La Dolce Morte

By Mikel J. Koven

With the exception of die-hard aficionados of European or Italian horror cinema, most people may not have heard of giallo cinema or have seen many films in this subgenre of horror. Most academic film studies tend to ignore horror cinema in general and the giallo specifically. Critics often deride these films, which reveal more about the reviewers' own prejudices than any problem with the works themselves. As a counter to such biases, Mikel J. Koven argues for an alternative approach to studying these films, by approaching them as vernacular cinema-distinct from "popular cinema." According to Koven, to look at a film from a vernacular perspective removes the assumptions about what constitutes a "good" film and how a particular film is in some way "artistic."In La Dolce Morte: Vernacular Cinema and the Italian Giallo Film, Koven explores the history and evolution of this aspect of cinema, and places these films within the context of Italian popular filmmaking. He addresses various themes, motifs, and tropes in these films: their use of space, the murders, the role of the detective, the identity of the killer, issues of belief, excess, and the set-piece.

Part 1 Preface Part 2 Acknowledgments Chapter 3 1. What is Giallo? Chapter 4 2. Toward an Understanding of Vernacular Cinema Chapter 5 3. Space and Place in Italian Giallo Cinema: The Ambivalence of Modernity Chapter 6 4. Murder and Other Sexual Perversions Chapter 7 5. Watching the Detectives: Amateur Detectives and the Giallo as Detective Cinema Chapter 8 6. The Killer's Identity Chapter 9 7. "Weird Science of the Most Egregious Kind": The Ambivalence of Belief in the Giallo Film Part 10 8. "A Perverse Sublime": Excess and the Set Piece in the Giallo Part 11 9. The Giallo as Cinema of Poetry Part 12 10. From Giallo to Slasher Part 13 Filmography Part 14 Bibliography Part 15 Index Part 16 About the Author