Giallo Essentials

Every genre has its formulaic trappings; and the Italian giallo is no exception.  But the predictable stalk n’ slash structure also offers endless variation depending on who’s behind the camera.  Arrow Film’s latest Giallo Essentials box set collects three titles new to the Region A market, each taking a drastically different approach to deliver the same sexy thrills.

 

Smile Before Death (1972) sets the bar high with its sleazy plotline centered around Nancy, a young girl returning from boarding school to mourn her mother’s death, ruled a suicide but under suspicious circumstances.  Her stepfather and mother’s best friend seem to be keen on ridding themselves of unwanted guest.  But Nancy turns the tables on the pair, seducing them both with an ease beyond her years, setting the stage for a surprising comeuppance.   

 

Written and directed by Silvio Amadio, Smile Before Death has a low body count but plenty of delightfully kinky twists and turns.  The cast – including giallo regular Rosalba Neri – are all in top form, unafraid of exploring the perverse pleasures of Amadio’s script.  Visually, things are a bit flat, besides a clever photography montage, but it just proves the genre doesn’t need Argento-style camera acrobatics to deliver the goods.

 

1972’s The Weapon, The Hour, The Motive leans into the pliziotteschi genre a bit more, following a jaded police detective as he investigates the murder of a corrupt priest.  In true giallo fashion, a little boy is witness to the crime but won’t reveal the perpetrator.  Meanwhile, the dead priest’s lover (one of two) pitches in to uncover the crime and perhaps clear her own name.

 

Passably directed by Francesco Mazzei, the film gets most of its mileage out of Inspector Boito (Renzo Montagnani), whose world-weary but reliable instincts pull things together in traditional murder-mystery fashion.  Saddled with another low body count, fans might quick to dismiss Mazzei’s film as a compromised conglomeration of two genres.  But that’s exactly what makes it so interesting.

 

With 1974’s The Killer Reserved Nine Seats things come full circle to the genre’s Agatha Christie origins.  Set in an abandoned theater, nine partygoers – one of whom no one remembers inviting – are picked off one by one in various fashion matching those depicted on a historic tapestry.  Directed by Giuseppe Bennati, the unique setting gives the rather predictable story a boost, along with a pseudo-supernatural bent that keeps the audience guessing right up until the end…and maybe after.

 

Featuring new 2K restorations from the original camera negatives, each film looks and sounds terrific, with subtitles filling in the blanks for those with no dubbed tracks available.  Extras include individual commentary tracks, interviews, extended scenes and sweet packaging with a desirable slipcover.

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