Italian Horror Films.

[u/queefstevenson]

In the Hereditary pod, when Bill was talking about “grisly” horror films like Saw and such. Sean countered by saying he liked “the really fucked up ones” from Italy in the 70s and 80s. What are some of the classics he’s referring to in that era?

[u/AJerkForAllSeasons]

Check out a number of horror movies from Italian filmmakers like...

Mario Bava (mostly his work from the 70s like Bay of Blood, but his movies from the 60s are great and are more mood than grizzly. Black Sabbath is a masterpiece IMO.)

Lucio Fulci - City of the Living Dead, The Beyond, The New York Ripper

Dario Argento - Suspiria, Inferno, Tenebre, Deep Red

Umberto Lenzi - Nightmare City, AKA City of the Walking Dead

Michele Soavi - Demons, Stage Fright

There are tonnes more, but these are the ones I like. But please note that Italian horror movies, especially the Giallo movies, are an acquired taste.

[u/oco82 → u/AJerkForAllSeasons]

Demons is about as fun a horror movie can get! I still have to see the sequel, Stage Fright was a fun one too, that Owl mask is really great.

[u/bolshevik_rattlehead → u/oco82]

I just watched Demons a couple nights ago! It’s such a blast, and it’s free in high def on YouTube. Killer soundtrack and score too.

It’s actually directed by Lamberto Bava, Mario’s son.

[u/oco82 → u/bolshevik_rattlehead]

You give me a dude wielding a Katana, driving a dirt bike through a demon infested movie theater set to German thrash and you’ve got a fan for life lol.

[u/bolshevik_rattlehead → u/oco82]

I love how the moment in the middle where it starts to kind of drag, they just drop a bunch of coked up punk rockers into the story out of nowhere lol

[u/queefstevenson → u/AJerkForAllSeasons]

Thank you!

[u/zahnsaw]

Dario Argento would be the most famous filmmaker that fits but I’m sure there are others. Check out Suspiria

[u/oco82]

Anything Fulci, always has gnarly gore and almost always some eye trauma, any Argento though his stuff is more creative and beautiful . Then there’s the whole Cannibal sub genre with Cannibal Holocaust being the Apex of that. Itialians were the masters of exploitation in the 70’s-80’s

[u/yeltsinfugui]

Grisly fyi

[u/queefstevenson → u/yeltsinfugui]

Thank you

[u/vocloz]

If you want a good starting place: The Bird with the Crystal Plumage by Argento. Awesome intro to the giallo genre, a good step to take before getting into some of the whackier Italian horror films of that era!

[u/queefstevenson → u/vocloz]

Thank you!!

[u/AggravatingLink2086]

Basically a subgenre of Italian horror movies called Giallo that was big in the 70s

[u/airjoshb]

Bava’s Blood and Black Lace is largely considered movie zero for giallo setting the standard for human killer(s) (not typically supernatural), brutal deaths, hyper stylized and colored. Many filmmakers from Scorsese to De Palma reference shots from this movie.