Every January, we like to pour ourselves a glass of J&B whiskey, sharpen our straight razor and slip on those black gloves to celebrate our favorite horror sub-genre, the Giallo.

For those of you who don’t know, a Giallo is Italy’s answer to murder mysteries and thrillers that was kicked off by Mario Bava with THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (aka EVIL EYE) in the early sixties. While filmmakers like Umberto Lenzi made some excellent Gialli in the late sixties/early seventies such as ORGAMSO and KNIFE OF ICE, the sub-genre became popularized by Dario Argento with THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE. Throughout the seventies, Argento along with Sergio Martino, Lucio Fulci, Luciano Ercoli, Aldo Lado and many more made several visually stunning and viscerally violent cinematic excursions.

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The word Gialllo means ‘yellow’ in Italian, which was the color of the pulp and crime books that some Giallo took inspiration from. Although stylistically, the Giallo shares DNA with the German Krimi Films, the sub-genre took some wild turns mingling with occult, Gothic horror, Poliziotteschi, and psychedelia elements that created many unique variations.

With our Giallo programming we try to offer up classics, along with deep cuts and occasionally some Giallo-inspired films to compare and contrast with the Spaghetti flavored originals. 

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In 2022, January Giallo expanded outside of Los Angles for the very first time as we co-presented the series at several different venues across the country including the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA, the Music Box Theatre in Chicago, IL, Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN and The Little Theatre in Rochester, NY. With the success of this expansion, the series is looking to continue to grow in the future.