Gothic, Giallo, Gore brings us the work of Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, and Dario Argento, the godfathers of the giallo genre. For those who don’t know, here’s a little background – this 1960s genre broke new ground by creating highly stylised and gruesome thrillers that went to previously unseen extremes in cinema. The 1970s saw the style become more nuanced and pronounced, bringing together innovative cinematography, convoluted scenes of death and mayhem, and an intense psychosexual edge. Giallo was hard to resist, and the three directors we mentioned before were the ones pushing everyone’s buttons.
The Gothic, Giallo, Gore program gives us an inside look at the world of giallo cinema, combining some of the genre’s greatest titles with a selection of its most important gothic horror influences. It also places an emphasis on the blood-heavy and primal works of Bava and Fulci, which ended up being a huge influence in international horror cinema. This retrospective is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the seminal films of these visionary directors on the big screen – from Bava’s super-creepy Black Sunday and Fulci’s gory Zombi 2 to Argento’s groundbreaking Deep Red and Suspiria, the program is jam-packed with rare 35mm prints as well as lush digital restorations. This is cinema like you’ve never seen it before!
Want to satiate your thirst for blood? You can see the full Gothic, Giallo, Gore: Masters of Italian Horror line-up and buy tickets through the GOMA website.
