Giallo (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdʒallo], plural gialli) is an Italian 20th century genre of literature and film, which in Italian indicates crime fiction and mystery. In the English language it refers to a genre similar to the French fantastique genre and includes elements of horror fiction and eroticism. The word giallo is Italian for "yellow" and stems from the origin of the genre as a series of cheap paperback mystery novels with trademark yellow covers.

Literature[link]

The term giallo derives from a series of mystery/crime pulp novels entitled Il Giallo Mondadori, first published by the Mondadori publishing house, starting from 1929, and taking its name from the trademark yellow cover background. The series almost exclusively consisted of Italian translations of mystery novels by British and American writers, such as Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, Ed McBain, Rex Stout, Raymond Chandler etc.

Published as cheapish paperbacks, the success of the “giallo” novels soon began attracting the attention of other publishing houses, who began releasing their own versions, retaining the traditional yellow cover. The Giallo Mondadori popularity then established the word giallo in Italian as the widespread translation of the English “mystery.”

Film[link]

For Italian audiences, the term 'giallo' is used to refer to any kind of thriller, regardless of where it was made. Thus American or British thrillers by directors such as Alfred Hitchcock (e.g., Psycho, Vertigo) or Basil Dearden (e.g., The Blue Lamp, Sapphire) are, for Italian-speaking audiences, examples of gialli. For English-speaking audiences, the term has over time come to refer to a very specific type of Italian-produced thriller. Italian audiences have historically referred to these films as, rather than gialli, 'thrilling all'italiana' (in other words, thrillers in an Italian style/Italian-style thrillers) or, sometimes, 'spaghetti thrillers'. So, for Italian audiences, the term 'giallo' denotes a broad genre (the thriller), and the term 'thrilling all'italiana' denotes the specific subgroup of films (a subgenre) that have come to be known by English-speaking viewers as gialli.

The film subgenre that emerged from these novels in the 1960s began as literal adaptations of the books, but soon began taking advantage of modern cinematic techniques to create a unique genre which veered into horror and psychological thrillers.

Characteristics[link]

“Giallo” films are characterized by extended murder sequences featuring excessive bloodletting, stylish camerawork and unusual musical arrangements. The literary whodunit element is retained, but combined with modern slasher horror, while being filtered through Italy’s longstanding tradition of opera and staged grand guignol drama. They also generally include liberal amounts of nudity and sex.

Gialli typically introduce strong psychological themes of madness, alienation, and paranoia. For example, Sergio Martino’s Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (also known as Eye of the Black Cat) was explicitly based on Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Black Cat.”

They remain notable in part for their expressive use of music, most notably by Dario Argento’s collaborations with Ennio Morricone and his musical director Bruno Nicolai, and later with the band Goblin.

Development[link]

As well as the literary giallo tradition, the films were also initially influenced by the German “krimi” phenomenon—originally black and white films of the 1960s that were based on Edgar Wallace stories. The Swedish director Arne Mattsson has also been pointed out as an influence, in particular his film Mannequin in Red (1958).

The first film that created the giallo as an Italian cinema genre is La ragazza che sapeva troppo/The Girl Who Knew Too Much (A.K.A. Evil Eye) (1963), from Mario Bava. Its title referred to Alfred Hitchcock’s famous The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), again establishing strong links with Anglo-American culture. In Mario Bava’s 1964 film, Blood and Black Lace (A.K.A. Six Women for the Murderer), the emblematic element of the giallo was introduced: the masked murderer with a shiny weapon in his black-leather-gloved hand.^[1]

Soon the giallo became a genre of its own, with its own rules and with a typical Italian flavour: adding additional layers of intense colour and style. The term giallo finally became synonymous with a heavy, theatrical, and stylised visual element.

The genre had its heyday in the 1970s, with dozens of Italian giallo films released. Among the directors represented with notable works in this genre are Dario Argento, Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, Aldo Lado, Sergio Martino, Umberto Lenzi, and Pupi Avati.

Avati went as far as satirizing the genre in 1977 with a slapstick giallo titled Tutti defunti... tranne i morti (All Deceased but the Dead).

Although often based around crime and detective work, Gialli should not be confused with the other popular Italian crime genre of the 1970s, the poliziotteschi, which refers to “tough-cop,” action-oriented films (many of them Dirty Harry/ Godfather/ French Connection swipes). Directors and stars often moved between both genres, and some films could be considered under either banner, such as Massimo Dallamano’s 1974 film What Have They Done to Your Daughters?

Giallo Filmography[link]

(Title/ director/ release date/ alternate titles)

• The Girl Who Knew Too Much (Mario Bava, 1963, A.K.A. Evil Eye)
• Blood and Black Lace (Mario Bava, 1964, A.K.A. Fashion House of Death, Six Women for the Murderer)
• Assassino senza volto (Angelo Dorigo, 1967)
• La morte ha fatto l'uovo (Giulio Questi, 1968)
• Il dolce corpo di Deborah (Ernesto Gastaldi, 1968)
• Nude... si muore (Antonio Margheriti, 1968, A.K.A. The Young, the Evil and the Savage)
• L'assassino ha le mani pulite (Vittorio Sindoni, 1968, A.K.A. The Killer Has Clean Hands)
• Orgasmo (Umberto Lenzi, 1968, A.K.A. Paranoia)
• La morte non ha sesso (Massimo Dallamano, 1968, A.K.A. Death Has No Sex)
• Paranoia (Umberto Lenzi, 1968, A.K.A. A Quiet Place To Kill) (not to be confused with "Orgasmo")
• Così dolce... così perversa (Umberto Lenzi, 1969)
• Satan's Baby Doll (F. Casapinta, 1969, A.K.A. La Bambola di Satana )
• Una sull'altra (Lucio Fulci, 1969, A.K.A. Perversion Story)
• The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Dario Argento, 1970, A.K.A. The Gallery Murders, A.K.A. Phantom of Terror)
• Five Dolls for an August Moon (Mario Bava, 1970, A.K.A. Island of Terror)
• Hatchet for the Honeymoon (Mario Bava, 1970)
• Le foto proibite di una signora per bene (Luciano Ercoli, 1970)
• Lizard in a Woman’s Skin (Lucio Fulci, 1971, A.K.A. Schizoid)
• The Fifth Cord (Luigi Bazzoni, 1971, A.K.A. Evil Fingers)
• The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (Sergio Martino, 1971, A.K.A. Blade of the Killer, The Next Victim, Next!)
• The Case of the Scorpion's Tail (Sergio Martino, 1971, A.K.A. The Tail of the Scorpion)
• Black Belly of the Tarantula, (Paolo Cavara, 1971)
• The Cat o’ Nine Tails (Dario Argento, 1971)
• The Bloodstained Butterfly (Duccio Tessari, 1971)
• Four Flies on Grey Velvet (Dario Argento, 1971)
• My Dear Killer (Tonino Valerii, 1971)
• Twitch of the Death Nerve (Mario Bava, 1971, A.K.A. Bay of Blood, Ecology of a Crime, Chain Reaction )
• The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire (Riccardo Freda, 1971)
• The Red-Headed Corpse (Renzo Russo, 1971, A.K.A. Sweet Spirits, The Sensuous Doll )
• The Devil Has Seven Faces (Osvaldo Civirani, 1971, A.K.A. The Devil With Seven Faces)
• Amuck! (Silvio Amadio, 1971, A.K.A. In Pursuit of Pleasure, A.K.A. Maniac Mansion)
• They Have Changed Their Face (Corrado Farina, 1971)
• Slaughter Hotel (Fernando Di Leo, 1971, A.K.A. Asylum Erotica, A.K.A. The Beast Kills in Cold Blood)
• La morte cammina con i tacchi alti (Luciano Ercoli, 1971)
• Jack The Ripper of London (Jose Luis Madrid, 1971) aka Seven Corpses for Scotland Yard, starring Paul Naschy
• The Case of the Bloody Iris (Giuliano Carnimeo, 1972, A.K.A. Why Are Those Strange Drops of Blood On Jennifer’s Body?)
• Don’t Torture a Duckling (Lucio Fulci, 1972, A.K.A. The Long Night of Exorcism)
• Who Saw Her Die? (Aldo Lado, 1972, A.K.A. The Child )
• Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (Sergio Martino, 1972, A.K.A. Eye of the Black Cat)
• The French Sex Murders (1972, A.K.A. The House of Rendezvous)
• Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll (Carlos Aured, 1973) A.K.A. The House of Psychotic Women, starring Paul Naschy
• Smile of the Hyena (Silvio Amadio, 1972, A.K.A. Smile Before Death)
• What Have You Done to Solange? (Massimo Dallamano, 1972, A.K.A. Secret of the Green Pins, The School That Couldn't Scream, Terror in the Woods)
• Knife of Ice (Umberto Lenzi, 1972, A.K.A. Silent Horror)
• Devil in the Brain (Sergio Sollima, 1972)
• All the Colors of the Dark (Sergio Martino, 1972, A.K.A. They're Coming to Get You, Day of the Maniac)
• The Dead Are Alive (Armando Crispino, 1972, A.K.A. The Etruscan Kills Again)
• Delirium (Renato Polselli, 1972, A.K.A. Delirio Caldo )
• The Short Night of the Glass Dolls (Aldo Lado, 1972, A.K.A. Paralyzed)
• Five Women for the Killer (Stelvio Massi, 1972)
• Seven Bloodstained Orchids (Umberto Lenzi, 1972, A.K.A. The Puzzle of the Silver Half-Moons)
• Crimes of the Black Cat (Sergio Pastore, 1972, A.K.A. Seven Shawls of Yellow Silk)
• Naked Girl Killed in the Park (Alfonso Brescia, 1972)
• The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (Emilio Miraglia, 1972)
• Death Walks at Midnight (Luciano Ercoli, 1972)
• Torso (Sergio Martino, 1973, A.K.A. The Bodies Show Traces of Carnal Violence )
• Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye (Antonio Margheriti, 1973)
• The House of Fear (1973, A.K.A. The Girl in Room 2-A)
• The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (Emilio Miraglia, 1973)
• Perfume of the Lady In Black (Francesco Barilli, 1973)
• Death Carries a Cane (Maurizio Pradeux, 1973)
• A Dragonfly For Each Corpse (Leon Klimovsky, 1973) starring Paul Naschy, A.K.A. Red Killer
• The Killer is One of the Thirteen (Javier Aguirre, 1974) starring Paul Naschy
• All the Screams of Silence (Ramon Barco, 1974) starring Paul Naschy
• Eyeball (Umberto Lenzi, 1974, A.K.A. The Devil’s Eye, The Eye, The Secret Killer, Wide-Eyed in the Dark)
• Autopsy (Armando Crispino, 1974, A.K.A. Sunspots, Macchie Solari)
• Spasmo (Umberto Lenzi, 1974)
• What Have They Done To Your Daughters? (Massimo Dallamano, 1974, A.K.A. The Co-ed Murders)
• The Killer Has Reserved Nine Seats (Giuseppe Benati, 1974)
• Night of the Killers (Jesus Franco, 1974, A.K.A. Night of the Skull, A.K.A. Night of the Assassins)
• The Killer Must Kill Again (Luigi Cozzi, 1974, A.K.A. The Spider)
• The Killer With a Thousand Eyes (1974, A.K.A. On The Edge) co-stars Britt Nichols
• Deep Red (Dario Argento, 1975, A.K.A. The Hatchet Murders)
• Nude per l'assassino (Andrea Bianchi, 1975)
• Reflections in Black (Tano Cimarosa, 1975, A.K.A. Vice Wears Black Hose)
• The Bloodsucker Leads the Dance (Alfredo Rizzo, 1975, A.K.A. The Passion of Evelyn)
• Footprints on the Moon (Luigi Bazzoni, 1975)
• The House with Laughing Windows (Pupi Avati, 1976)
• Sette note in nero (Lucio Fulci, 1977, A.K.A. Murder to the Tune of the Seven Black Notes, Seven Notes in Black)
• The Girl in the Yellow Pyjamas (1977, A.K.A. The Pyjama Girl Case)
• Watch Me When I Kill (Antonio Bido, 1977, A.K.A. The Cat's Victims)
• Killer Nun (1978, A.K.A. Deadly Habit)
• The Sister of Ursula (1978)
• Red Rings of Fear (Massimo Dallamano, 1978, A.K.A. Enigma Rosso)
• The Bloodstained Shadow (Antonio Bido, 1978, A.K.A. Solamente Nero)
• Giallo in Venice (Mario Landi, 1979, A.K.A. Thrilling in Venice)
• The Black Cat (Lucio Fulci, 1982)
• Tenebrae (Dario Argento, 1982, A.K.A. Unsane)
• The Scorpion With Two Tails (Sergio Martino, 1982, A.K.A. Murder in the Etruscan Cemetery)
• A Blade in the Dark (Lamberto Bava, 1982, A.K.A. The House with the Dark Staircase)
• The New York Ripper (Lucio Fulci, 1982)
• Blood Link (Alberto DeMartino, 1983, A.K.A. Extrasensorial)
• Murder Rock (Lucio Fulci, 1984) (A.K.A. Murder Rock Dancing Death)
• Sweets for a Stranger (Franco Ferrini, 1985)
• Fashion Crimes (Bruno Gaburro, 1986) (A.K.A. Death and Fashion)
• Body Count (Ruggero Deodato, 1987, A.K.A. Camping del Terrore)
• Phantom of Death (Ruggero Deodato, 1987, A.K.A. A Most Uncommon Crime))
• Stage Fright (Michele Soavi, 1987, A.K.A. Deliria, Bloody Bird, Aquarius)
• Delirium (Lamberto Bava, 1987, A.K.A. Photos of Gioia)
• Fatal Temptation (Enrico Grassi, 1987)
• Opera (Dario Argento, 1987, A.K.A. Terror at the Opera)
• Too Beautiful To Die (Dario di Piana, 1988, A.K.A. Nothing Underneath 2)
• Dial Help (Ruggero Deodato, 1988)
• Massacre (Andrea Bianchi, 1989)
• Arabella, The Black Angel (Stelvio Massi, 1989)
• The Murder Secret (Mario Bianchi & Lucio Fulci, 1989, A.K.A. Don't be Afraid of Aunt Martha)
• Trauma (Dario Argento, 1992, A.K.A. Dario Argento's Trauma)
• Misteria (Lamberto Bava, 1992, A.K.A. Body Puzzle)
• The Stendahl Syndrome (Dario Argento, 1996)
• Fatal Frames (Al Festa, 1996)
• The House Where Corinne Lived (Maurizio Lucidi, 1996)
• Wax Mask (Sergio Stivaletti, 1997, A.K.A. Maschera di Cera)
• Sleepless (Dario Argento, 2001)
• Eyes of Crystal (Eros Puglielli, 2004)
• Giallo (Dario Argento, 2009)

[edit] Giallo influences on other films or neo-giallo

• Pretty Maids All in a Row (Roger Vadim, 1971)
• Eyes of Laura Mars (Irvin Kershner, 1978)
• Communion (Alfred Sole, 1976)
• Dressed To Kill (Brian De Palma, 1980)
• Cruising (William Friedkin, 1980)
• Happy Birthday to Me (J. Lee Thompson, 1981)
• American Nightmare (Don McBrearty, 1983)
• Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven, 1992)
• Se7en (David Fincher, 1995)
• Saw (James Wan, 2004)
• I Know Who Killed Me (Chris Sivertson, 2007)
• Lust for Vengeance (Sean Weathers, 2008)
• Amer (Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani, 2009)
• Julia's Eyes (Guillem Morales, 2010)
• Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky, 2010)
• Masks (Andreas Marschall), 2011

References[link]

Notes[link]

Sources[link]

• Adam Rockoff (April 2002). Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, 1978 to 1986. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-1227-3. http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0786412275. 
• Rick Worland (2006-10-01). The Horror Film: A Brief Introduction. Blackwell Publishing Professional. ISBN 978-1-4051-3902-1. http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1405139021. 
• Mikel J. Koven (2006). La Dolce Morte: Vernacular Cinema and the Italian Giallo Film. Scarecrow Press. 

External links[link]

• KinoEye: An Introduction to the Italian Giallo

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Edwige Fenech (Italian pronunciation: [edˈviːdʒe ˈfenɛk]) (born Edwige Sfenek; 24 December 1948) is a French-born Italian actress and film producer.

Biography[link]

Fenech was born in Bône (now Annaba), in Algeria to a Maltese father and Sicilian mother. From the late 1960s to early 1980s, Fenech starred in many types of European movies. She is best known for her Commedia sexy all'italiana films, and began to work in that field in the late 1960s with Austrian director Franz Antel. Fenech also achieved fame with giallo and sex films such as Five Dolls for an August Moon, Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key, Nude per l'assassino and Sex with a Smile, many of which were directed by Sergio Martino.

In the 1980s, she became a television personality, typically appearing with Barbara Bouchet on a chat show on Italian television. In the mid-1990s, she was engaged to the well-known Italian industrialist Luca di Montezemolo.

After many years of work in movie production (she produced, among others, The Merchant of Venice, 2004, with Al Pacino), Fenech accepted Quentin Tarantino's offer to star in another movie, Hostel: Part II (2007), directed by Eli Roth. A British general named Ed Fenech (played by Mike Myers) is a character in Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds.

External links[link]

• Edwige Fenech at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with Fenech, by Luigi Cozzi, from around 1970
• Edwige Fenech Movie poster images

Mark Kermode
Kermode performing with the Dodge Brothers in 2009.
Born	Mark Fairey (1963-07-02) 2 July 1963 (age 48) Barnet, North London, England
Residence	Brockenhurst, New Forest, Hampshire, England
Nationality	British
Citizenship	British
Education	PhD (English)
Alma mater	University of Manchester
Occupation	Film critic, presenter, musician
Employer	BBC, The Observer, Sight and Sound
Known for	Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews, The Culture Show, The Dodge Brothers

Mark Kermode (born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician and a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He contributes to Sight and Sound magazine, The Observer newspaper and BBC Radio 5 Live, where he presents Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews with Simon Mayo on Friday afternoons.^[1] He also co-presents the BBC Two arts programme The Culture Show and discusses other branches of the arts for the BBC Two programme Newsnight Review. Kermode writes and presents a film-related video blog for the BBC.

Early life and education[link]

Kermode, born Mark Fairey^[2][3] in Barnet, North London, England,^[4] attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, an independent boys' school in Elstree, a few years ahead of comedians Sacha Baron Cohen, Matt Lucas and David Baddiel and in the same year as actor Jason Isaacs.^[5] He was raised as a Methodist, and is now a member of the Church of England.^[6]

Mark Fairey's parents divorced when he was in his early 20s and he subsequently changed his surname to his GP mother's maiden name by deed poll.^[7] (Neither of them is related to the literary critic Frank Kermode.^[8])

He earned his PhD in English at the University of Manchester in 1991, writing a thesis on horror fiction.^[4] Kermode has stated that "I was a revolutionary communist affiliate in the 80s", but that "none of us had any respect for Stalin".^[9]

Personal life[link]

Kermode lives in Brockenhurst with his wife, Linda Ruth Williams, a professor who lectures on film at the University of Southampton and has written The Erotic Thriller in Contemporary Cinema and co-edited Contemporary American Cinema.^[10] In October to November 2004, they jointly curated a History of the Horror Film season and exhibition at the National Film Theatre in London.^[10] Kermode and Williams have two children.^[7] Kermode has been described as "a feminist, a near vegetarian (he eats fish), a churchgoer and a straight-arrow spouse who just happens to enjoy seeing people's heads explode across a cinema screen".^[11]

Career[link]

Horror specialisation[link]

Kermode is a visiting fellow at the University of Southampton, having gained a PhD at the University of Manchester in modern English and American horror fiction.^[12] He has also contributed to Fangoria magazine,^[13] authored the monograph The Exorcist (BFI Modern Classics), and worked on film-related documentaries like The Fear of God; 25 Years of the Exorcist, Hell on Earth: The Desecration and Resurrection of Ken Russell's The Devils, The Edge of Blade Runner, and The Cult of The Wicker Man.^[14] He calls The Exorcist (1973) "the best film ever made".^[15] He recommends The Witch Who Came From the Sea as one of the best video nasties of the 1970s.^[16]

Kermode is sometimes critical of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), the censor for film in the UK, calling for horror films from abroad to be shown in their uncut versions. However, in recent years, he has stated on numerous occasions that the BBFC do a good job in an impossible situation, and expressed his approval of their decisions.^[17]

Print media[link]

Kermode began his film career as a print journalist, writing for Manchester's City Life, and then Time Out and the NME in London. He has also written for The Independent, Vox, Empire, Flicks, Fangoria and Neon.^[18] Until September 2005, Kermode reviewed films each week for the New Statesman.^[19] Since 2009 Kermode has written "Mark Kermode's DVD round-up" for The Observer, a weekly review of the latest releases.^[20] He sometimes writes for the British Film Institute's Sight and Sound magazine.^{[citation needed]}

In February 2010, Random House released his autobiography, It's Only a Movie, which he describes as being "inspired by real events".^[21] Its publication was accompanied by a UK tour.^[22] In September 2011 he released a follow-up book entitled The Good, the Bad and the Multiplex, in which he puts forth his opinion on the good and bad of modern films, and vehemently criticizes the modern multiplex experience and the 3D film craze of the early 2000s.^[23]

Radio[link]

Kermode began working at BBC Radio 1 in 1993, on a regular Thursday night slot called Cult Film Corner on Mark Radcliffe's Graveyard Shift session.^[24] He later moved to Simon Mayo's BBC Radio 1 morning show. He also hosted a movie review show with Mary Anne Hobbs on Radio 1 on Tuesday nights called Cling Film.^[25] Between February 1992 and October 1993, he was the resident film reviewer on BBC Radio 5's Morning Edition with Danny Baker.

Kermode also co-hosted an early 1990s afternoon magazine show on BBC Radio 5 called A Game of Two Halves alongside former Blue Peter presenter Caron Keating.^[26]

He currently reviews and debates new film releases each Friday afternoon with Simon Mayo on Mayo's BBC Radio 5 Live show, which is also available as a podcast.^[27] The programme won Gold in the Speech Award category at the 2009 Sony Radio Academy Awards on 11 May 2009. The judges' citation was:^[28]

The winner of the Gold Award made the judges laugh out loud. They found this programme witty and entertaining, cheeky and irreverent, and they admired the sustained passion and energy of its presenters who made listening an effortless and rollercoaster pleasure.

His derisive review of the Christopher Columbus film Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief inspired the Australian comedy film Benjamin Sniddlegrass and the Cauldron of Penguins.

Television[link]

Kermode is currently a regular presenter on BBC Two's The Culture Show. He also appears regularly on Newsnight Review and Film 24 on BBC News. It was during a 2006 interview with Kermode for The Culture Show in Los Angeles that Werner Herzog was shot by an air rifle. Herzog appeared unflustered, later stating "It was not a significant bullet. I am not afraid".^[29][30] On 19 May 2007 he was featured on the show playing with his skiffle band, The Dodge Brothers, in which he plays the double bass.

Kermode is also a film critic and presenter for Film4 and Channel 4, presenting the weekly Extreme Cinema strand. He also writes and presents documentaries for Channel 4.^[18] Once a week, he reviews films for BBC News at Five.

Kermode rarely watches television, calling it "trivial" and stating that "I have been doing my best to avoid [TV] for the last 20 years."^[31] On being challenged by The Observer to watch TV, he admitted "if there's one thing I've learned from agreeing to take up the Observer's TV challenge this summer, it's that an awareness of what's going on in television is probably helpful to an understanding of movies. Worse, it may even be essential".^[31]

Kermode appeared in a cameo role as himself in the revival of the BBC's Absolutely Fabulous on January 1, 2012.^[32]

Other work[link]

As of April 2008, Kermode has started a twice-weekly video blog hosted on the BBC website, where he posts clips of himself talking about films and telling anecdotes.^[33]

Kermode has recorded DVD audio commentaries for Tommy, The Ninth Configuration, The Wicker Man^[34] and (with Peter O'Toole) Becket.^[35] He also appears in the DVD extras of Lost in La Mancha, interviewing Terry Gilliam. Kermode has written books, published by the BFI in its Modern Classics series, on The Exorcist^[36] and The Shawshank Redemption^[37][38] and his documentary for Channel 4, Shawshank: The Redeeming Feature, is on the film's 10th anniversary special edition DVD.^[39]

Opinions[link]

Kermode's appreciation of genre cinema is not always in line with popular taste. He dislikes all four Pirates of the Caribbean films,^[41] all of the live action Transformers films, and considers the Star Wars series to be a "gross infantalisation of the dark hearted 'serious' sci-fi" that he grew up with.^[42] Kermode has also expressed his dislike of director Chris Columbus, labelling him an "accountant director" and producing a negative analysis of the first two Harry Potter films, which Columbus directed. However, Kermode says he has "grown into the Potter story" as the films have advanced in their mature themes and content.^[43] He dislikes 3D films, and is particularly disdainful of the trend for what he calls "retrofitting" 2D movies into 3D,^[44] and he also detests the Cannes Film Festival. Kermode's emphasis on genre cinema has also meant he often expresses a liking for films panned by other critics, such as Basic Instinct 2 (2006)^[45] because it follows genre expectations. Kermode has been critical of documentary maker Michael Moore (despite praising Capitalism: A Love Story on his radio show), accusing him of "feeding his own ego".^[46]. However he expressed his admiration for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, directed by David Slade, a film dismissed by the majority of critics. Kermode has very strong views and is well known for his rants against certain blockbuster movies such as the Michael Bay films mentioned above, often citing the director as a bad example of filmmaking.

Music[link]

Kermode played double-bass for a skiffle/rockabilly band called The Railtown Bottlers in the early 1990s. The Railtown Bottlers were also the house band on the BBC show Danny Baker After All for a series, starting in 1993,^[47][48] where he performed with Madness lead singer, Suggs.^[49] He currently plays bass in skiffle quartet The Dodge Brothers.^[48]

Awards and other recognition[link]

Kermode is 75th on The Guardian's Film Power 100;^[52] According to The Screen Directory, Kermode is tenth in the list of the best film critics, in company that includes Alexander Walker, Pauline Kael, Roger Ebert, David Thomson, and James Agee.^[40]

Kermode is a patron of the Phoenix Cinema in North London.^[53]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Profile of Mark Kermode at the University of Southampton
• Archive of selected articles by Kermode in Critics / Authors Review and Articles at Rotten Tomatoes
• Mark Kermode at BBC Programmes
• Kermode Uncut: Mark Kermode's Movie Blog at BBC Online
• Interview with Mark Kermode at subtitledonline.com
• Video interview with Mark Kermode regarding The Good, The Bad and The Multiplex at subtitledonline.com

Caterina Caselli (born on 10 April 1946 in Modena) is an Italian record producer and former singer and actress.

In 1966 she debuted in the Sanremo Festival with "Nessuno mi può giudicare", a song discarded by Adriano Celentano, scoring a notable success. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.^[1] Caselli also had considerable success with an Italian cover of the David McWilliams song "Days of Pearly Spencer" called "Il Volto Della Vita".

She is also the president of Sugar Music, Andrea Bocelli's record label, since she discovered him in 1992.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Caterina Caselli at the Internet Movie Database

Dario Argento
Dario Argento answers questions at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival in 2007.
Born	Dario Argento (1940-09-07) 7 September 1940 (age 71) Rome, Italy
Other names	Sirio Bernadotte[1][2]
Occupation	Film director, producer and screenwriter
Spouse	Marisa Casale (1968 -1972) (divorced)[3]
Partner	Daria Nicolodi (1974–1985)

Dario Argento (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdarjo arˈdʒɛnto]; born 7 September 1940) is an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work in the horror film genre, particularly in the subgenre known as giallo, and for his influence on modern horror and slasher movies.

Life and career[link]

Argento was born in Rome, the son of film producer/executive Salvatore Argento and Brazilian-born photographer Elda Luxardo. He began his career in film as a critic, writing for various magazines while still attending high school.

Argento did not attend college, electing rather to take a job as a columnist at the newspaper Paese Sera. While working at the newspaper, Argento also began working as a screenwriter. His most notable work was for Sergio Leone; he and Bernardo Bertolucci collaborated on the story for the spaghetti western classic Once Upon a Time in the West. Soon after that film's 1969 release, Argento began working on his directorial debut, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, which was released in 1970 and was a major hit in Italy.

Early in his directing career, Argento continued to concentrate largely on the giallo genre (more precisely known as "thriller" in Italy, as the word "giallo"--Italian for yellow-- usually refers to generic mystery works). Although Mario Bava created the first cinematic giallo with 1964's Blood and Black Lace, Argento further developed this style in his first three films.^[4]

Argento directed two additional successful thrillers, The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971) and Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1972). Along with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, these three films are frequently referred to as Argento's "animal trilogy". The director then turned his attention away from giallo movies, filming two Italian TV dramas and a period comedy (Five Days in Milan) in 1973 before returning to thrillers with 1975's Deep Red, frequently cited by many critics as the best giallo ever made. The film made Argento famous internationally, and inspired a number of other directors to work in the genre (John Carpenter has frequently referred to the influence Argento's early work had on Halloween).

Argento's next movie was Suspiria (1977), a violent supernatural thriller. Lacking the constraints of the more conventional giallo subgenre, Suspiria is a semi-surreal work of art, where plot and character are secondary to sound and vision. Argento planned for Suspiria to be the first of a trilogy about "The Three Mothers", three ancient witches residing in three different modern cities. The second movie of the trilogy was 1980's Inferno. The Mother of Tears (2007) belatedly concluded the trilogy.

In between the making of the first two "mothers", in 1978, Argento collaborated with George A. Romero on Dawn of the Dead, earning a producer credit and also providing soundtrack work for the zombie classic. Argento oversaw the European release of the film (where it was titled Zombi) which was much shorter and featured much more of the score written and performed by Goblin.

After Inferno, Argento returned to the more conventional giallo style with Tenebrae (1982). He then attempted to combine giallo and supernatural fantasy in Phenomena, also known as Creepers (1985), which was one of Jennifer Connelly's earliest movies. Phenomena also showed Argento's predilection for using new technology, as evidenced by the film's several prowling Steadicam shots. Both films received a lukewarm reception upon their release (although each has been positively reappraised retrospectively).

Argento subsequently took a break from directing to write two screenplays for Mario Bava's son Lamberto Bava, Dèmoni (1985) and Dèmoni 2 (1986).

Dario Argento interviewed by Martin Sauvageau during the Festival International du Cinéma Fantastique de Montréal in 1994.

Opera followed in 1987. Set in Parma's Regio Theatre during a production of Verdi's Macbeth, the production was beset by real-life misfortunes that Argento suspected were caused by the supposed traditional "curse" on the Shakespearean play. Argento's father died during its production, Vanessa Redgrave quit the project before filming began, he had problems working with his former long-time girlfriend and collaborator Daria Nicolodi on-set, and the cast and crew were plagued by several minor accidents and mishaps.

His 1996 The Stendhal Syndrome, in which a policewoman (played by Argento's daughter, Asia) who suffers from Stendhal syndrome is trapped by a serial killer in an abandoned warehouse, was the first Italian film to use computer-generated imagery (CGI). Moreover, the film's opening scene was shot in Florence, at Italy's famed Uffizi Gallery. Argento is the only director ever granted permission to shoot there. The Stendhal Syndrome was distributed in the U.S. by cult B-movie distribution company Troma Entertainment.