I've always been a fan of horror and sf. In literature, on TV and in the movies. I grew up watching the great Universal horror films on late-night tv and on Saturday afternoons. Those great horror hosts were a big part of my childhood.
From there I moved to a love of the Hammer and Amicus films. I really loved the British spin on the classic movie monsters. After all, Shelley and Stoker were Brits! Plus, I've always been an Anglophile. I've been to England twice. I rode the British Rails using a BritRail Pass and have stayed in little Bed & Breakfast places. Britain is my home away from home!
The next step was discovering the horrors coming from Italy and Spain. I probably learned of these movies from the pages of Fangoria and Gorezone. I also discovered other magazines such as Chas. Balun's Deep Red magazine and a British mag called Fear.
I'm not quite sure what movie was my FIRST GIALLO. I have narrowed the search down to two flicks that were influential in luring me into the web. One was Dario Argento's SUSPIRIA (which premiered in Italy February 1, 1977 and eventually hit the American screens in mid-August of that year). The other was Umberto Lenzi's EYEBALL (Gatti rossi in un labirinto di vetro/Red Cat in a Glass Maze) which came out in Italy in January, 1975, but didn't hit the US shores until June of 1978.
I am unsure as to which of these movies I saw first. I certainly remember WHERE I saw each of them.
I saw EYEBALL at a drive-in movie theater in Schuyler, NY, which is just east of Utica. A US release date of June 1978 sounds about right. At that time I was living very near Schuyler, in Herkimer. I was attending Herkimer County Community College at the time. This movie is very important to me. Sometime, in a future blog, I will do a detailed analysis of this flick.
I saw SUSPIRIA at a movie theater in Somerville, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. My great-grandmother lived in Somerville and I visited her many times. She passed away in 1991. I don't believe SUSPIRIA was playing as part of its initial US run. I seem to remember that the screening was just a one-night thing. I may have seen it before OR after I saw EYEBALL. Most likely it was sometime AFTER. I didn't know a LOT about Argento or SUSPIRIA. But, I do remember seeing the trailer with the big, red, veiny, pulsating letters! I HAD to see this movie!
To this day I am a big fan of BOTH Umberto Lenzi and Dario Argento. Their movies really grabbed me!
Next time, I'll be detailing what it is about Giallo Cinema that speaks to me.
I brought up your page last night, bookmarked it, kept it up on my computer screen all night so I could read it this morning. I'd skimmed over it a bit last night before I shared it on FB and Twitter, but really read it this morning. It had been a while since you had told me many of the things that are in your blog posts, so they interested me greatly as I was being reminded of them and the few things that you hadn't told me, interest me even more. I feel that you have done a very good job on these posts and I look forward to more. I especially look forward to hearing you when you begin a podcast on the subject of Giallo. Thanks for being my friend for the past 14 years and for sharing your interests with me. Best of Luck in your endeavors and I'm glad to be able to send people your way anytime I can.
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