Giallo means yellow in Italian, but it also refers to crime fiction, named after the yellow colors of early crime fiction paperbacks. It’s a term that’s long since been adopted for an Italian sub-genre of stylized murder mysteries. The parameters that define a giallo can vary. But they all tend to share recurring elements among them; eye-catching candy-colored blood, black leather gloves, amateur investigators, POV shots, elaborate deaths, great movie titles, and earworm scores. Gialli often features obsession, repressed memories, and fetishistic violence.
This week’s streaming picks give a crash course on gialli. From the first movie attributed to the subgenre to a contemporary love letter that playfully pokes fun at its tropes, these picks have it all. Well, except for any titles by Dario Argento- the most well-known and beloved filmmaker tied to the giallo. If you’ve not seen any Argento, start with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage on Tubi or Pluto TV, then follow it up with Deep Red (also on Tubi).
As for the rest, here’s where you can stream them this week.
The Evil Eye – Shudder
The Evil Eye is the U.S. title for The Girl Who Knew Too Much, considered the first-ever giallo. Fittingly, it follows Nora (Letícia Román), a giallo paperback obsessed American who travels to Rome to stay with her aunt. There she’s mugged and knocked unconscious. She wakes to a murder taking place, but no one believes her when no evidence is found. Nora must use her knowledge of pulpy crime novels to determine if what she witnessed was real or a phantom memory of murders that took place long ago. The Evil Eye also stars John Saxon as Nora’s love interest. Mario Bava is a style master, and this gorgeously shot black-and-white thriller gets by on its atmospheric visuals when the narrative can get a bit too intricate for its own good.
The Red Queen Kills Seven Times – Prime Video
An old family curse hits sisters Kitty and Franziska after inheriting their grandfather’s castle. The curse’s legend states that one sister dies and returns to life to kill seven people every one-hundred years, with her sister as the final victim. The body count rises, but is it due to a curse or something far more insidious? This giallo leans heavily into Gothic horror without sacrificing the gory kills. In other words, the red queen kills far more than seven times. It’s the final film by director Emilio Miraglia and his follow-up to the also worthy The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave.
All the Colors of the Dark – Shudder
Director Sergio Martino (The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, also on Shudder) once again teams up with actors Edwige Fenech and George Hilton for a Satanic take on the giallo. This time, Martino descends further into hallucinatory dream logic. Fenech plays Jane, a woman still reeling from a car accident that resulted in a miscarriage. Then a new neighbor recommends Jane participate in a Black Mass. Instead of curing her, it seems to bring her nightmares to life, and she becomes convinced devil worshippers are following her. Full of psychedelic, psychosexual imagery, it’s a gorgeous giallo full of red herrings and late-game reveals.
Dressed to Kill – Prime Video
Brian de Palma packs this thriller full of nods to Alfred Hitchcock and Psycho, but it’s very much in the style of a giallo. After witnessing the brutal murder of a psychiatrist’s patient, call girl Liz (Nancy Allen) becomes the prime suspect as well as the murderer’s next target. Liz teams up with the victim’s son to solve the killer’s identity before it’s too late. All of the familiar giallo hallmarks are there; the mystery, voyeurism, the black gloves, bloody deaths, and sexually-charged psychological themes. Throw in a fantastic score by Pino Donaggio, and you have a stellar late-game giallo.
The Editor – Prime Video, Tubi
If gialli don’t appeal to you, no matter how hard you try, The Editor might do the trick. A horror-comedy by Astron-6, The Editor works as both an homage and a parody of gialli. Adam Brooks (Psycho Goreman) stars as Rey Cisco, a once-popular film editor that now works in exploitation after an accident left him without four fingers. When actors from his latest project turn up missing, Rey becomes the prime suspect. It’s up to Rey to investigate and clear his name, leading to some sinister discoveries. Astron-6 playfully spoofs the sub-genre’s tropes, from bad dubbing to nonsensical plot threads. It’s a sendup that embraces camp and doesn’t take itself seriously at all.