Tag: giallo

Puzzle (1974)

Published on by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

Welcome back to another review here at B-Movie Enema. It’s great to have you here. For real. I mean it. I am glad you’re here.

Anyway, let’s talk about murder!

Italian giallo is what’s on tap for this week’s movie. What exactly the first giallo is is somewhat debatable. Though I think most critics would name 1963’s The Girl Who Knew Too Much by Mario Bava as the first. That film starred John Saxon. Bava followed that up with 1964’s Blood and Black Lace starring none other than Cameron motherfuckin’ Mitchell! Throughout the 60s, gialli remained a little under the radar until the 70s when the genre would kick into hyperdrive. A few weeks back, I talked about Umberto Lenzi a little bit as he co-wrote Primal Rage. This week, we have another key Italian filmmaker to talk about.

1974’s Puzzle, the movie we’ll be figuring out this week, is directed by Duccio Tessari. Tessari’s career began as a writer. Starting around 1958, Tessari worked quite a bit as a writer for several years. He wrote some Hercules films, other peplum, and, of course, spaghetti westerns. In fact, it was one of his 1964 scripts that would kick off the massive popularity of those Italian western films. Yeah, Tessari wrote A Fistful of Dollars.

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Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)

Published on by Geoff ArbuckleLeave a comment

Welcome to a brand new B-Movie Enema review!

This week, we’re going back to the world of Italian cinema and, for the first time in quite a while, the horror subgenre of said Italian cinema – giallo. Not only are we going back to those realms but this week is for something kind of new too. This week’s feature, Four Flies on Grey Velvet, was made by Italian horror/thriller/giallo master Dario Argento.

Now, true, I did cover a couple movies he produced, namely Demons and Demons 2. I also talked about him tangentially when I looked at Shock because it starred his ex-wife, Daria Nicolodi, as well as his daughter, Asia Argento, when she appeared in xXx. However, for nearly 60 years, Argento has been known for being a writer, director, and producer of mostly horror films. But… that’s not exactly where he started. When he was working his way up the ladder, he began as a writer. In the mid-60s, Argento worked on scripts for several different movies of different genres. The biggest film he worked on the script for, without a doubt, was 1968’s Once Upon a Time in the West.

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