11 Trashy and Brutal Jallo Movies to Watch If You Need a Break From Ghosts and Ghouls
Foreign cinema has a reputation for being more erudite than mainstream American film – after all, watching a movie with subtitles means reading while watching the film, and reading is the smartest thing anyone can do.
Giallo’s films defy these expectations. Jalli subtitles are rarely needed – dubbing in Italy is an art, and incredibly often Italian films are dubbed in Italian, even if they were filmed in Italian. This culture of support for voiceover means that a large number of Jallo films can be broadcast in English, making them easy to watch if you prefer watching your horror from marijuana or booze. (Fun fact: Dubbing first came into vogue in the 1930s, when fascist Mussolini tried to ” unify a country divided by dialects ” by dubbing all films in “standardized Italian.”
The Jallo films are also a little cheesy, and I take that as a compliment. ( I love mean stuff. ) Jallo means yellow, and the title is a nod to the cheap paperback thrillers in yellow covers that are so influencing the genre. Gialli is not horror at all. There are few ghosts and ghouls in them, they are full of boobs, paranoia and knives, and almost all the horror – both physical and psychological – is inflicted on women by men. If you like camps, slashers, murder riddles and pretty women, you’ll love gialli. (Don’t get too attached to beautiful women, most of them are brutally murdered.)
Below is a list of 11 hiallis that I liked, in no particular order. I can’t promise your loved one will be there — even the buffest of movie buffs can have a hard time agreeing on what Giallo is, and I’m not a movie buff. However, I watch these beautiful, campy, paranoid films with great enthusiasm and recommend watching them this spooky season, especially if you need a break from ghosts and ghouls. Violence against women is much worse than the supernatural if you ask me (famous woman).