The Killers Wear Black Shiny Gloves

This is what you hope for every time you watch a B film. It's an artsy, trippy, gothic Giallo, steeped in atmosphere. Of course there is a bit of camp around the edges given the material, and the budget constraints that all B films have.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. I see Arrow will put out a Blu ray of this film. Excellent!

8.0

Giallo style, and it's lurid exploitation abounds in this wild film. So does lovely Florinda Bolcan! Jean Sorel is good as well.
Fulci makes one hell of a stylish, groovy, exploitation picture.

8.0

A very good giallo thriller in general. Pretty actresses abound, and hunky Fabio Testi in the lead. Good story, good pace, good resolve. The Ennio Morricone score is excellent, and almost all the acting is quite good (the photographer's one scene is horrible though).



7.9

It possesses so much style. The lurid color throughout is striking, the killing is imaginative, and there is quite a high quality to the acting (for a Giallo), thanks to David Hemmings in the lead.

PS, I watched it for the second time, and the film weakened a bit for me. the Goblin prog-rock soundtrack got on my nerves from time to time, and the non-David Hemmings acting can be pretty so-so.

7.8

It does everything well for the groovy, harsh, lurid, exploitation style we know and love called Giallo. It is more on the cruel, sadistic side of the genre. It is certainly harsher than Fulci's "Lizard In A Woman's Skin".

7.7

I thought this was a really enjoyable gothic Giallo. I'd say it's quite under appreciated. Don't let the cover of the old DVD scare you off. It makes the film look so bad.

Sadly, I didn't think too much of The Red Queen Kills Seven Times by the same director, Miraglia.

7.6

An over-baked ending stops this picture from being even higher on my list. Most of it is really, really good stuff. Argento has such a talent for drawing the viewer in, and making one feel immersed in a dark dream.

As soon as the film started, I realized the French band Justice sampled a huge chunk from the main theme for the tracks Phantom/Phantom II on their album Cross.


7.5

AKA: Perversion Story

Lucio Fulci with yet another very good film. As you can see by my list, Fulci is tops for me for consistently good Gialli.

Perversion Story isn't a particularly graphic film, like some of Fulci's work. It's just another solid, stylish Italian genre film.

I'd love to see a Blu-ray of this film come out. The lead actress, Marissa Mell (from Mario Bava's fun film Danger: Diabolik) is hot as hell.

7.4

Vitorio Storaro shot this film, and boy, does it show. It's a treat for the eyes. Some shots rival "Il Conformista"!

As for the film in general, it's more solving a string of murders than lurid style sex, cruelty, and violence.

7.4

Jean Sorel anchoring yet another very good Giallo. What's not to like here? I think it all works well. I could see some people finding the pace a bit slow, but the quality of this production, the acting, etc. is quite high.

7.4

More of a psych-horror film than a traditional Giallo, this is high quality stuff. It creates an atmosphere that mimics the protagonist's mental state. The ending is quite creepy.

7.4

Very good stuff. It's a nicely crafted film. It has style, suspense, and a good resolve.

7.4

Over the top in style and color, it feels like a supercharged Giallo. There are some pretty cruel scenes, but it generally worked very well for me.
Many consider this to be the best of all the Gialli.

7.3

AKA: Without Trace.

An underrated politzia focused Giallo that I really enjoyed. The story, tone, killings, and suspense really worked for me.
If you get the Mya DVD like I did, be warned, the subtitles have a number of mistakes in them. I think it is the only Region 1 option though.

7.2

The acting, and cinematography, and construction of this film are very good. The lead actor Jean Sorel has some acting chops, and good presence. The killing is cruel, and creative.

7.2

Warning: Very graphic slashing scenes, and lots of nudity/sex.

I'd read it's a harsh film, and I now see it is. Fulci went all out on the sex and violence on this one. It was banned in several countries.

I thought, aside from a horrible intro/outro song, and a bit of stiff acting on the periphery, this was a very good watch. Lots of twists and turns, and the main actors are all quite good. At times the style of the film is very clever, very striking. That's Fulci for you.

7.1

**Sexual Content Warning**

This is the sleaziest Giallo I've ever seen, chock-a-block with sex (it's almost a softcore porn), and a fair bit of Giallo violence as well. Yes, that's what one expects in the exploitation films, but still, this very 80's film "takes it to the max". It's not a great film per se, but all the same, it's very entertaining from beginning to end. It's an excellent example of a guilty pleasure.

Someone has to put this out on home video (Arrow, Blue Underground..I'm looking at you).

7.0

A Spanish Slasher/Giallo by the director of the very light hearted 80's horror film "Slugs".
Like Slugs, this is low budget, and unpolished, but there is something about J.P. Simon's films that just work very well for me in the GUILTY PLEASURE vein.
If you watch this from a logical, critical viewpoint, you'll find myriad problems with this film. If you can go with it, you'll have some laughs, be entertained, and grossed out by a fun exploitation film.

7.0

Argento's colorful approach is very interesting to watch, I just wish this was a more consistent film.
One of my friends says Suspiria is his favorite Argento picture. I, on the other hand, recently watched it again, and would say it has some real clunk here and there. On the good side, there is some great tension, and the score/sound effects are creepy.

It's a touchstone for the genre, so see it for yourself. It does have great style.

(Luca Guadagnino's remake is such a mixed affair. Parts have great style and atmosphere, but parts are laughable...)


7.0

This was a solid watch, and has a fairly unique feel to it. I would gladly watch it again.

6.7

Fulci again, so you know there's some style to this film. It's a hard film to rate, because a few of the songs are horrible, and the end is a bit weak, but most of the film was very entertaining, very engaging. This is definitely in the guilty pleasure vein.

They certainly were cashing in on the Aerobics/Flash Dance craze, but I didn't mind watching the beautiful dancers, that's for sure.

6.6

Strip Nude for Your Killer has great music, the film is very well lit and photographed.

Overall, It's a solid watch. Lots of pretty girls, a decent story, and a killer with a switchblade, dressed in a motorcycle outfit, wearing a helmet and BLACK SHINY GLOVES.

6.5

Franco Nero is good in the lead, the Morricone score is very nice, and this is a quality production through and through. It may even be wrong to call this a B film.

It doesn't have a lot of violence and sex like some Gialli. There is some, but overall, this is a missing girl mystery, with some depravity towards the end. Most of the film was quite good. I did find the film weakened in the third act, but the very end worked well.

6.5

It didn't blow me away, considering it is thought to be one of the very best Gialli. It is the film that made Gialli popular, spawning hundreds of offspring, so we can be very thankful for that!

It's still well worth checking out, and maybe you will think more of it than I did.

I will give it another watch in a year or two.

6.5

This is a pretty solid piece of entertainment from Martino. There is a heavy psych-horror (80%) versus classic Giallo (20%) ratio to "All the Colors of the Dark", and it certainly has a psychedelic element to it as well.

For me, it's flaw is there are simply too many twists and turns of the "what is real, what is in her mind" type. In the end, I couldn't tell you for sure what the final reality turned out to be.

6.3