Who is the mysterious serial killer in black leather gloves?

This is the ultimate premise of every Giallo movie, which begins when the main protagonist stumbles upon a murder and the mysterious killer escapes. The witness then conducts their own investigation into the murderer’s motives while their friends and associaties are picked off one by one - as the killer closes in for the kill.

Giallo translates as the Italian word Yellow, a reference to the unique cover designs for Italian Mondadori pulp murder mystery paperback novels popular in the 1930’s. Giallo’s inception as a film genre began with Mario Bava’s stylistic reinvention of Film Noir as Horror with the Hitchcock influenced The Girl Who Knew Too Much. Although Bava and Lucio Fulci improved on this formula with later films, their work was perfected by Dario Argento who freed it from early genre tropes to create blood soaked celluloid dripping with lurid colours and murder set pieces where no-one - including men - were safe.

But no one does it quite like Argento. Or do they?

In descending order of greatness:

10. The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963)

Mario Bava’s reinvention of the film noir distilled Hitchcock’s master of suspense into a new genre which dominated Italian cinema for decades. Say hello to Giallo.

9. Four Flies On Grey Velvet (1971)

Dario Argento’s early Animal Trilogy began with The Bird With The Crystal Plummage, followed by Four Flies On Grey Velvet, then Cat O Nine Tales. This, the second in the trilogy, is perhaps its best and notably features another soundtrack by Ennio Morricone before Argento later embarked on collaborations with the Goblin and some of his best known films and soundtracks.

8. Your Vice IS A LOCKED ROOM AND ONLY I HAVE THE KEY (1972)

Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key has to be one of the longest film titles in history. But having said that, this obscure classic has an excellent soundtrack and great use of cinematography that makes this one of the best examples of early and bloodless Giallos.

7. Dressed To Kill (1982)

You can’t mention Giallo without recognising its cinematic influence on Hollwood thrillers which sought to emulate box office returns in the 1980’s with that strange beast, the American Giallo. Although Brian De Palma’s grimy Dressed To Kill is a controversial entry into our list, it proved that not all of them were bad.

6. Tenebrae (1982)

Its a hard choice between including Opera or Tenebrae on this list but Tenebrae is Dario Argento at the technical peak of his mastery with incredible visuals, a Goblin soundtrack, and a wholly original and better ending that you never see coming.

5. Blood And Black Lace (1964)

Mario Bava improved on The Girl Who Knew Too Much with Blood And Black Lace the following year to mix murder and high fashion into one of the genre’s most exquisite and influential contributions.

4. Don’t Torture A Duckling (1971)

Lucio Fulci wrote and directed this dark and disturbing classic about that unspoken rule of cinema - dont kill children.

3. The New York Ripper (1982)

Although it is not often considered a true Giallo, this dark and nihlistic Lucio Fulci classic contains many of the main elements and is much like its central serial killer, murderous and relentless. The New York Ripper’s lurid mysogyny depicts an unforgiving New York awash with sleaze and danger at every turn as women are terrorised and murdered by a killer bizarrely laughing and quacking like a duck. Somehow Fulci makes this madness disturbingly plausible, and the film leaves you feeling as grimy and unhinged as its New York killer.

2. What Have You Done To Solange (1971)

Massimo Dallamano was the cinematographer responsible for A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More so his eye for the camera was legendary even before his directorial debut, the classic What Have You Done To Solange. With its 1970’s soft colour pallete and slow subdued atmosphere Dallamano expertly ramps up the sleaze, tension and intrique as a predatory school teacher is accused of killing his students, only to mount his own investigation into the lives of Convent girls who may not be as wholesome as they seem. The story is loaded with Freudian symbology and takes an unexpected turn in its third act with a memorable ending full of pathos for the main characters, including the killer.

1. Deep Red (1975)

Straight in at number one like a knife from the dark comes Dario Argento’s Deep Red. Like Tenebrae before it, Deep Red follows the life of another musician, David Hemmings, when he witnesses a murder in a neighbour’s apartment only to find himself the next target. This is perhaps the greatest Giallo ever made with great characters, incredible cinematography, shocking gore and masterful suspense that builds to an ever twisting narrative climax. Argento arguably made a catalogue of popular Giallos with bigger budgets and more intricate murder set pieces but Deep Red distills the genre to its raw, bloody, and strangely accessible ingredients.

Rumour has it that Dario Argento himself even donned the famous black gloves of the serial killer in all his movies.