Giallo a Venezia

1979 Italian film

31 December 1979 (1979-12-31)

Running time

91 minutesCountryItalyLanguageItalian

Giallo a Venezia (Giallo in Venice) is a 1979 Italian giallo film directed by Mario Landi. The film released on December 31, 1979, in Italy and starred Leonora Fani. It is known primarily for its extremely graphic scenes of sex and gore, including a woman's leg being slowly sawed off with a long knife.^[1]^[2] There is also a Brazilian VHS version containing XXX scenes under the title Pesadelo em Veneza.^[3]

Synopsis

The film follows a detective investigating the murder of a married couple involving a sexually abusive cocaine addict husband while, at the same time, an unknown killer commits multiple grisly murders.

Cast

Leonora Fani as Flavia
Jeff Blynn as Angelo De Paul
Gianni Dei as Fabio
Michele Renzullo as Andrea Caron
Eolo Capritti as Maestrin
Vassili Karis as Bruno Nielsen (as Vassili Karamesinis)
Giancarlo Del Duca as Alberto, the Coroner
Mariangela Giordano as Marzia (as Maria Angela Giordan)

Production

While filming the scene in which Mariangela Giordano was tied to a kitchen table, the telephone cords were put on her wrists and ankles so tight that they cut into her flesh. She had visible marks on those places for three months.^[4]

Reception

Moviefone gave a mixed review for the film, saying that it "is one worth seeing for fans of the subgenre" but that overall it was "simply not on par with most of the Italian greats".^[5] In the book Italian Horror Film Directors one critic noted that Giallo a Venezia is a "perfect example of how a filmmaker can go too far in his quest to achieve the perfect synthesis of horror and repulsion."^[6]

Paolo Mereghetti wrote that it:^[7]

"deserves (or perhaps does not deserve) to be remembered as one of the most idiotic Italian thrillers ever made, a collage of soft-porn sequences and dismemberments of rare brutality that fall into the void, in a childish attempt to astonish."

Horror author Brandon Halsey wrote:^[8]

"While Giallo a Venezia may lack the social commentary of Lucio Fulci or the swooping camera-work and visual styling of Dario Argento, it is still a giallo that can comfortably stand on merits of its own."

References

^ Marco Giusti (1999). Dizionario dei film italiani stracult. Sperling & Kupfer. ISBN 8820029197.
^ Jaworzyn, Stefan (1994). Shock Xpress: v.2: Essential Guide to Exploitation Cinema (Vol 2). Titan Books Ltd. pp. 70, 71, 73. ISBN 1852865199.
^ Pesadelo em Veneza-XXX Version. Archived 2017-03-03 at the Wayback Machinewww.kultvideo.com
^ Shock Xpress 2, p. 71, p. 71, at Google Books
^ "There's Always Room for Giallo: Giallo a Venezia (Giallo in Venice)". MovieFone. Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
^ Louis, Paul (2004). Italian Horror Film Directors. McFarland & Company. p. 1979. ISBN 0786418346.
^ Mereghetti, Paolo (2003). Il Mereghetti: Dizionario dei Film 2004. Vol. Le schede. Milano: Baldini Castoldi Dalai. p. 987. ISBN 88-8490-419-6. merita di essere ricordato (o forse non lo merita) come uno dei thriller italiani più cretini mai realizzati, collage di sequenze porno-soft e di squartamenti di rara efferatezza che cascano nel vuoto, nel puerile tentativo di stupire.
^ "Giallo a Venezia". Brandon Halsey. Retrieved 13 January 2013.