but since we are only speaking about trailers at least to me it seems ok. Youtube is full of these anyway. So head to Prevues of Coming Attractions and start downloading the files. Eventually you'll have a DVD ready to be burned or you can watch the trailers directly on your PC. Very nice job indeed!

Giallo DVD premieres in August

2008-06-15T13:04:00.003+02:00

It looks like August will be a good month for giallo fans as we will see two DVD premieres.

Scandinavian label Another World Entertainment will release 80s giallo Nothing Underneath. The cover has been published in various discussion forums. In general AWE's new and upcoming releases are interesting for euro cult fans even though almost all of them have been available on DVD before. Check out the website: www.anotherworldent.com

And Severin in USA will release around the same time Sergio Bergonzelli's In the Folds of the Flesh. The official website does not mention it yet though. www.severin-films.com

Shamess details and two Scandinavian releases

2008-06-03T22:39:00.004+02:00

I added some details about Shameless releases. Whether they are anamorphic or not, I'm not sure. Everyday nowadays is, but I want to be sure before I claim so. Also Deep Red aka Profondo Rosso will see another release in June. This time in Scandinavia, or at least in Norway and Denmark. The release will be 2-disc and contain two versions of the film and some extras. Almost in every Scandinavian country we will see also Another World Entertainment's version of Stagefright.

Blu-ray Underground

2008-06-01T07:32:00.003+02:00

It didn't take much to be an oracle. Blue Underground will be releasing at least two giallos by Dario Argento on Blu-ray: The Stendhal Syndrome and The Bird With The Crystal Plumage.

New releases from Shameless

2008-05-29T20:58:00.006+02:00

Three future releases by Shameless were added. Who Saw Her Die? by Aldo Lado has previously been released by Anchor Bay and then Blue Underground in US. Most of us probably already own it, as we do Andrea Bianchi's Strip Nude For Your Killer. That sleazy piece of giallo has been released as well by Blue Underground but also in Germany. Better news are Maurizio Lucidi's The Designated Victim. There has been two releases before. Italian release lacked English options. German release by X-rated probably had English audio track (I haven't found confirmation about its technical details) but this UK release will probably be at least easier to find from online shops.

Shameless web site mentions two of them but Strip Nude For Your Killer information was picked up from cultmovieforums.com.

Shameless releases and re-releases from Blue Underground

2008-05-19T21:45:00.007+02:00

Giallo list is eternally in the making.... However, couple of new additions. Blue Underground re-releases of titles originally released by Anchor Bay in Giallo Collection were included. It would be great to see some new titles instead of these.

Also UK publisher Shameless has released or will release few titles which have been available before. My Dear Killer is the other one, What Have They Done To Your Daughters being the another. I wasn't able to google the technical details but once I'm aware of those I will update the list. Maybe it'd be time for me to upgrade my own Daughters from Salvation edition. Or perhaps I'll wait for Bluray version. We haven't seen the first Bluray (and never did see HD-DVD) giallo but it's just matter of time. My guess is that Blue Underground will be the first one with a re-release of some Argento title.

Ok, little edit: Shameless has previously released also Torso, Killer Nun and New York Ripper which I added to the list. Details of the releases are still lacking.

Giallo list finally released

2008-04-13T11:05:00.002+02:00

At last, the list was finally "officially" released. I already have some updates to the main list. The additional titles (titles not included in the Blood and Black Lace book) do not yet have DVD information and probably there are some titles as well which could be added to the list.

First post

2008-01-27T23:49:00.000+01:00

Giallo films on dvd list has been a year in the making. What a lazy guy I am. Hopefully I will get it published next week. See you then!