The giallo movies started as plain Italian adaptations of the original novels. They swiftly mutated into a much more stylish form which blurred towards horror and even slasher movies, mixed with a hefty dose of 1960s sexploitation. The film that really formed the genre was “The Girl Who Knew Too Much” (La ragazza che sapeva troppo), directed by Mario Bava. One of the most influential Italian directors of the 60s, Bava also filmed the first Italian sci-fi movie (“The Day the Sky Exploded”), one of the first slasher movies (“Bay of Blood”), the film that inspired Alien (“Planet of the Vampires”), and even the film which paved the way for a lot of J-Horror, “Kill, Baby… Kill!”

Although “The Girl Who Knew Too Much” wasn’t an especially over-the-top film, it opened the gates for a whole swathe of flamboyantly grandiose giallo movies. In general, giallo films tend to include whodunit plots with themes of paranoia and alienation, and feature showy camerawork, unusually expressive scores, drawn-out scenes of bloody murder, copious nudity and sex, and strong elements of suspense. In other words, they’re utterly shameless, crazy fun.

Deep Red wallpaper by Beyond

Giallo had its heyday in the 70s, with noted Italian directors such as Lucio Fulci, Dario Argento, Sergio Martino and Umberto Lenzi all turning their hand to the area. If you fancy dipping your toe into the genre, some of the best gialli include:

• “Deep Red” (1975, Dario Argento, look for the full 126-minute cut)
• “Torso” (1973, Sergio Martino)
• “Tenebrae” (1982, Dario Argento)
• “Black Belly of the Tarantula” (1971, Paolo Cavara)
• “A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin” (1971, Lucio Fulci)
• “The Bird with the Crystal Plumage” (1970, Dario Argento)
• “Seven Blood-Stained Orchids” (1972, Umberto Lenzi)
• “What Have You Done to Solange?” (1972, Massimo Dallamano)
• “Don’t Torture a Duckling” (1972, Lucio Fulci)
• “The Case of the Scorpion’s Tale” (1971, Sergio Martino)

And, more recently, “Sleepless” (2001, Dario Argento)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oDuGN6K3VQ

The brilliance and strangeness of David Lynch and fellow creator Mark Frost transformed the series however, giving it an inherent subtlety and weirdness that electrified viewers. This was further amplified by the surprising power of Sheryl Lee’s image as the murdered Laura Palmer, Angelo Badalamenti’s incredible score, and the stellar performances of most of the cast. Kyle MacLachlan was particularly superb as mystic FBI agent Dale Cooper, and in fact many of Cooper’s lines are things that Lynch, a dedicated spiritual seeker, actually says.

The series was eccentric from the first moment, but swiftly added paranormal and spiritual aspects, enhancing the already sinister atmosphere. The series gathered massive ratings, but started going into decline after network executives forced Lynch to resolve the murder mystery half way through the second season. Lynch and Frost then got distracted by the spin-off movie, “Fire Walk With Me”.

Tweeds Cafe in North Bent, WA by and (c) Mhicheil

Without Lynch’s vision at the helm, the series started to try too hard to be strange, viewers fled, and the program was cancelled. It remains some of the best television ever made, however, particularly up to the killer’s apprehension.

Twin Peaks opened the way for a whole raft of important off-beat TV shows – including “The X-Files” and “Buffy: The Vampire Slayer” – and raised the bar on production quality. Modern TV would be very different if it had never been shown.

The movie in an animation, filmed entirely from old computers and broken toys. The creator, who calls himself mdotstrange, undoubtedly has a wild imagination and a nice touch for disturbing imagery. Throw in all the visuals and sounds derived from old tech, and the result is a paean to 8-bit computing. It draws furiously on sounds and graphics styles of that era, with the sporadic dialogue is as unhinged as any badly-translated Japanese classic of the time.

It is an audio-visual attack, relentless, nonsensical and wonderfully compulsive, and it’s garnered mdotstrange a bunch of awards. It’s not easy viewing — and at 1h 25m, it’s one hell of a piece of animation for a solo creator to produce — but it is genuinely fascinating, evocative and, yes, very, VERY strange.

This is the English version; mdotstrange has subtitled versions in sixteen different languages, including hacker Leet Speak, over at his youtube video page.

Part 1:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1wD3hGCVco

Part 2:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pdK1dEa5Gc

Toastboy, however, is flat-out horrifying. I could keep on throwing adjectives at it — nihilist, twisted, oppressive, lunatic, depressing, powerful &c &c — but really, it’s like trying to describe one of Lovecraft’s monsters. It’s been around for a while, and it’s a Flash animation, but the three episodes viewed back to back make up one of the most unpleasantly unsettling bits of viewing that the web has to offer.

If, despite everything I’ve said, you actually want to go and watch Toastboy, you can find the first episode here at Firth’s website, fat-pie.com. Click ‘next’ for the second and third parts, episodes -1 and -2 respectively.

Matsumoto has now made his second movie, Shinboru (“Symbol”). He’s being fairly tight-lipped about it, but the trailer at least is very strange, and impressively creepy. Check it out and see for yourself:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnqIhrmS0iI

From the little that Matsumoto has said, the film is going to consist of two or more intertwined strands. One, featured in the clip above, involves a man waking up in a strange exit-less white room with a penis-shape on the wall. Gradually, seemingly-random objects are introduced into the room, and the man begins constructing increasingly unlikely machines from them, a la the Mousetrap boardgame, in an effort to escape. Another strand involves a Mexican wrestler called Escargot Man, who is getting ready for a major fight. His impassive preparations worry his family, who cluster around him. Where Barking Man from the trailer fits in, we can only guess.

Matsumoto has the same sort of profile in Japan that Rowan Atkinson and Jerry Seinfeld enjoy in the UK and US. He’s a household name who can still win prime-time audiences. From what we know so far, it’s impossible to tell if Shinboru is going to be a masterpiece of strange comedy, or if Matsumoto has just flipped at last. Obviously, I hope it’s the former.

Ethan Hawke is a (vampire) blood scientist who stumbles across a band of rogue vamps led by Willem Dafoe. They’ve found a (full or partial) cure for vampirism, which lets them eat food and enjoy sunlight again. I’m assuming that Sam Neill is going to be mightily pissed off at the possibility of losing his power and status, so is going to try to wipe them out before they can bring the good news to vampdom.  Certainly, lots of frenetic action ensues. It’s just a guess of course, but I’m suspecting Ethan will manage to free humanity by the skin of his teeth, killing Sam Neill in the process :)

Daybreakers is an Australian production, written and directed by Peter and Michael Spierig and released by Lionsgate.  It’s got a mid-range budget, but it’s been in post-production for two years now, so they’ve had plenty of time to cram in lots of fun visuals.

A movie with this sort of cookie-cutter adversarial premise can go one of two ways, and it’s almost always impossible to tell which from the trailer (here, via Apple). If it takes itself seriously, it will often fall flat on its face, like Ultraviolet or Jumpers. Alternatively, if it decides to just have fun and shoot for being entertaining, it can be glorious — Underworld, for example. Ethan Hawke has said in interview that the film is an allegory of humanity’s use and misuse of natural resources, but, fortunately, added that it was “completely unpretentious and silly.”

So keep your fingers crossed — it could be some great, cheesy fun! Daybreakers is out early January ’10.