For some reason or other which I have never been able to fathom I was quite late in enjoying the spectacle that is the Giallo. But better late than never I have been indulging mysef over the last few years and hunting down as many Gialli that I can lay my hands on, with grateful appreciation of Adrian Luther Smith's seminal blood and Black Lace. It is a sub-genre that cries out or recognition as a bons fide genre in itself, which it is I suppose in a forum like this! My first surprise on enteing this thread was to see Tenebrae winning hands down on the poll. A superb film, granted (and I do mean superb), but for me I reckon the seeming hayday of the Giallo lays firmly in the late sixties to the mid seventies. if I'm pressed to say what is the greates Giallo ever I would have to plump for Deep Red, an essential flm in the genre where all the requisites are there, laid out perfectly within Argento's vision.
For what it is worth, my top ten (in an order that changes with the frequency as I change my underpants) i:
Deep Red
Bird With The Crystal Plumage
Don't Torture A Duckling (Some days I reckon this is the best)
Black Belly Of A Tarantula
The Killer Reserved Nine Seats (if you've neve seen this, really, you should)
Spasmo ( I know, it's utter madness but Iove it)
Death Walks In High Heels (Another one that maybe not everyon'e idea of a favourite, but it works for me)
Death Lays An Egg (This does different things before the rules were se, as it were)Four Grey Flies On Velvet
The Killer Must kill Again (possibly the antithesis of the Giallo so may not belong on this list, but adamn fine film, and I have many films to take its place if need be
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nb - I have purposely not put any film with Edwige Fenech in it bcause every Edwige film is a genre unto itself and I fail to be unbias with her around.