Gialloween II: Four MORE Classic Italian Thrillers
Gialloween returns after a two-year absence!
With Halloween approaching we like nothing more than a slew of creepy suspense movies, and the golden age of giallo offers gems aplenty. Murder, mania, & black leather gloves … equal parts terror and style … We’ve picked out four more films we think you’re going to love!
Tuesday, October 22, 9:00pm: A LIZARD IN A WOMAN’S SKIN
“Thematically the closest Fulci got to his peer Argento. Colorful and wild, with orgies, LSD freakouts and painting-by-knife-throwing. The visuals are Fulci’s most impressive.” — Dana Reinoos, Screen Slate
Fans of THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY and THE STRANGE COLOUR OF YOUR BODY’S TEARS, take note: you will really, really like this movie. One of the Euro-trashiest mindf*cks ever. The daughter of a respected politician (Florinda Bolkan) experiences haunting, hallucinogenic couture visions in which everyone is erotic and murder happens. There’s a plot lurking beneath the surface — but one watches Lizard for its roasting, left-field psychedelia that explodes from the screen in a flash flood. – AGFA
Dir. Lucio Fulci, Italy 1971. 104 min, DCP.
Tickets for A LIZARD IN A WOMAN’S SKIN available here.
Wednesday, October 23th, 9:15pm: THE CAT O’ NINE TAILS
This second entry in Dario Argento’s “Animal Trilogy” found the young talent further refining his distinctive style and cementing his reputation as master of the giallo. Featuring another nerve-jangling score by the great Ennio Morricone, THE CAT O’ NINE TAILSremains one of Argento’s most suspenseful and underrated films.
When a break-in occurs at a secretive genetics institute, a blind puzzle-maker (Karl Malden, ON THE WATERFRONT) overhears an attempt to blackmail an institute scientist shortly before the robbery, and teams up with intrepid reporter Carlo (James Franciscus, BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES) to crack the case. Soon the bodies pile up, and the two amateur sleuths find their own lives imperilled in their search for the truth. Worse still, the puzzle-maker’s niece (Cinzia De Carolis, CANNIBAL APOCALYPSE) is in the killer’s sights… – AGFA
Dir. Dario Argento, Italy, 1971. 115 min, DCP.
Tickets for THE CAT O’ NINE TAILS available here.
Thursday, October 24th, 9:30pm: DEATH SMILES ON A MURDERER
“Achieves a hallucinatory ambience reminiscent of Mario Bava or Antonio Margheriti.” — Giallo Fever
New 2K restoration! A haunting gothic giallo and compelling early work from legendary sleaze / horror director Joe D’Amato(BEYOND THE DARKNESS, ANTHROPOPHAGUS, PORNO HOLOCAUST), here billed under his real name Aristide Massaccesi. This stately and surreal supernatural mystery benefits from an achingly mournful score by Berto Pisano, several shocking scenes of gore and a typically sinister performance from Klaus Kinski as a morbid doctor.
Amongst an early 1900s Austrian backdrop, Ewa Aulin (CANDY, DEATH LAID AN EGG) plays Greta, a beautiful young woman abused by her mad hunchback brother (Luciano Rossi, THE CONFORMIST) and left to die in childbirth by her illicit lover, aristocrat Dr. von Ravensbrück (Giacomo Rossi Stuart, KILL, BABY…KILL!). Bereft with grief, the hunchback reanimates her using a formula engraved on an ancient Incan medallion… – AGFA
Dir. Joe D’Amato, credited as Aristide Massaccesi. Italy, 1973. 92 min, DCP.
Tickets for DEATH SMILES ON A MURDERER available here.
Friday, October 25th, 9:30 pm: TORSO
A towering terror from the end of the ‘70s giallo boom, TORSO finds director Sergio Martino (YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED ROOM AND ONLY I HAVE THE KEY, CASE OF THE SCORPION’S TAIL) reveling in the genre’s time-honored traditions while also laying groundwork for the modern slasher. It delivers copious violence, sleaze and one of the tensest cat-and-mouse games ever committed to celluloid.
A maniac prowls the streets of Perugia, targeting picturesque university students. Alarmed at the plummeting life expectancy of the student body, Jane (Suzy Kendall, THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE) and her friends elope to a secluded country villa to discover that, far from having left the terror behind, they’ve brought it with them… – AGFA
Dir. Sergio Martino. Italy, 1973. 90 min, DCP.
Tickets for TORSO available here.
See all four films for $40! Gialloween II pass available here.
FREE OR DISCOUNTED FOR MEMBERS
NOTE: FILMS START RIGHT AT THE LISTED SHOWTIME.
Roxie Theater trailers play during the 30 minutes prior to showtime.