There are several reasons why I fanatically seek out documentaries about my favorite genre (and subgenres) of horror. For starters, in the hope of stumbling upon some unknown and obscure new titles to discover, even if only just one or two. Secondly, to celebrate and honor all the main contributors of the genre, like directors and other crucial crew members, and learn more about their visions, motivations, and challenges. Thirdly, and most importantly, simply to relive the clips and highlights of my favorite movies, and to witness how other people are talking about them as enthusiastically as I do! Based on those three reasons, there are documentaries that I genuinely rank as brilliant viewing experiences, like "Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films that Ruled the '70s", "Not Quite Hollywood! The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!", "The Man Who Saw Frankenstein Cry", and "Forgotten Scares: an in-depth look at Flemish Horror Cinema".
What I absolute don't seek in (horror-)documentaries is: dull and endless lectures by an anti-charismatic film historian, a simple summing up of the most obvious and widely acclaimed film titles everybody knows already, a severe shortage of clips and footage taken from genre movies, and a complete lack of joyful spirit, insignificant but fun little anecdotes, and an overall tangible love for the genre. Well, guess what. This paragraph sadly describes "All the Colors of Giallo" to the fullest...
I genuinely cannot fathom how this could have happened! How can you focus on a horror subgenre that is so versatile, exhilarating, and wonderful as the Italian Giallo, and yet make such a dreadfully boring documentary out of it?!? With all due respect - not - for the knowledgeable movie historian Fabio Melelli, I don't want to watch and listen to his monotonous talking for approximately half of the running time! If that would be interesting at all, I might not have dropped out of college, neither.
To make matters worse, Melelli's dull monologues only get interchanged by other dull monologues of personal heroes of mine. "All the Colors of Giallo" features Dario Argento, Umberto Lenzi, Lamberto Bava, Ernesto Gastaldi, Barbara Bouchet, Sergio Martino, Edwige Fenech, and voice recordings of Lucio Fulci, but they all behave as if they are giving a speech at a funeral. I didn't sense any love or nostalgia for the heydays of Italian cult & exploitation cinema at all.
Honestly, undergoing "All the Colors of Giallo" was close to painful. There's so much greatness to show and tell about the Italian Giallo, but this thing only features the bare minimum. Of course, there are landmarks the pioneers that deserve more attention than others. It's only logical to spend more time on "Blood and Black Lace" by Mario Bava, "The Bird with Crystal Plumage" by Dario Argento, and "Don't Torture a Duckling" by Lucio Fulci. But what about all those other great people in the industry, and the numerous gems and hidden treasures they directed? Lamberto Bava is interviewed, but he only gets to talk about his father. How disrespectful is that, when he also made several great gialli himself ("A Blade in the Dark", "Midnight Killer", "Delirium: Photo of Gioia"). What about Pupi Avati ("The House with Laughing Windows"), Massimo Dallamano ("What have you done to Solange?, "The Coed Murders"), Emilio Miraglia ("The Red Queen Kills Seven Times"), Paolo Cavaro ("Plot of Fear, "Black Belly of the Tarantula"), Luigi Cozzi ("The Killer must Kill Again"), Alberto de Martino ("Formula for a Murder"), Antonio Margheriti ("Seven Deaths in a Cat's Eye"), Tonino Valerii ("My Dear Killer"), and so many more!
What I absolute don't seek in (horror-)documentaries is: dull and endless lectures by an anti-charismatic film historian, a simple summing up of the most obvious and widely acclaimed film titles everybody knows already, a severe shortage of clips and footage taken from genre movies, and a complete lack of joyful spirit, insignificant but fun little anecdotes, and an overall tangible love for the genre. Well, guess what. This paragraph sadly describes "All the Colors of Giallo" to the fullest...
I genuinely cannot fathom how this could have happened! How can you focus on a horror subgenre that is so versatile, exhilarating, and wonderful as the Italian Giallo, and yet make such a dreadfully boring documentary out of it?!? With all due respect - not - for the knowledgeable movie historian Fabio Melelli, I don't want to watch and listen to his monotonous talking for approximately half of the running time! If that would be interesting at all, I might not have dropped out of college, neither.
To make matters worse, Melelli's dull monologues only get interchanged by other dull monologues of personal heroes of mine. "All the Colors of Giallo" features Dario Argento, Umberto Lenzi, Lamberto Bava, Ernesto Gastaldi, Barbara Bouchet, Sergio Martino, Edwige Fenech, and voice recordings of Lucio Fulci, but they all behave as if they are giving a speech at a funeral. I didn't sense any love or nostalgia for the heydays of Italian cult & exploitation cinema at all.
Honestly, undergoing "All the Colors of Giallo" was close to painful. There's so much greatness to show and tell about the Italian Giallo, but this thing only features the bare minimum. Of course, there are landmarks the pioneers that deserve more attention than others. It's only logical to spend more time on "Blood and Black Lace" by Mario Bava, "The Bird with Crystal Plumage" by Dario Argento, and "Don't Torture a Duckling" by Lucio Fulci. But what about all those other great people in the industry, and the numerous gems and hidden treasures they directed? Lamberto Bava is interviewed, but he only gets to talk about his father. How disrespectful is that, when he also made several great gialli himself ("A Blade in the Dark", "Midnight Killer", "Delirium: Photo of Gioia"). What about Pupi Avati ("The House with Laughing Windows"), Massimo Dallamano ("What have you done to Solange?, "The Coed Murders"), Emilio Miraglia ("The Red Queen Kills Seven Times"), Paolo Cavaro ("Plot of Fear, "Black Belly of the Tarantula"), Luigi Cozzi ("The Killer must Kill Again"), Alberto de Martino ("Formula for a Murder"), Antonio Margheriti ("Seven Deaths in a Cat's Eye"), Tonino Valerii ("My Dear Killer"), and so many more!