The films

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Terror Eyes

A motorcycle killer in Boston with a kukri. Rachel Ward's debut and a real giallo influence.

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Lisa and the Devil

Bava given complete freedom, and the film is a dream nobody can escape, including the producer.

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Bloody Moon

Jess Franco doing a slasher for German money. Contains the stone-saw scene and little else.

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Hatchet for the Honeymoon

Bava's first-person portrait of a killer who murders brides to recover a childhood memory. Genuinely strange.

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Berberian Sound Studio

A meek British sound engineer comes apart while dubbing an Italian horror film he can hear but never see.

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Sleepless

Argento's late return to the giallo, with Max von Sydow as a retired detective and a genuine nursery-rhyme killer.

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Stage Fright

A killer in a giant owl mask trapped in a theatre with a dance troupe. Michele Soavi's debut and the best late giallo.

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A Lizard in a Woman's Skin

Fulci's best giallo, a fever of LSD dreams and a murder that may not have happened.

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The New York Ripper

Fulci's most repellent film, and it is truly designed to make you feel bad for watching it.

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Torso

The giallo at its most slasher-like, and the last act is a genuine masterclass in silent suspense.

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The Girl Who Knew Too Much

Bava's proto-giallo, the film that invented the template, shot in gorgeous black and white in Rome.

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Don't Torture a Duckling

Fulci's best film, and it is about a village killing the wrong person.

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What Have You Done to Solange?

The most upsetting giallo, and the one with an actual moral centre.

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Black Sabbath

Three Bava stories introduced by Boris Karloff, and the middle one is the most frightening thing Bava shot.

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Opera

Argento's last great film, and the needles taped under the eyes are the image of his career.

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Four Flies on Grey Velvet

The third of Argento's Animal Trilogy, and the least seen because it was legally locked away for decades.

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The Cat o' Nine Tails

The middle of Argento's Animal Trilogy, and the one he liked least. A blind man and a reporter chase a killer.

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Blood and Black Lace

The giallo template, and still the best-looking film in the category.

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A Bay of Blood

The hinge between giallo and slasher. Friday the 13th Part 2 lifts two murders almost shot for shot.

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Phenomena

Jennifer Connelly communicates with insects at a Swiss boarding school, and there is a chimpanzee with a razor.

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Tenebrae

Argento's last great giallo, and the one with the three-minute crane shot up the side of a house.

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The Bird with the Crystal Plumage

Argento's debut, and the film that turned the giallo into an export industry.

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Deep Red

Argento's best. Goblin's score does half the work and is fully aware of it.

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Suspiria

Barely a plot and possibly the most beautiful horror film ever shot.