Giallo is not a genre!

Giallo is not a genre. There! I said it! I thought that point was widely accepted, but it turns out I was wrong. Indeed, just the other day, I came across yet another reference to the "giallo genre" and witnessed people arguing over whether this, or that, film fits the latest gatekeeping standards. And if it doesn’t? Well then, apparently, it must be exorcised from the giallo canon because them's the rules. But, you know what? I’m not having it!

I'm sure we've all seen comments like, "I don’t think Footprints on the Moon is a giallo", or "I don’t think Orgasmo counts". It's not a view I share but I get it—I really do. After all, as a fan of cult cinema, I am aware that the line between cult and genre films is razor-thin. But, if science fiction, westerns, or horror are on one side of that genre line, then gialli are on the other—as not so much a genre but, maybe, at best, genre-adjacent.

So why, then, suggest that giallo is a genre at all? Well, as a physical media collector, that’s a very big question—perhaps one we can delve into some other time. But I’m sure I’m not the only boutique Blu-ray obsessive with a “horror” shelf. I mean, if you’re picking up releases from Severin, Mondo Macabro, or 88 Films, chances are you've got a horror section, right? Unless, of course, you organise by distro—which is fair. Or alphabetise, in which case... I’m not really sure we can be friends.

Anyhow, this leaves us with the tricky question of what to do with that growing stack of gialli that began with an Arrow sale and is now bulging with those wonderful Forgotten Gialli boxsets. (Volume 8, which is on a limited run, is selling briskly, by the way.)

So, you've got your horror shelf—but maybe, just maybe, you feel that your giallo films don’t really sit comfortably amongst all your horror titles. They are not, after all, horror films are they!? And despite being thrillers, they don’t quite belong next to Die Hard—which should be filed under “Christmas”, obviously—along with, might I add, Night Train Murders. So, what can you do?

Well, in this instance, assigning a genre classification for your giallo collection makes a kind of sense. That is up to you—your collection, your rules! But still, I have to remind you where we came in: giallo is not a genre.

But "Ah!" retort the Giallo-genrians, "not only is giallo a genre, but it has identifiable tropes and motifs that bind these films together". Then, out comes their checklist: Black-gloved killers? Check. Convoluted murder plots? Check. Dilettante sleuthing? Check. Not to mention the J&B bottles, convoluted murder plots, psychosexual themes, and unreliable witness testimony. To be fair the case they present, I concede, may well be a compelling one. Yet, still I feel this nagging doubt!

I mean, I get that, as with genre, there are motifs that so many of the gialli share. But, many is by no means all. And you won't have to look far before films confound expectations—The Possessed, for example, or Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion. Even Footprints. All gialli, all different.

Yet, just because I don't go along with the premise of giallo-as-genre does not mean I don't see them as part of a whole. Because I do! But here’s what I’d argue: if a film like Footprints or Orgasmo can be included alongside the likes of Blood and Black Lace or Tenebrae, then maybe giallo isn’t really a genre at all. Maybe it’s something else altogether—something fluid. Something far more vital. I do have thoughts on this. Please, allow me to elaborate...