Back in 2008, I teased the twelve people that read this site (OK, thirteen) that Andy Hershberger and I – the same team that brought you the exhaustive tome on zombie movies called Zombiemania – were about to begin work on our thematic follow-up. Using the same basic approach, format, and unique blend of critique and casual commentary, Andy and I are turning our attention to another beloved subgenre of horror cinema. And now at last we can reveal the subject.

The smell of black leather. The flash of sharpened steel against skin. The deep red of spilled blood. Nights of terror and suspense unfold in a cat-and-mouse game between a lethal killer and a bevy of beautiful, buxom victims, set against a backdrop of picturesque locales, ’70s fashions and copious quantities of J&B. We are now in that shadowy world of stylized sex and death that defines the unique cinematic genre known as…giallo.

Born out of the popularity of Italian paperback thrillers featuring lurid yellow (giallo) covers, giallo cinema was created and refined by film makers like Mario Bava, Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, and many more. With inventive titles, intense subject matter and innovative techniques, the giallo was not only a distinctive genre in its own right but a stepping stone between the crime thrillers of earlier decades and the modern slasher movies of the ‘80s and beyond.

We hope you’ll want to catch “yellow” fever with us as we explore the world of the Italian gialli in Giallomania, from the widely accepted start of the genre with Mario Bava’s The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963) to the latest homage from Argento himself, Giallo (2009).

And then, further down the road, who knows? It’s important to remember that it’s hard to keep a good zombie down…