Francisco Sierra
N00157327
Understanding Media Studies
Abstracts Assignment




1) Argento, Dario. “Murder In the Dark.” Sight and Sound 6:9 (1996): 61-3. International Index to Performing Arts. Proquest. NYU Lib.., New York, New York. 12 October 2009

The famed Italian Horror and Giallo auteur reflects back on his creation of The Cat O’ Nine Tails to honor its DVD release and also comments on his common film making methods. The Cat O’ Nine Tails is based on the concepts of Giallo Cinema, yet Argento included various elements that he considered fascinating. These elements include a blind character to alter the expected sensibilities and perceptions of the viewers, and a schizophrenic villain which ties to his interests of split minds.. Argento says that his largest influence for this film was Alfred Hitchcock as he attempted to create suspense in a manner similar to Hitchcock and incorporate violence that is visually powerful but in less frequency then some of his other films. Argento also describes how this film set the blueprint for his film making philosophy and methods. He still doesn’t use large budgets, works independent of film companies and does not like to utilize famous film stars . Argento’s most important value in his artistic life is keeping his freedom and he claims that the typical Hollywood aspects of cinema would sacrifice that.

2) Balmain, Colette. “Mario Bava’s the Evil Eye: realism and the Italian horror film.” Post Script. 21.3 (Summer 2002): p20. Literature Resource Center. Gale. New York University. 19 Sept 2009


Colette Bailman argues that in the post World War II globalization of the horror film a new form of psychological horror was created that played with peoples conceptions of comfort and everyday life. During this time Mario Bava, The Evil Eye, and the creation of Giallo cinema reflect a realism that is very often overlooked and attributed to films such as Peeping Tom and Psycho. Bailman begins by illustrating how neorealism spawned in Italy as a natural reaction to their involvement with World War II in an attempt to both begin a new and to rework a new relationship between reality and how it is represented. The Giallo which spawned from Bava’s The Evil Eye represented a new form of realism that reflected the Italian anxieties of the time period. Although his film did combine some of the fictional works of Alfred Hitchcock and Agatha Christie the films were meant to represent a form of realism. In the Evil Eye this realism is represented in the black and white cinematography, visual aesthetics, character development, and its use of space in time. Despite these examples of realism in Giallo film Western culture adopted the use of phsycoanalysis in horror to represent realism, evident in Peeping Tom and Psycho. Bailman concludes by suggesting that Giallo cinema is typically overlooked as realist horror due to the fact that it rejects these notions of psychoanalysis and the genre qualities of both Psycho and Peeping Tom.

3) Somigli, L. “The Realism of Detective Fiction: Augusto de Angelis, Theorist of the Italian Giallo.” Symposium(Washington DC) 59.2 (Summer 2005): 70-83. HWWilson Records. New York University. 12 October 2009

L. Somigli illustrates in this work how Augusto de Angelis, through fictional works and analysis of the already preconstructed detective genre and influences from the Italian fascist regime created a new form of “giallo” detective fiction that could solely be Italian in nature. Somigli begins with a brief biographical analysis of de Angelis, suggesting that because of his unique foundations in journalism and law he had a unique viewpoint that countered those of traditional Italian fiction writers. Italian detective fiction first began as an imitation or parody of Anglo-American and French authors including Poe and Doyle. Yet these works did not reflect a view of justice or procedures that Italian culture were familiar with. When the regime attempted to ban the genre during World War II de Angelis figured that by recreating the genre to include realistic presentation of modern Italian society. De Angelis played a huge role in creating literary work that reflected this. In his novels he included the utilization of closed environments, an assimilation of the atmosphere of the place, a shift from the how of the crime to the why of the crime, a blurring between good and evil and a strong sense of ethical responsibility by the protagonist. Essentially de Angelis found a way to reveal the truth behind a work of art over the demands of political power. Somigli concludes by highlighting how de Angelis’s influence is ignored due to the lack of critical exposure in the genre.