Thorsten Benzel — Giallo Movie Posters Vol 1
Giallo Movie Posters Vol 1 is a wonderfully glossy and brightly colourful celebration of the early years of the most stylish of all horror/ thriller genres. The just over two-hundred-page book focuses on the years between 1961 and 1968, with often multiple different posters for films both notable and more obscure.
The book appears on Germany’s Creepy Images- which in 2002 released Norman J Warren- Gentleman of Horror- a truly wonderful book tribute to one of the key UK horror directors of the 1970s.
The perfectly bound paperback book has a fitting yellow card cover- this features a high gloss laminate, with red and black text. On the centre of the front cover, we have a classic bit of genre imagery- a colour illustration of a plain white-masked figure wearing a black coat, gloves, and a fedora hat grabbing a panicking woman. The A4-sized book runs at two hundred and eight pages- being glossy/ full colour throughout.
The book is largely a poster reproduction-based affair. It is weaved ever so often with joint English and German texts- these are largely sparse/ lightly informative with facts and observations, aside from lengthier texts for the book's intro, outro, and a brief overview of the genre.
It features lovely paper stock, and this enhances the four-colour printing of the book. After eleven pages of the introduction/ genre overview, we’re straight into the posters- with the first few pages of the main book taking in 1961’s L'assassino and 1963’s La Ragazza Che Sapeva Troppo( aka The Evil Eye, The Girl Who Too Much).
As we move through the book we get a good blend of key/ known films such as 6 Donne Per L'assassino(aka Blood And Black Lace), and Umberto Lenzi’s Orgasmo (aka Paranoia ). And more obscure fare like La Lama Nel Corpo( aka The Murder Clinic) 1966, and L'isola Delle Svedesi ( Isle of the Swedes) 1969.
Each film featured gets at least three different variants posters, but quite a few get five or more- taking in posters from all over Europe, as well as some decidedly wacky/ different look Asian variates.
If you are interested in the visual/ poster side of the Giallo genre- this really is a must/ no-brainer, and I can not wait for the next volume in the series. To order directly, before this sells out, and you end up paying silly eBay prices!.