PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Grindhouse Films is a fine German purveyor of only the filthiest underground horror around. With numerous notorious titles under their belts, they have now completed their latest work. Lo Specchio Di Colore Giallo Dell’Anima, which means “Yellow Mirror Of The Soul,” is Grindhouse Films offering to the giallo gods. What I love about Grindhouse Films is that they are underground movie fans first and make low budget, independent productions of movies in the style they love. Fuchsi Fuchsberger – or El Gore as he is known – is one of the masterminds behind Grindhouse’s style of seriously extreme titles which always bring their sleek and vile style to life.
Going over six years strong, the label has made such films as Isolation, Ghouls Night Out Trilogy, Paraphilia and probably their sickest and most deviant offering, The Snuff Tape Anthology, a film that started out as a trilogy and quickly grew with more installments in the series. It’s definitely some of the sickest material out there in terms of content but it’s also easy to tell that the videos are not real because they are so over the top and ridiculous. The Snuff Tape Anthology is a must own for any underground film fan and is composed of a series of pseudo snuff style short scenarios of different killings, violations, mutilations and everything in between.
Now Grindhouse Films are working on another trilogy titled Triptychon Of Fear, which also includes Would You Go To Hell For Me? and I Fear. El Gore directs Lo Specchio Di Colore Giallo Dell’Anima and Would You Go To Hell For Me, while comrade Cedric Endress directs I Fear. Cedric Endress is also highly involved in Lo Specchio Di Colore Giallo Dell’Anima. This film is a throwback to the yellow days of the giallo films which have fortunately been given a bit of a resurrection recently. Films such as Andreas Marschall’s Masks or Luciano Onetti’s Francesca are definitely tipping their hats to the days of classic giallo offerings from directors such as Mario Bava, Lamberto Bava, Dario Argento, Sergio Martino, Lucio Fulci, Umberto Lenzi, Ruggero Deodato and more. All of these directors did not necessarily only make giallo films (except Argento), but all have dabbled in the genre.
Lo Specchio Di Colore Giallo Dell’Anima is just under eighteen minutes and is a tribute to those golden days in the ’70s when the notorious Italian murder/mystery/thrillers really thrived. Giallo is the Italian word for yellow and is derived from a series of novels adorned with yellow covers. In 1929, a series of crime mystery pulp novels titled IL Giallo Mondadori (Mondadori Yellow) were published by Mondador in 1929, one of the biggest publishing companies in Italy.
Lo Specchio Di Colore Giallo Dell’Anima is a nice little tribute by Grindhouse, whose love for the genre comes through very strongly. It contains no dialogue and is fairly simple but still plenty effective. I notice all of the traditional elements of the giallo here, right down to the bottle of J&B scotch and the picture of good old father Dario on the wall. We get the black gloves, the masked killer and even the close up shot of the wide eyes which has been famous in the genre. What I always felt was very important to the giallo, the icing on the cake, was the music. The score in Lo Specchio Di Colore Giallo Dell’Anima is no exception and brings back those memories of old Goblin tunes from flicks like Profondo Rosso.
Isabelle Fitzgerald, who has become a regular staple in Grindhouse Films productions such as The Snuff Tapes and other stuff like The Curse Of Dr. Wolfenstein, plays the lead. Fitzgerald is never afraid to show full frontal nudity in any film and Lo Specchio Di Colore Giallo Dell’Anima is no exception. She is definitely an actress I look forward to watching. In Lo Specchio Di Colore Giallo Dell’Anima, Fitzgerald is followed by a masked figure on the street until she runs home believing she has gotten away. Once home, she takes a bath and lies down, unbeknownst that the killer has broken into her home and is waiting.
It’s a basic plot but there is a very cool twist at the end that I didn’t see coming. The gore is actually minimal, at least compared to the usual Grindhouse Film material, but I like that they added a really sick and nasty touch at the end, which left no doubt that this was their signature of sickness. They definitely went for the authentic giallo approach and this I can definitely appreciate and enjoy. I recommend Lo Specchio Di Colore Giallo Dell’Anima and it definitely stands as a gracious and fantastic tribute to all things giallo.
