Thrillers only

Between the end of the Sixties and the mid Seventies, in Italy, the declining cinema success of Westerns was rapidly replaced by another genre, that of the thriller movie, or "giallo" in Italian (the term derives from the colour and indeed name of the series of books published by Mondadori, first printed in 1929). The origins of this trend can be traced back to several volumes by the ingenious Mario Bava, from "The Girl Who Knew Too Much" (1962) to "Blood and Black Lace" (1964), the latter already featuring all those elements - the murderer, clad in black and unrecognizable, the figurative ferocity of the numerous crimes, the terrifying unravelling of the story - that were to constitute the "genre".
Nonetheless it was only with "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage" (1970), the first offering by young Roman director Dario Argento, that autarkic thrillers really took off: in just a few years an incredible number of films were produced, many of which were destined to become cult movies far beyond national borders.
Anchor Bay, an American publishing company that has always taken a keen interest in the phenomenon, has just released a box of 4 DVDs that will have lovers of the genre squealing with delight: "The Giallo Collection" contains films that have long been impossible to find in shops, presented here in splendid versions that respect the original format, enriched with precious extras.
The titles are "The Bloodstained Shadow" (1978) by Antonio Bido; "The Case of the Bloody Iris (1972) by Anthony Ascot alias Giuliano Carnimeo; "Short Night of the Glass Dolls (1971)  and "Who saw her die? (1972) by Aldo Lado.
Considered at the time excessive and styled after Grand Giugnol, today they appear as superbly classic spine-chillers : the tales they tell, set against narrow Venetian alley ways or dark Prague streets, in an ultramodern skyscraper or in small provincial houses, elicit fear that is not based on special effects of sophisticated make-up. Instead, they play on ancient fears and anxieties: a room suddenly plunged in darkness, the dark side of a loved one, madness lurking where you would least expect to find it. The result is films that work on a universal level.