Blood & Black Lace

by Adrian Luther Smith, Ernesto Gastaldi (Introduction)

Style, sex and savagery are the main ingredients of Italian giallo cinema, a highly salacious art form which thrives on fetishist images of beautiful, scantily-clad females being menaced by knife-wielding maniacs - often for the most obscure of motives! Now this lavish book from the publishers of the best-selling "Video Nasties!" brings you the definitive guide to this much-maligned and rarely chronicled movie genre. Entertainingly and informatively written by Adrian Luther-Smith, Blood And Black Lace contains full reviews, and exhaustive cast and credit Information (including video, laserdisc and DVD release details) on over two hundred giallo movies, most of which have never been listed in any other movieguide!
In this cutting edge volume you'll find expertly performed critical dissections of such classic thrillers as Dario Argento's "Bird With The Crystal Plumage", Antonioni's "Blowup", and Nicolas Roeg's "Don't Look Now". And where else can you read all about such guilty treats as "The Iguana With The Tongue Of Fire", "One On Top Of The Other", "Strip Nude For Your Killer", and controversial banned movies like Lucio Fulci's stomach-churning "New York Ripper"?
Illustrated with extremely rare full colour posters, video sleeves and stills from the movies in question, Blood And Black Lace is an essential purchase for anyone interested in the darker side of Italian exploitation cinema.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Horror, Media Tie In

148 pages, Paperback

First published March 14, 2000

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 3 out of 5]

my sweet old neighbor came by one evening with this book in hand, along with the open package it originally came in. "uh uh uh i accidentally opened your mail, i'm sorry, really sorry, um ah oh um ah." poor fellow; an awkward moment. perhaps he thought he had found my guide to quality snuff films.

this is an encyclopedic review of giallo. reviews are, surprisingly, consistently cogent and critical. photos are unsurprisingly vivid. sex + violence + Italy = hot! overall, an excellent resource for the discerning, perverted viewer.

because i love lists, here are my favorite giallo:

Deep Red
Tenebre
Twitch of the Death Nerve
Death Laid an Egg
Blood and Black Lace
Hatchet for the Honeymoon
The Horror of Dr. Hichcock
The Ghost
Kill, Baby, Kill

[Adriana Scarpin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compêndio sobre giallos em que constam uma sinopse e uma pequena resenha a cada título, livrinho bom de se ter à mão a cada vez que me envolvo com o cinema italiano de horror. Além de tudo tem uma pequena introdução do Gastaldi, um baluarte dos roteiros giallicos.

[arjn]

nevermind the zizeks, here's the real pervert's guide to cinema

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author does a great job here introducing us to all kind of obscure but very intrigue looking movies. Each movie is presented in a short synopsis, introduction of the cast. You definitely have to think about your video rentals from the past when looking at all those brilliant covers and photos. Weird killings, alluring women (e.g. Serena Grandi, Edwige Fenech). This is Italian horror and giallo at its best. You don't have to watch the movies. The picture says it all :-) Highly recommended stuff!

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must reference guide for anyone interested in the genre. The book itself literally falls apart because of the binding if it gets high use though.

[Seth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A information intensive encyclopedia of Italian Gillo films. They're the murder, sex, mystery horror movies by folks like Mario Bava and Dario Argento etc. A good resource for Italian/slasher/B movie nerds.