Customer Reviews

Blood Black Lace

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great book -- lots of titles, good critiques, and it doesn't give away the endings. Two drawbacks, though, and they're serious. One, it's copyrighted 1999, which means the availability listings are WAY out of date. And two, the binding is garbage. The book started falling apart the first time I opened it. It belongs in any serious fan's library, but just be aware of what you're getting.

Whilst directors with supposed `artistic' integrity like Pasolini, Vischonti and Rossellini were making films to please a middle class audience of academics and stuffy critics, the real face of Italian cinema was murder mysteries dominated by sex, violence and fetishism. The so called Giallo film cleaned up at the box office and in the early 1970's supplanted the Spaghetti Western as Italy's most successful export. The films were often visually inventive and made no narrative sense whatsoever, but that was the inherent beauty of them. Naturally the majority of these films were terrible, but the exceptions were always worth it. With the advent of DVD and with companies like Blue Underground and Anchor Bay releasing hard to find Giallo's, the time was particularly good for Adrian Luther Smiths BLOOD AND BLACK LACE. Sadly a lot of the information given in the book refers to Video Cassettes, so as a purchasing guide, it isn't particularly helpful. But Smith compensates by providing accurate running times, titles and production credits. This does make the task of tracking these titles down easier. Because of the sheer number of films in this guide, the synopsis and review are very brief, but the guide is presented in a helpful A to Z manner. I was surprised to find Nicholas Roeg's DON'T LOOK NOW included, I acknowledge the film owes a debt of gratitude in terms of narrative, but surely a film produced by a Hollywood studio should be omitted.

Generally speaking this is a sterling effort, even if most of the films contained within you would never have heard of. THE DARK SIDE and Allan Bryce the magazine's editor continue to publish some of horror genres most arresting and needed resources. And as ever the book is filled with wonderful full colour images.

First, the positive:

Their are very few books available pertaining to this subject matter, the Giallo film. What makes this one such an absolute winner is in the fun manner in which it was written, coupled with the fantastic (and often, fantastically lurid!)rare color reproductions of the various film posters, lobby cards and other promotional materials used for these releases. The author starts with a brief synopsis followed by his own personal assessment of the entertainment value of each individual film.Obviously very subjective, but makes for a fun read.Also included are the credits for each film, containing the various alternate (language) titles which will invariably confuse many not as familiar with the genre.Some may argue that the book is quite outdated (published in 1999), but taking into account that the genre's heyday was in the 1970s/80s this is still an outstanding reference guide for those not as familiar or are new to the Giallo. Believe me, their are still TONS of worthy titles from this bygone era still waiting for a DVD release!

So, what's NOT to love?? The one negative is in the very poor binding. I am a collector and treat my books with the utmost care. My copy has long ago fallen apart and is now just a collection of loose pages stuffed between the covers. This book is meant to be used, but I would seriously consider this before spending the outlandish asking prices I've seen recently for this book.

Lovers of giallo cinema: this book must be a gift from the Gods! (Giallo cinema refers to a genre of mostly Italian movies made in the 70s that combined murder, mystery and sex in a unique way. For an excellent review of the genre, see "Fear without Frontiers" by S J Schneider.)

Author A L Smith reviews almost every giallo movie ever made, and most of these titles are not even out on DVD! The countless photos he provides on each page are of very high quality and in colour. The book itself is printed on glossy yellowish paper...to give the "giallo feel". Also, the reviews are very very well written.

This book is a must! The only surprise: Dario Argento's "Suspiria" wasn't there!

A great book for lovers of Italian cinema. If you have a region-free DVD player and know where to look, you'd be surprised how many of these films you can find. The book is filled with color and black and white photos from a wide variety of films, from the well-known to the very rare. Films are listed under variant titles, too, to aid you in searching for DVDs from overseas. The only problem I have with my copy is the binding is giving way and pages are starting to fall out, but that may be largely due to how frequently I've used it to research new and unusual films.