See the Dark Side of italian Cinema with Arrow Video's Giallo Essentials

FTC Statement: Reviewers are frequently provided by the publisher/production company with a copy of the material being reviewed.The opinions published are solely those of the respective reviewers and may not reflect the opinions of CriticalBlast.com or its management.

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. (This is a legal requirement, as apparently some sites advertise for Amazon for free. Yes, that's sarcasm.)

Giallo Essentials

Arrow Video presents another installment of its Giallo Essentials series with three suspense-filled Italian films, beautifully packaged in this stunning yellow slipcase box set.

Riding high from the praises of the previous RED Giallo Essentials set, Arrow bumped the packaging up a notch and added a few more well-known titles to this one, as well as giving the slipcase an outer sleeve that showcases key scenes from each of the films contained.

In Massimo Dallamano’s What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (1974), Inspector Silvestri (Claudio Cassinelli) and rookie Assistant District Attorney Vittoria Stori (Giovanna Ralli) investigate the apparent suicide of a teenage girl, leading them to a sordid prostitution ring whose abusers occupy the highest echelons of Italian society.

Featuring:

  • Audio commentary by Troy Howarth, author of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films.
  • Video essay by Kat Ellinger, author and editor-in-chief of Diabolique Magazine Eternal Melody.
  • An interview with composer Stelvio Cipriani.
  • Dallamano’s Touch, an interview with editor Antonio Siciliano. 
  • Unused hardcore footage shot for the film by Massimo Dallamano.
  • Alternate English opening titles.       
  • Italian theatrical trailer.           
  • Image gallery.

Sergio Martino’s Torso (1973) helped lay the groundwork for the American slasher movie. When a ruthless killer begins to target the female university students of Perugia, Jane (Suzy Kendall) and her friends flee for the peace of the countryside, only to discover that the threat isn’t far behind.

  • Audio commentary by Kat Ellinger, author of All the Colours of Sergio Martino.
  • Video interview with co-writer/director Sergio Martino. 
  • Video interview with actor Luc Merenda.     
  • Video interview with co-writer Ernesto Gastaldi.     
  • Video interview with filmmaker Federica Martino, daughter of Sergio Martino.    
  • 2017 Abertoir International Horror Festival Q&A with Sergio Martino.   
  • Video interview with Mikel J. Koven, author of La Dolce Morte: Vernacular Cinema and the Italian Giallo Film.
  • Option to view the film with the rare alternate US opening title sequence.       
  • Italian and English theatrical trailers.

Andrea Bianchi’s Strip Nude for Your Killer (1975) delivers depravity in droves as ambitious photographer Magda (Edwige Fenech) and her on-off boyfriend/gigolo Carlo (Nino Castelnuovo) team up to solve the mystery of highly sexualized murders that are rocking a prestigious Milanese fashion house.

  • Audio commentary by HORRORPEDIA.com’s Adrian J. Smith and David Flint.                                                  
  • Sex and Death with a Smile, a video essay by author and critic Kat Ellinger on giallo and sex comedy icon Edwige Fenech.                                                                                                                                                                               
  • A Good Man for the Murders, an archival video interview with actor Nino Castelnuevo.                            
  • The Blonde Salamander, a video interview with actress Erna Schurer.                                                                           
  • The Art of Helping, a video interview with assistant director Daniele Sangiorgi.                                                   
  • Jack of All Trades, a video interview with actor and production manager Tino Polenghi.                                          
  • Two versions of the opening scene: tinted and untinted viewing options.                                                           
  • Original Italian and English theatrical trailers.                                                                                                                  
  • Image gallery.

I absolutely love that Arrow Video is coming out with these Essentials boxed sets of the most famous Italian Giallo films they have in their library. The only downside, however, is already owning a single release of one of the films contained in the set can be frustrating to a collector, forcing them to double dip on a title they already own.

All three films are great examples of the Italian black-gloved killer genre of their time, and each one has its own degree of horror and suspense. Whether you prefer the mystery or the gore, one of these films will satisfy your taste for some good Italian home-cooked cinema.

Grade: 
4.0 / 5.0