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 Posted:   Sep 19, 2022 - 2:15 PM   
 By:   Tall Guy   (Member)

In responding to Leo in his The Case of the Bloody Iris thread, I thought of the phrase “Giallo Bingo” to signify all the recurring motifs in that kind of film.

When I googled it, I found that someone had got there first, and had come up with 24 features that are common to gialli.

They chose:
Funky music
Twist ending
Witness of murder
Striptease
Killer’s POV
Man slaps woman
Overloud or inappropriate music
Outrageous title
J&B bottle
Naked woman
Death by stabbing
Red herring
Black gloved killer
Goofy police inspector
Important picture
Woman takes bath or shower
Blackmail
Gay/lesbian character
Important memory
Random scene in Italian
Ooh ooh music
Death by razor
Childhood trauma
Killer’s footsteps

Drink a shot for each one of these that comes up in a random selection of gialli and you’ll need a new liver by next weekend.

Still, I’m going to have to play it!


Edit, June 2023…

This is the FSM giallo bingo point directory. Where a film is reviewed more than once, it gets the higher score:

Torso - 18
Blow Out - 18
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage - 17
Deep Red - 17
The Bloodstained Shadow - 16
The Case of the Bloody Iris -15
The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh - 15
Four Flies on Grey Velvet - 15
The Fifth Cord - 15
The Red Queen Kills Seven Times - 15
Dressed to Kill - 15
The Flesh and Blood Show - 15
Tenebrae - 14
The Black Belly of the Tarantula - 14
A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin - 14
Murder Obsession - 14
Death Carries a cane - 14
Cold-Blooded Beast aka Slaughter Hotel - 14
Who Saw Her Die - 13
The Killer Reserved Nine Seats - 13
Strip Nude For Your Killer - 13
The Eyes of Laura Mars - 12
Death Walks on High Heels - 12
Eye in the Labyrinth - 12
Watch Me When I Kill You - 12
The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave - 12
Arabella Black Angel - 12
Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key - 12
Mystère aka Dagger Eyes - 12
Sweets From a Stranger - 12
The Iguana With the Tongue of Fire - 11
Cat O’Nine Tails - 11
What Have You Done to Solange? - 11
Knife of Ice - 11
Smile Before Death - 11
So Sweet … So Perverse - 11
A Quiet Place to Kill (aka Paranoia) -11
Sleepless - 11
The Killer is on the Phone - 11
Amuck - 11
The French Sex Murders - 11
Double Face - 11
The Sister of Ursula - 11
Nine Guests for a Crime - 11
The Young, the Evil and the Savage, aka Naked You Die - 11
The Psychic Murder to the Tune of the Seven Black Notes - 11
Opera - 10
The Weekend Murders - 10
My Dear Killer - 10
Formula For a Murder - 10
The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail - 10
Orgasmo (confusingly aka Paranoia) - 10
The Perfume of the Woman in Black - 10
A Bay of Blood - 10
So Sweet, So Dead - 10
Phenomena - 10
E Tante Paura - 10
The New York Ripper - 10
Death Laid an Egg - 10
The Girl in Room 2A - 10
A Taste for Fear - 10
A Blade in the Dark - 9
Spasmo - 9
The Killer Must Kill Again - 9
Eyeball - 9
The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion - 9
The Bloodstained Butterfly - 9
Five Dolls for an August Moon - 9
The Card Player - 9
The House With Laughing Windows - 9
Trauma - 9
The Police are Blundering in the Dark - 9
The Doll of Satan - 9
Don’t Torture a Duckling - 8
One On Top of the Other - 8
All the Colours of the Dark - 8
The Weapon, the Hour, the Motive - 8
What Have They Done to Your Daughters? - 8
Seven Bloodstained Orchids - 8
The Stendhal Syndrome - 8
The Girl Who Knew Too Much - 8
The Killer is One of Thirteen - 8
Salvare La Faccia - 8
Autopsy/Macchie Solari - 8
Tropic of Cancer - 8
All Deceased … Except the Dead - 8
Death Smiles on a Murderer - 8
Puzzle aka L’Uomo Senza Memoria - 7
Libido - 7
Short Night of the Glass Dolls - 7
The Cold Eyes of Fear - 7
Death Walks at Midnight - 7
A Black Veil For Lisa - 7
Suspicious Death of a Minor - 7
Footprints on the Moon - 7
Hatchet for the Honeymoon - 7
A White Dress For Marialé - 7
Do You Like Hitchcock? - 6
Murder Mansion - 6
The Telephone (from Black Sabbath) - 5
The Pyjama Girl Case - 5
Dark Glasses - 5
Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eye - 5
The Two Faces of Fear - 5
Blood and Black Lace - 4
The Designated Victim - 4
The Devil Has Seven Faces - 4
The Killer is Still Among Us - 4
Suspiria (not really a giallo) - 2

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 19, 2022 - 2:56 PM   
 By:   Leo Nicols   (Member)

Thanks TG ......will someone pass the whisky. lol

 
 Posted:   Sep 19, 2022 - 3:37 PM   
 By:   purplemonkeydishwasher   (Member)

"Ooh ooh music" . . . ? big grin

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 20, 2022 - 2:38 AM   
 By:   Prince Damian   (Member)

They forgot to add-

Difficult to follow plot/ outcome nicely explained with one line of dialogue. Just as some one watching, with you, decides to talk. (Usually my mum). embarrassment

Pause rewind.

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 20, 2022 - 4:30 AM   
 By:   Graham Watt   (Member)

Abominable dialogue probably translated literally from the Italian, spoken by quite good USA-import/export actors in such a way that it makes them look like truly terrible actors.

 
 Posted:   Sep 20, 2022 - 5:08 AM   
 By:   Bill Carson, Earl of Poncey   (Member)

"Ooh ooh music" . . . ? big grin

This was going to be my first post big grin

 
 Posted:   Sep 20, 2022 - 5:13 AM   
 By:   Bill Carson, Earl of Poncey   (Member)

"Goofy police inspector"

Or kind and reliable police inspector...who turns out to be the killer.

Or kind and reliable flatmate of stalked heroine...who turns out to be the killer.

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 20, 2022 - 2:53 PM   
 By:   Leo Nicols   (Member)

I'm very partial to a bit of "Ooh ooh music"

 
 Posted:   Sep 20, 2022 - 7:20 PM   
 By:   Viscount Bark   (Member)

"Ooh ooh music" . . . ? big grin

Isn't there usually a woman or woman's chorus going, "Ooooooh, wahhhh, oooooh" for the romantic bits in giallos?

 
 Posted:   Sep 20, 2022 - 10:38 PM   
 By:   Bill Carson, Earl of Poncey   (Member)

I dont think Edda Dell'Orso or Nora Orlandi ever went "Ooooh waahhh Ooooh" lol big grin

 
 Posted:   Sep 20, 2022 - 11:08 PM   
 By:   Viscount Bark   (Member)

I dont think Edda Dell'Orso or Nora Orlandi ever went "Ooooh waahhh Ooooh" lol big grin

LOL!!! smile

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 20, 2022 - 11:24 PM   
 By:   Tall Guy   (Member)

Okay, so down to business. I’ve just finished watching The Case of the Bloody Iris and counted 15 of the 24 giallo bingo reference points above. I discounted a couple of grey areas, and there was no “ooh ohh music”.

I don’t think I should list the individual points because I suppose they could be spoilers in a fairly broad sense, but I’d be interested to know if there’s any demand for that.

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 20, 2022 - 11:36 PM   
 By:   Prince Damian   (Member)

I dont think Edda Dell'Orso or Nora Orlandi ever went "Ooooh waahhh Ooooh" lol big grin

Maybe not when you were in the room! wink

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 21, 2022 - 11:55 PM   
 By:   Tall Guy   (Member)

Spasmo - a disappointing nine on the Giallo Bingo scale. I’ve counted the main titles as “ooh ooh” music, though, so that’s something.

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 22, 2022 - 12:22 AM   
 By:   Graham Watt   (Member)

Spasmo - a disappointing nine on the Giallo Bingo scale. I’ve counted the main titles as “ooh ooh” music, though, so that’s something.

Is it a common giallo/gialli trait to get them all mixed up in your head? I ask this because I THINK I've seen SPASMO, and I THINK that's the one where the lead man and the gal break into a house, looking for "clues" and believing it to be unoccupied. But they find a family having dinner around the table.

"Hey, what are you two doing in my house?"

"What? But we were sure the owners had left this property."

"Oh yes, they have. We're actually just renting it and have been doing so for the past few months. Would you like to see the view from upstairs?"

"Yes, we'd like that very much thanks."

Is that SPASMO, or is it impossible to be sure?

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 22, 2022 - 12:45 AM   
 By:   Tall Guy   (Member)


That’s the one, happens pretty much as you describe. They’re just hoping to stay the night rather than looking for clues, but honestly who really knows wtf is going on at that point. I’ve got a lot of time for Umberto Lenzi, but I’d say Spasmo is the least of his gialli amongst the ones I’ve seen.

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 24, 2022 - 10:42 AM   
 By:   Tall Guy   (Member)

Cat O’Nine Tails (Argento, 1971)

Argento’s gialli are very different in tone to other high profile directors in the genre, so I wasn’t expecting too many common features, but in fact I counted eleven. I gave the benefit of the doubt to “man slaps woman” because it was a young girl who got the flat of the hand. I could have counted “naked woman” for the only love scene but it was brief and out of focus and so I didn’t bother.

I did include music both funky and ooh ooh, but not inappropriate/overloud, which is subjective. And it’s Ennio - who am I to say it’s inappropriate?

I enjoyed it more this time around, even though I watched it in English (how else would you know if there were a random scene in Italian). I’ve reassessed Argento again - at first I thought him the mutt’s nuts, and then more or less dismissed him as a hack after watching other directors’ work, and now I rate him quite highly again.

I’m enjoying this trawl through the wacky world of the giallo. More to come…

Edit - upgraded from ten giallo bingo points to eleven. I didn’t initially think the railway station picture was sufficiently important, but on reflection although it didn’t give away the killer it implied there was one; and it demonstrated Arnò’s uncanny ability to use his other gifts, no longer being blessed with sight. So eleven it is.

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 24, 2022 - 11:12 AM   
 By:   Prince Damian   (Member)

Have that on.e too, it's been a while

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 24, 2022 - 10:11 PM   
 By:   On the Rooftops   (Member)

One of my favorites is Argento’s Deep Red, coming in at
15 of 24 by my count. No “ooh ooh” points I’m afraid.
Maybe someone has a video of The Strange Vice of Mrs
Wardh which, if memory serves, might have a score of
twenty or higher?

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 25, 2022 - 1:44 AM   
 By:   Tall Guy   (Member)

One of my favorites is Argento’s Deep Red, coming in at
15 of 24 by my count. No “ooh ooh” points I’m afraid.
Maybe someone has a video of The Strange Vice of Mrs
Wardh which, if memory serves, might have a score of
twenty or higher?


Thanks for playing!

Mrs Wardh was in my mind for this morning but instead I went for “Death Walks on High Heels” and deferred the ineffable delights of Edwige for another day. Luciano Ercoli’s film (the Arrow print calls itself “Death Stalks on High Heels”) about a French stripper whose dad is a diamond thief has many twists and turns and (having forgotten who the killer is) I’d have to watch it again to see if it actually stacks up.

It’s amusingly off beam, small things you can ignore like Scotland Yard being in completely the wrong place (the film being set in Paris, London and a small coastal English village), and bigger things like British police carrying guns and driving left-hand drive Jaguars, and the house “near” the seaside town being set beside terraced slopes and clearly being Mediterranean.

It’s also got the most hilarious freeze-frame ending of any film I’ve ever seen.

The number you’ve all been waiting for - twelve GB points.

Stelvio’s score is both funky and ooh ooh…

 
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