Before horror’s slasher craze of the 1980s came another subgenre that took over the imagination of fright fans: giallo. The Italian style of horror, which had its heyday during the late ’60s and into the mid -’70s, didn’t have the popularity of later American slasher films, but its uniqueness helped to inspire what was to come. The king of giallo was and always will be Dario Argento. The 82-year-old director’s career continues today, with his first film in a decade, Dark Glasses, coming out last year. He is the man responsible for so many giallo classics, from Suspiria to Phenomena, but his masterpiece will always be 1975’s Deep Red. It’s the epitome of what giallo represents, but one scene with a creepy-looking doll takes it from being a well-filmed proto-slasher into something so intense that it’ll make you scream out loud.
