The Flop House - FH Mini 127 - Always Room for Giallo, with Alejandro Arbona

Episode Date: May 3, 2025

We're joined by longtime friend of the show (but first time on mic!) Alejandro Arbona, a 20-year veteran of comics editing and a comics writer himself, to discuss everyone's favorite extravagantly-perverse Italian thriller genre -- GIALLO. We discuss what defines a giallo and differentiates it from other sub-genres (and the slasher films it helped inspire), and then Alejandro runs us through a little giallo title quiz. It's so jam-packed with info we didn't have room for Elliott (jk, he had scheduling issues, that li'l scamp will be back next time!).If you'd like to support Alejandro's Kickstarter for Lake Yellowwood Slaughter, here's a link to the pre-launch signup, ya dirty slasher freaks!Subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets!”

Hey! Oh yeah, this is the Flophouse and it's a Flophouse mini. That is a mini episode of the classic hit podcast, The Flophouse Podcast, where we normally watch a bad movie and talk about it. But today we're doing one of our minis where we kind of do something a little bit different. I'm joined as always by my co-host Dan McCoy. Hello. And we have a very special guest, my friend, comic book author, writer, and editor, Alejandro Arbona. Alejandro. Hello guys. Do I give you too many credits, author and writer? Is that too much?

You know when it comes to comics authorship is really the artist and the writer. Thank you for correcting me. Of, Elliot is, I don't know, on the moon fighting scrolls or something. I don't know. Elliot is doing something or other. I was like, hey, we got a mini schedule. And he just held up his hands holding what? A slice of bread with mayonnaise on it

and one with mustard. And he's like, too busy. Yep. Yeah, so Alejandro, you were kind enough to come down because you have a new book on the way, and I just want to say, I've been friends with Alejandro for a while, you've been coming to the bar, one of my bars,

is that okay, I don't know? Yeah, of course, yeah. And yeah, we've connected and talked about comics and things like that. You worked for Marvel for quite a while. I'm a long time editor and writer of comics. And in that capacity, I first met Elliot. We had a chance to work together a couple of times

at Marvel and later at a company called Valiant. Oh, I'm so sorry. About Elliot, not Valiant or Marvel. And then I was living in Kensington when Hinterland's opened. So I quickly became a regular there And that's how we all got to know each other. Yeah, I came to be here How did you how do you get into working for working in comics? There's really nothing to that story I thought it would be fun and I wrote a letter into Wizard magazine

They hired me there's something that's like writing a letter into Wizard magazine is like That's like a kid's dream of how to get hired in Yeah, I was I was doing a little bit of freelance like publishing type stuff and I bought an issue of Wizard magazine They said they were hiring that was 20 a little more than 20 years ago I started my career in comics at Wizard magazine, but do you have like a writing background or not really? I went to film school. I was very interested in comics. I was actually trying to break into working in comics.

I was hoping to, you know, I was trying to cold email people at Marvel in DC and see if I could get hired. And then that's kind of backdoor of how I ended up a wizard just because I was looking at all the stuff that was out there and I saw they were hiring and then I got there. That's awesome. Dan and I both kind of backed into working in comics as well. But I mean, the way we got around to working in published comics is kind of weird

when we got invited to write for the Flash Gordon Holiday Special. Yeah, I mean, I'm just laughing because I haven't written anything for a comic in in in So long at this point that I but I have like been like maybe I should get back in touch Maybe I look yeah, you totally should it just goes to show there is no one way to break into comics Everybody comes in with their own story. Uh-huh. No two stories are alike big hopes and big dreams. Oh, yeah Big hopes and big dreams. Oh yeah, big money.

Big prizes. So it's funny that you mentioned that you have like a film background because you have a new comic that is coming to Kickstarter soon. You want to talk about, it's interesting to me because it is so related to film. And we are in fact, I believe,

checking the tin a film podcast. Well, thank you. Thank you for that prompt. Yeah, I wrote a 90 page graphic novel. It's almost finished and we are about to hit Kickstarter with basically just the goal of paying to print it and ship it. Okay.

It's called- Is that traditional for comics kickstarters? No, you know, when it comes to comics kickstarters, it can be a really risky thing to back one because a lot of times you're paying a high funding goal For a team or a singular cartoonist to write and draw the whole thing. It could take two years I'm still waiting to get a book that I backed in 2018 Person keeps posting updates that is happening. Yeah, anyway Usually that's the case.

You back a Kickstarter in order to finance the creators working on the book, and it could take a year or so. This one, I had a rare opportunity. I was able to do this book on my own, 90 pages. It's almost finished now. The art is finished. Coloring will be finished right after the Kickstarter

campaign. That's awesome. So we'll be able to pretty much wrap it up and ship it pretty quickly. It's called Lake Yellowwood Slaughter. It is a it is a very tongue in cheek. It is a slasher. It is a 1983 slasher movie. That's basically the idea. It actually started as the idea came to life when I was watching a movie with some of my old wizard magazine friends. We were watching Sleepaway Camp 2. We were all kind of reminiscing

about childhood summer camp memories. And I jokingly, I just said, imagine a slasher movie where the parents are excited to have their child-free summer of sex and booze and drugs. And then the killer goes after them instead. That's the elevator pitch basically. It gets a little more meta because it is in fact the quote unquote official comic book adaptation of a 1983 slasher movie that never existed. Yeah, there's definitely a part of Stuart that's like,

I love that idea. That's so amazing. It gets even more meta. And this is where people often advise me to stop pitching because it gets too confusing. It is a slasher movie that was made by a Jalo director who came from Italy to Hollywood to cash in on slashers because it was the early 80s

and the Jalo moment was dying down and his career was winding down. Okay. And yeah, so that's all of that is the behind the scenes stuff, but basically it's just a tight 90 page, you're in, you're out, the killing. Yeah, the- But you're checking all the boxes,

people who like comics, people who like slaughters, people who like Jalo. People who like complex layers. I think that's really funny because I, so I promised that I was gonna, for one of our bonus content, make this an audio version of this sitcom thing that I wrote and when I gave it to Elliot,

he's like, this has two framing devices. You probably removed one of them. And I'm like, no, I'm not going to. I already cut a third framing device out, so I can't kill these other darlings. I feel beholden to mention, since I said earlier that the authorship of a comic is always the artist and the writer combined, the artist is Gavin Guidry,

who is a really great young artist, who I'm very, very, very excited to do this comic with. Awesome, has this artist done anything else that you can direct people to? He, as we speak, has just finished drawing a run on Action Comics. Oh, cool. Featuring a guy you might have heard of, Superman. Oh, I have. What's his deal? What powers does he have?

Well, there's a movie coming this summer you can see for yourself. Who's he verse? I'm sure that everyone's really happy about this movie and there's no like weird group of people who would prefer it to be like some bad movies that happened in the past. That is better. Those weird group of people might be our hugest fans.

That is none of my business. Gavin also recently did some uncanny X-Men. Oh great. He's great. He's been working for a little while, but he's like an emerging artist. I think he's about to break out in a big way. I'm really excited.

I think I got very lucky to be able to get him on board for this right before he has a big moment. I feel like, I don't know, again, Dan and I have both worked within the comics world a little bit, and it still hasn't, I still haven't gotten over the feeling of like having an artist draw the thing I wrote and how cool that is. Stuart, I have worked in comics for 20 years.

And when Gavin started sending me pages for this, I felt like this is a dream come true. This comic is actually turning out better than I ever imagined it. It is a dream come true. I'm so lucky. So you, what are some of your influences here film wise? Cause you meant, I mean,

specifically mentioning Giallo and slasher movies. Do you, was it, do you have like a firm, like a big background in those two things? I've definitely been a long time lover of slasher movies in particular. Giallo is kind of a newer thing to me, but I've spent the last two years, I'd say, maybe immersing myself to a degree that may not even be healthy.

I think at this point, I've watched about something like 100 Jalo movies, and I have a list. It's far from complete. I have a list of maybe like 100 more that I still want to get to. Where does one find this list? I have a list on Letterboxd, but it is private. Oh, okay.

Because I don't want people quibbling with me about the definition of Jalo. Oh, okay. That's a big thing with Jalo fans, is that some people are like kind of doctrinaires, and people are kind of strict about what is or isn't a Jalo. Genre fans are weirdly specific about their niche genres.

I, well, can you speak about what the issue is? Because I know that a lot of people do use it to sort of refer to Italian horror, which is not correct. I mean, it's like, there's horror movies that are giallos, but they are like non-supernet, like it's about killers, it's more of a thriller horror in its most strict sense.

Is that, are there other issues that people have? No, absolutely. There is a definition of Jalo that is very specific and very easy to wrap your mind around, but then that becomes the sticking point where people insist on it being exactly that. I would say for the casual viewer, for people who don't necessarily know Jallow in depth,

when you say Jallow, people think of Suspiria right away. Suspiria is pretty much not a Jallow. Yeah, it's about witches. It's about witches. It's a very supernatural. I think people associate Suspiria with Jallow because it does have some strong Jallow elements. It has a mystery element, which is a big part of the thing.

And I'm gonna give you a definition in a moment. A lot of closeups on eyeballs. I think it also has to do with the fact that Dario Argento in particular, the director, is so singularly associated with Jalo that when he makes a non-Jalo movie, people are like, it's the pointing at the butterfly meme is this Jalo.

Whereas Mario Bava, arguably the other father of the modern, of the giallo, Mario Bava made crime movies and he made gothic horror and he made sci-fi, Planet of the Vampires and things like that, and no one ever confuses those for giallo. What's the other one? Like, I don't have Italian so I can't say it right, but there's like the polizia ones? Polizia Tetsuki. Yeah, which is like different somehow.

Yeah, well, Policioteski is like a cop movie. Yeah. Sort of a genre into itself, but there's a lot of giallo, especially later. Would you call it like a police story? Super cop. Or police story two. But to give you a definition,

I would say the real definition of giallo is that it is a murder mystery, specifically. It is a whodunit. It has a cast of characters and the killer is one of that cast. It's not like your anonymous slasher who is out for revenge. It's somebody in the cast who has some kind of motive, often profit or, you know, like knocking off a family one by one to get the inheritance or revenge or some kind of psychological trauma.

Killer usually wears a trench coat? Yes. So an American scream would be a jello but not Friday the 13th. Yes, Friday the 13th is definitely your textbook slasher. Although the first one maybe actually would be more of a Jello. Well, it's funny you say that because those early slashers, the first Friday the 13th or the first two,

certain movie or well certainly part two, which steals two kills in a row from Bay of Blood. Oh, okay. Two kills that happen in a row in Bay of Blood. Wow, you heard it here, folks. I mean, Jallow fans can tell you this, everyone knows that. But where was I? Yeah, the definition of the Jallow

is frequently the knocking off a cast of characters one by one to building up to the eventual reveal of what is the trauma, what is the motive, what is who is the killer behind the mask. Whereas with Slashers, it's always like a purely revenge driven, you know, or some kind of obsession or. Is New York Ripper a Jallow?

New York Ripper is a Jallow. New York Ripper is late in the history of the Jallow phase. It's from the eighties, you know, there are still Jallows being made today, obviously, but the golden age of the jallows is basically from at some point in the mid to late sixties going through the late seventies. It's basically like a 10 solid years

of that's the prime time of the jallow. The, I'll give you the quick evolution of how they came along. Sure, yeah. There was a publisher in Italy called Mondadori that famously would publish genre books with a colored cover for each genre. And they would publish mysteries, murder mysteries and thrillers with yellow covers. Gialo is the Italian word for yellow.

So people started calling the books themselves, Giali, as a shorthand for what that was. Incidentally, those Mondadori yellow books would frequently publish translations in Italian of Agatha Christie novels, of Edgar Allan Poe novels. As a result, a lot of people in Italy growing up reading these books are obsessed, obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe and Agatha Christie. Agatha Christie, in particular, wrote can see that. And Agatha Christie. Agatha Christie in particular wrote one book and then there were none. That book by itself is like the blueprint of what a Jallow is.

Okay, cool. That has the structure, it has certain visual elements. It's a book about a group of strangers are gathered in a place by someone and they don't know why, they're in a private island. They're on a private island, they don't know who brought them there or why, and then they start being killed off one by one.

And there's even a visual element of like, the dinner table is decorated with figurines, and each time that someone gets knocked off, one figurine disappears. Which is the textbook like a Jalo movie. The only key difference between that and a Jalo is that the killer doesn't wear any glove, mask, nothing like that. Of course, because it's a book, so concealing their identity just means not describing them.

If you don't describe them, then the reader doesn't see them. But when you turn that into a visual element, then you have to add a mask, a hat, a glove. Yeah, and I guess the trench coat and gloves are only there to disguise the identity, right? And frequently to disguise the gender, because a killer can always be revealed to be a woman, but with black leather gloves, you wouldn't suspect it necessarily. That's a funny thing, that became such a trope in early yellow movies that they eventually had to... Like the false flags on different gender, I believe. Yeah, the killer being revealed to be a woman.

It's like, well, like De Palma stuff, like what you might call it, not body double. Dressed to kill. Dressed to kill. Dressed to kill. I'm so happy you brought that up because that, Brian De Palma movies and Giallo are kind of tied together closely. The other thing that all these Italian filmmakers were so obsessed with,

aside from Christie and so forth, was Alfred Hitchcock. Yeah. Same as the French, like, New Wave, Cahier du Cinema people were obsessed with Hitchcock, the Italians were obsessed with Hitchcock. So in 1960, Hitchcock made Psycho, and coincidentally a British director, Michael Powell, made this movie Peeping Tom.

And those two movies, same as, and then there were none, those two movies seem like blueprints for the giallo. Interestingly, Psycho is black and white, and Peeping Tom is like lurid color, technicolor, greens and purples. I feel like color is such a big part, like specific clear color choices is such a big part of giallo.

Yeah, and that's singularly down to Mario Bava. So Mario Bava, only a couple of years after Psycho, he made a movie called The Girl Who Knew Too Much, which by itself is a Hitchcock reference already, the title. And that is considered to be the first Jalo because it has that particular story structure of she thinks she witnesses a murder and now someone is after her. The killer's identity is unknown all the way until the end. It features John Saxon.

And then that kind of kickstarted everything. And then immediately people started to make a million of these movies. And then a few years later he made, but the girl who knew too much was in black and white. A few years later, he made Blood and Black Lace, which is like you were saying, it's lurid technicolor. That's kind of the movie that set the standard

for the use of color in Jallow. Oh, cool. And then some years after that, Dario Argento made his first movie, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. And that's the last piece of the puzzle. Like that became the final influence for what would be the textbook geologist.

Yeah, and then now all geologist is everything, it's all measured against those things. Pretty much, yeah. And the reason I responded to when you mentioned Brian De Palma before is that Brian De Palma was himself so influenced by Alfred Hitchcock that when he started to make his thrillers

in the 70s and 80s, everyone kind of, people who knew Giallo started to refer to Brian De Palma as like a neo-Giallo or American Giallo, which I think he claimed he disavowed that influence. He said he's not familiar with Giallo. That's not what he was trying to do. It's strange though, because like, I mean, I don't,

it's not like I disbelieve him, but to me, what he does is so much closer to Giallo than actually Hitchcock. Like he, you know, he pulls things from Hitchcock, but his style is so florid, like a Giallo director, not like Hitchcock is, you know, it's very like well-constructed sequences, but it's more of a classical sort of way of doing it, I think.

Yeah, I agree. I don't disbelieve him either, but it's interesting that if his big influence was Hitchcock, it's funny that it should come, like body double, for example, is such a giallo, it feels like. Well, and that he evolved his evolution of that Hitchcock influence is so similar

to the Italian evolution of the Hitchcock influence. You know, one thing that's really interesting to me is when people talk about making Neo Jalo or making a modern Jalo, I've never heard anyone else talk about this, but I really feel like 90s erotic thrillers are effectively a lot like Giallo movies. In particular, I think the one that stands out the most is Color of Night.

Starting with the title alone, it's already so Giallo. I don't just want to go down a list of, like, have you seen this, Gialo? But have you seen the editor, the, like, kind of the parody of Gialo about it? It's from the, you know, the same collective of guys who made, like, Psycho Gorman and Father's Day. Oh, no, I haven't seen that one. And, yeah, it's really funny. And, you know, it's really funny. And it's obviously like a love letter to, it's both a parody and a love letter to Giallo.

I'm going to add that to my private letter box list. Check it out. There's also, I watched this weird little one from, it was like a micro budget one shot in like southern Indiana called Three Tears on Bloodstained Flesh. And it is like it has all the hallmarks. It's like a weird like Midwestern giallo that works so well. I think like it's obviously not perfect or anything, but it's I found it to be

really funny and fun. And it's not a parody at all. It's just like a straight like, what if these tiny budget filmmakers in the Midwest decide to make a makeup giallo in their backyard, basically? I like it. If you like too many podcasts, you'll love Soundteap with John Luke Roberts. It's got clips from all your favourite podcasts such as Diary of a Tiny CEO, Leonard Sprague, tell me how you make your money. I go to the beach and I steal people's towels.

Rememberama, Do you remember the trend of everyone whacking themselves on the head with hammers and mallets when they wanted to lose weight? and Elty Jom's Lobbily Songs. I'm here today with Kiki Dee. Hello, Kiki Dee. Hello, Elton. There's dozens of episodes to catch up on and brand new episodes going out right now.

So if you want far, far, far too many podcasts, then look for Soundteap on Maximum Fun. Boop boop. All right, we're over 70 episodes into our show. Let's learn everything. So let's do a quick progress check. Boop boop. All right, we're over 70 episodes into our show. Let's learn everything. So let's do a quick progress check. Have we learned about quantum physics?

Yes, episode 59. We haven't learned about the history of gossip yet, have we? Yes, we have. Same episode, actually. Have we talked to Tom Scott about his love of roller coasters? Episode 64. So how close are we to learning everything? Bad news.

We still haven't learned everything yet. We're ruined! No, no, no, it's good news as well. There is still a lot to learn. I'm Dr. Ella Hubber. I'm regular Tom Lum. I'm Caroline Boper and on Let's Learn Everything, we learn about science and a bit of everything else too.

And although we haven't learned everything yet, I've got a pretty good feeling about this next episode. Join us every other Thursday on Maximum Fun. So, yeah, you were saying, in addition to dragging you on here to talk giallo, you have a quiz for us. I brought, yes, I brought you one of the most fun things about giallo movies is the title. The title. Yeah.

The titles of giallo movies are so florid and so great and I'm a huge fan of them. So I brought you guys a Jallow title quiz that I'm springing on you completely unseen. Okay. This is gonna be entirely new to you. And you know the expression, you know the expression play stupid games,

win stupid prizes. Oh! This is gonna be a stupid game, and I brought a stupid prize. Whoever racks up the most points gets to keep this already opened two-thirds empty bottle of J&B. Why J&B?

J&B is Diallo's liquor of choice. It is in practically every movie. Lined in scotch whiskey, look at this. What I like is that it's knowing Alejandro. I feel like, how much of, at what point did you realize that you don't actually like this bottle that you're drinking?

Have you developed a taste for it? I kind of have. I love the look of the bottle. I don't like the flavor of the scotch. It's also very hard to find around here because it is very little in demand. So most liquor stores don't carry it. I had to search far and wide to find one place that did.

And then, I've bought a few bottles. This is not my first bottle here. This was actually a prop bottle that I was using a couple of days ago when we shot the video for the Kickstarter campaign. Shot at Flophouse's favorite movie theater, The Nighthawk. Yes, indeed. The Nighthawk Cinema very graciously allowed us to shoot in there and we're very excited for how it's going to turn out.

I haven't seen it yet. But yeah, when I was watching a lot of Jell-O movies, I started to notice like, oh, wait a second, it's J and B again, oh my God. And then I started to realize, no, it's practically every single movie with exceptions. But then you start to realize it's not only Jalo, it actually turns up in a lot of movies. I mean, one of my favorite directors is John Carpenter

and it's in The Thing, plays a big role in The Thing where McCready pours it into the computer and it's in The Thing. Plays a big role in The Thing where McCready pours it into the computer after it beats him at chess. Well, the J does stand for Justorini. Maybe that's an Italian. It started as an Italian brand, and then it was centuries ago, weirdly. And then it was bought by a British guy,

which is the B, Brooks. Justorini and Brooks. It has a long history. I don't know in detail what the history is, but it is a centuries old brand, weirdly. Anyway, here we go. I brought you guys a little answer key, a little key of shorthand to what titles

I'm gonna be quizzing you on, because they're long and confusing and I wanna give you some shorthand. But here we go. If you guys are ready to begin, put on your black leather gloves, sharpen your straight razor, pour yourself a highball glass of J&B. We're going to play the Jalo Title Quiz. It's a few short rounds, a couple of questions.

One question for each of you per round. Each question, one point. So let's go. Round one. Let me just grab this paper. Round one. Jallow titles are frequently very elaborate phrases and even complete sentences. However, unlike Hollywood titles like The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward

Robert Ford or Honey I Shrunk the Kids, these elaborate Jallow titles don't necessarily tell you what happens in the movie. I will read you a plot synopsis from Letterboxd. You match it to the Jallow title. Okay. First, Dan. Olive Yero is a drunk, burned out writer who amuses himself by hosting orgies at his grand country manor and humiliating his wife Irina. When a number of women are

murdered in grisly fashion, Oliviero becomes a prime suspect. Is this all the colors of the dark, a lizard in a woman's skin, your vice is a locked room and only I have the key, or seven blood-stained Orchids. Oof. And these are all real names, you didn't make these up. These are, I have prepared this quiz with great intellectual rigor. Everything here is very thorough, everything here is accurate.

Well, going by what you say, C seems almost too much like what you're talking about, about, you know, it's Orgy's, your vice is a locked room and only I have the key, I'm not gonna- Which is such a banger of a title. Yeah, it definitely sounds like, you know, some 2000s alt rock band would have named their album that.

So I'm gonna go with Seven Bloodstained Orchids, D. The same director, Sergio Martino, made a movie called The Strange Vice of Mrs. Ward. And in that movie, there's a scene where the titular Mrs. Ward, Edwidge Fenick, the great queen of Jello, is sent a note from her abusive ex-husband that says, your vice is a locked room

and only I have the key. That is in fact the title of his next movie, which is this one. So the correct answer was C, your vice is a locked room and only I have the key. That was cool. Oh, I talked myself out of it. Okay, next question, Stuart.

A reporter and a promiscuous young woman try to solve a series of child killings in a remote Southern Italian town, rife with superstition and a distrust of outsiders. Is this the suspicious death of a minor? It seems too obvious. The police are blundering in the dark. The case of the scorpion's tail. It's pretty cool. Or don't torture a duckling. I think I'm going to say don't torture a duckling.

That is correct. Don't torture a duckling. That is correct I've actually seen don't torture duckling So far that I've seen don't torture duckling is a Jala directed by Lucio Fulci who in general I is not one of my favorites because his movies are so so gory But this is an early one and it's actually very beautiful It does have a lot of weird psychosexual issues, but I think it's one of the best. It's actually one of my favorite Jallows.

Later in the early 80s, he directed New York Ripper, which you mentioned earlier, Stuart, and that movie is so gross. I have a hard time watching it. See, we have opposite tastes. I'm like, I want my Jallow to be gross and weird, and so I love New York Ripper and like Don't Church or Duckling is almost too sad to me

because it's about child murders and the provincialism of this Italian town. I'm like, I don't want actual like stuff in my movie. It is a weird thing being a Jell-O fan because it's hard to recommend these to people. A lot of times, even the best ones can be so tough to watch. And they should come with a lot of content warnings and all that kind of thing.

I want a movie where a guy murders people with a flute. There are two different, two different Yalo movies where the murder weapon is a carved wooden dildo. Oh, okay. Yeah, so. Cool. That's the kind of thing that happens. There you go.

Round two, multiple choice question. Jalo movies could sometimes go through multiple releases and re-releases, international releases, different edits on home video, often collecting new titles along the way. I'll give you a Jalo's better known original title. You pick the alternate title it was also released under Dan your movie is deep red is the alternate title a the hatchet murders B carnage C

red rings of fear okay seen deep red and I don't think he used a hatchet or whoever it was I can't remember who the murderer was, maybe a she. I'm gonna go with B, carnage. The correct answer is A, the hatchet. Whoa! I am so sorry. I should point out this is how seriously I took this quiz. All of these titles are all alternate titles.

Wasn't that a straight razor in Deep Red? I can't remember. The first person he kills is the telepath, the psychic woman. He gives hatchet to the back of the head. Okay. I got to revisit Deep Red. I remember really liking that one. Hi, this is Alejandro with the voice memo.

The morning after recording this episode, I woke up in a cold sweat with the sickening, sickening realization that I had said something wrong on the internet. Dan was right. There is no hatchet in the hatchet murders. The scene I was thinking of involved a meat cleaver. So my apologies to Dan. It's funny, the same thing happens in a Mario Bava movie. It was called The Red Sign of Madness in Italian, and they released it in the US as a hatchet for the honeymoon, despite the fact that the killer obviously uses a meat cleaver. Um, Stuart, your movie is Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll.

Is the alternate title... Yeah, it's the alternate title. A, The Psychic. B, The Evil Eye. C, House of psychotic women. And it was Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll. I'm going to say... I think I'm going to keep it simple.

I'm going to say The Psychic. The Psychic is the alternate title of another Lucio Fulci movie that was also called Seven Notes in Black. The alternate title of Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll inspired the title of Kira LaGiannis' seminal book, House of Psychotic Women. Yeah, okay. So that is that one.

I have a round two bonus question. Okay. Speaking of alternate titles, highly controversial upon its release, Bay of Blood went on to become one of the most successful and influential giallo of all. It had two theatrical runs in Italy, a theatrical run in Spain, a US theatrical release, and multiple recut home video releases.

Which of these five titles was not an alternate title for Bay of Blood? You can each take a turn answering. Is it Chain Reaction, Twitch of the Death Nerve, Ecology of Crime, Last House on the Left, Part Two, or Bay of Blood? Dan, you go first. I'm gonna go with Ecology of Crime. Okay, Stuart? I'm gonna say Twitch of the Death Nerve.

You're both wrong. Oh no. Twitch of the Death Nerve is the best alternate title. It's the best title. The best alternate title any movie has ever had. Ecology of Crime, I'm sorry, is also wrong. Which of these five titles was not an alternate title for Bay of Blood?

Ecology of Crime is actually the original title. Whoa. Bay of Blood was an alternate title. Oh, okay. It was actually released in theaters as Ecology of Crime and Chain Reaction, and then it was released in Spain with the title Bay of Blood.

Bahia de sangre. Okay, round three. So wait, it was Last House and the Last Part Two? Is that the wrong one? No, they are all. They're all. They are all actual titles that were used for Bay of Blood, but only Ecology of Crime was

not an alternate title. It was the original title. Oh, okay. What was the right answer is what I'm asking. Oh, you know what? I got that wrong. You're right. Okay.

Oh, okay. My mistake. I'm sorry. I scored that one wrong. Dan, my apologies. Should we retake that? No, no, no, no. That's all the confusion is what the it's what Flapp House fans clamor for how ramshackle we are.

Well, like the plot of a Jalo, this quiz is very convoluted and very confusing. So confused even me. God damn it. This these titles. Okay. round three. Now you know that Bay of Blood was originally titled Ecology of Crime and then Chain Reaction, theatrically in Italy, yet it's best known by its theatrical release title from Spain, Bay of Blood. Likewise, many U.S. giallo releases discard the original Italian title entirely. In the reverse of round two, this time I will give you a Jalo's better known alternate title. You pick the original translated Italian title. Dan, you go first. The fifth chord was this titled Concerto for solo pistol, Black Day for Aries, the Zodiac

sign Aries, one on top of the other? Oh boy. I assume, here's the problem. I assume that these are all actual titles for other ones, so I can't go like, oh, one on top of the other sounds like it's Italian translated from, but I'm just gonna go with my gut. I'm gonna keep it one on top of the other. I'm sorry, that's incorrect.

The correct answer was B, Black Day for Aries. It's a good name. These are in fact all original Italian titles for movies that are better known by their alternate titles. One on top of the other was released in the US as Perversion Story. Mm-mm. Gotta say it's a better title, perversion story.

Yeah, that's pretty cool. Yeah, and then concerto for solo pistol was something called The Weekend Murders, which I actually have not seen. Concerto for solo pistol is a better name. Yeah, agreed. Stuart, your title, what have they done to your daughters? Was this originally called, Murder by Vocation, Revelations of a Sex Maniac to the Chief of the Mobile Squad, or The Police Are Asking for Help?

I mean, I would feel like a fool if I didn't go with my gut and say, Revelations of a Sex Maniac to the Chief of the Mobile Squad. That is a good one. I'm sorry. It is, The Police Are Asking for Help. Okay. That was a scotch round for all around. Good one. I'm sorry. It is it is the police are asking for help Okay, that was a scotch round for all around so wait revelations of a sex maniac to the chief of the mobile squad What's the other name for that one? That is? Oh, where's my answer key? I'm drawing a total blank. That is so sweet. So dead Yeah, yeah I'm just I could be remembering that wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's So Sweet, So Dead.

Round four. Here's a nice simple round. Pick the title that isn't a real movie. Dan, The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire, Footprints on the Moon, Strip Nude for Your Killer, Hacked Apart, or The New York Ripper. Obviously you can rule out The New York Ripper. And I know that Strip Nude for Your Killer is also real. It's in your search history.

I'm gonna go, just cause it sounds less jalloy to me, I'm gonna go Footprints on the Moon. Footprints on the Moon is a very beautiful, very beautiful movie that people often claim is not a giallo because it's not really a murder mystery, but it definitely is a mystery. It was directed by Luigi Bazzoni, who also did a movie called The Fifth Chord

that I like a lot. No, the answer here was Hacked Apart. That was my other one, because it seemed too simple. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stuart, pick the title that isn't a real movie. The Flower with the Pedals of Steel, The Pajama Girl Kiss, My Killer Dismembered Me, The Sweet Body of Deborah, or The Laughing Woman. OK, let me go down through these. So, Flower, the sweet body of Deborah, or the laughing woman.

Okay, let me go down through these. So, flower, the petals of steel, that sounds like a giallo, right, Dan? Uh, see, that's very complicated. Oh, yeah, I'll be your head. The pajama girl case is okay. My killer dismembered me, I like that name. Um, that's very much, I know who killed me right there.

The sweet body of Deborah also, it's very florid, there's a lot of descriptors. I'm gonna say, I think the laughing woman, although I like the name, I think the laughing woman is too simple. For one of the promotional things I've come up with for Lake Yellowwood Slaughter, I came up with the whole backstory of who the director is

and what other movies he's made. And he is a made up, he's a made up Italian director called Giacomo Mezzosalma. And he made Gialo movies, including one which was called, movie of my own invention was called La Sassino Mi Asmembrato, which means the killer dismembered me. A movie which in my canon was released in the US

as Hacked Apart. So that's what those two titles were. My Killer Dismembered Me, great title. Good one, Alejandro. That's an Alejandro Arbona invention. Thank you. And now that's almost the end of the game. Stuart has two points, Dan has one.

We could leave it at that. I did come up with a bonus round in case we had a tie. Give me the chance to tie. Let's do, yeah, okay, let's do, this is- We'll call this double or nothing, Dan. Can you not- No, no, no. Okay. This is a very open-ended,

this is just not a multiple choice, not a pick a title or anything. This is a very open-ended question that's going to be very, very, very hard. I would say nigh impossible to figure out unless you know these movies. Even if you have seen these movies, you might not think of it.

So this is basically an impossible point. But then I do have a follow-up question which might be easier. So this is potentially worth two points, maybe one, most likely zero. The tiebreaker round, the non-existent tie These five giallo movies have one plot detail in common. What is it? The titles are who saw her die

Autopsy don't torture a duckling the blood-stained shadow and seven blood-stained orchids What could those five movies have in common? I haven't seen any of them. I've only seen Don't Torture Duffling, which I... I've listened to the band Autopsy, so maybe I have an advantage there. My guess is the... My guess is that there's a ghost in the movie of a person who's been killed, one of the victims. I'm gonna say that a red herring, a mistaken killer,

someone who they think is gonna be the killer is killed. Okay. I would say that's a thing that applies to maybe 100% of Jell-O. So, technically correct, Dan. Yeah, I guess so. Well, I meant that people are like, oh, this person's the killer, we're gonna kill, we're gonna.

These five movies in particular, one thing they have in common is that a Roman Catholic priest is a character in each of these movies. Now, follow up question. In which movie is that plot detail unlike the others? Which movie stands out for that plot detail actually being different in one way?

So Dan, you've seen Don't Torture Duckling. I'm gonna say it is Don't Torture Duckling and the difference is that the priest is the killer. The correct answer is autopsy. The priest is not the killer. Oh, yeah, you're right. The only time it didn't happen. Okay, so it looks like I walked away with this one.

Yeah, you walked away with one. If the listener did not want a spoiler there, go back and then go ahead. Just get, you know, dial into the eternal sunshine machine and erase it. You know, I accept my victory, you know, I'm going to chalk it up to my skills. But the I think this highlights a thing where I, you know, I kind of have a complicated relationship with Giallo movies. I wasn't a big fan of Dario or Gento,

and I kind of like stayed away from a lot of Fulci stuff. If I, but then, you know, I found that like De Palma's movies and other like clearly influenced by Giallo movies are definitely more my speed. But if I wanted to like dip my toes in, what are a couple of like good intro points? I'm sure there's some of the things you've already mentioned. It's funny that Dario Argento is such a ready association

for people looking to get into Giallo. I love Dario Argento, but as we discussed before, maybe half his movies, or half of his better known movies are not necessarily Jallow because they're supernatural. And then of the ones that are Jallow, some of them are so, so, you know, like I'm not a big fan of Cat of Nine Tales and whatever. In Argento in particular, I love the Bird with the crystal plumage and I love Tenebrae, which is an early 80s one. Those two I love a lot.

And of course with Mario Bava, Mario and Dario, Mario Bava and Dario Argento are basically the big two of Gialio. The more readily accessible two. They're Mario and Dario are a couple of plumbers, right? Who fight turtle monsters. Bordering on a... Hey, it's a fine. Uh-huh. Sure.

And then there's Wadario, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, so people are quick to recommend Argento and Bava, and they're good. There are a lot of good movies there. I think if you go a little further afield, some of the directors that are big in giallo fandom, but less well known to people outside, have made some movies that are really, really interesting. Three favorite directors of mine are a guy called

Umberto Lenzzi, Sergio Martino, and Luciano Ercole. Now, here's the secret. The thing that those three directors have in common is that their best movies are all written by a screenwriter called Ernesto Gastaldi. Ernesto Gastaldi is like the secret weapon of a good giallo. If you look him up on IMDb or Letterboxx and start going through those movies,

those are some of the best and most interesting ones. Umberto Lenzi made four movies with this American actress, Carol Clover. One of them we had in here in the quiz was A Quiet Place to Kill. That is my favorite movie with A Quiet Place in the title. I love that movie. Sergio Martino, of course, again,

it's hard to recommend giallo movies because you have to know the level of violence and in some cases, sexual violence that you're getting into. But Torso is a movie that I like a lot. Torso is like a late gigiallo proto-Slasher. It has more in common with Slasher movies, maybe, arguably. But that's good for me, because I speak Slasher movie. And then, yeah, Sergio Martino also did

Your Vices of Locked Room and Only I Have the Key and The Strange Vices of Mrs. Ward and All the Colors of the Dark are very good movies. There's a director also called Luciano Ercoli who worked a few times with his wife, Nieves Navarro from Spain. And they made a movie that I love called Death Walks at Midnight.

That was the third of their collaborations, but it's my favorite. Some people prefer the second one, which is Death Walks on High Heels. Death Walks at Midnight is a really cool movie where unlike a lot of, you know, like Slashers, JALO movies come in for a lot of, people accuse them of being misogynist

because of violence against women and that kind of thing. But similar to Slashers, in a lot of cases, these are movies about women who are in danger who try to see kelp and no one believes them. And in that way, it's weirdly kind of feminist. It's hard to describe a movie as feminist when it has that much violence against women. But these movies are about like, believe women

and these women go to the police and they go to friends and they go to men and men of authority. And it's clearly like a killer exploiting the system. A lot of times, yeah. And this particular one, Death Walks at Midnight, is about a woman who's on again, off again boyfriend basically like tricks her into doing, you know, it's a very kind of,

he fucks with consent in a way. He doses her with a fictional hallucinogen during a photo shoot. She thinks she witnessed a murder, but they're not sure if it was a hallucination. Photo shoots are pretty giallo, right? But then she's such a great character. Having had this done to her,

she then proceeds to like go to the guy's office and throw a rock through his window. Like she's a really cool character. And then she becomes like a detective proactively trying to solve this murder. That movie is also really interesting because at the end of the movie, there's a hit man who wears a shirt and a tie and then like a yellow plaid vest and black leather gloves. And during the movie, he gets his face caked in cement and suddenly his face is all like

powdery. And it looks so much like the Christopher Nolan Heath Ledger Joker that I'm like, this must have been, Christopher Nolan must have seen this. It looks uncanny. And which one was this? This is Death Walks at Midnight, directed by Luciano Ricoli.

Okay, I'm gonna have to rel in this episode and get all these notes Yeah, what else I mentioned number two Lindsay Arcoli Sergio Martino I Feel like for me that's a pretty good start yeah, and and how would like how readily available are some of these When it comes to streaming, a lot of things are on Tubi. That's great if you don't mind watching them with ads. But when it comes to Jalo, they almost benefit from that kind of thing.

And you know Tubi, it is the people's streaming platform. A lot of them are on Shutter. Things on Shutter come and go, so keep an eye out there. Generally pretty well curated. I know that Criterion puts the Jalo thing out every once in a while. Yes, and if you're into buying physical media, there are certain, you know, Vinegar Syndrome

and Arrow put out a lot of cool box sets. They do sales and things you can get. You can get some cool movies, cheap sometimes. I'm a big fan of, I buy always the JALO Essentials from Arrow and the Forgotten Jelly from Vinegar Syndrome. I have all of those volumes. Oh, wow. Yeah.

Have you watched all the movies in those collections? Yes, the Forgotten Jelly ones in particular are tough because I buy every volume and then I watch all the movies and I'm like, ah, why did I buy this volume? What a level of dedication. But there are gems in there. It is worth it. And the Jalo Essentials from Arrow are some really good box sets.

There's a lot of really great stuff in those. This has been great. Can you, just one more time, Alejandro, can you give us a pitch on your new Kickstarter and where people can find it? There is already a pre-launch sign-up page for the Kickstarter. When you're listening to this, I think the Kickstarter will kick off

maybe like two weeks after this episode airs. Something like that, more or less. But there is a pre-launch sign-up page. I can give you guys the link if you want to put it in the show notes. Yeah, please. It's called Lake Yellowwood Slaughter. It's written by me, drawn by Gavin Guidry. The cover is painted by an artist from Spain

called Suspiria Vilchez, the aptly named Suspiria. That's so funny. This is a gorgeous cover. It looks like it's straight off a VHS box, which is exactly what I want. Either like a VHS box or like, I mean, I guess like an Italian comic that I'm like, I need to find out what's going on.

Yeah, and I mean, Suspiria Vilchez is in fact an artist who does covers for vinegar syndrome for her general releases. So she is officially a professional Jalo artist in a way. Yes, so it's a slasher movie made by a Jalo director adapted to comic book form. I'll give you guys this sneak preview. The first two pages are a little tongue in cheek gag

where they're reminiscent of if it's 1983 and you just turned on TV to watch a movie and you feel like you're soaring above a city, flying into the woods to a glorious starburst in the sky. That's what the first two pages of the comic are. That's awesome. If you pages of the comic are. If you're hearing that, if that music starts playing in your head automatically, I feel you should know that that music, there's actually a song that goes with it and it has lyrics.

Oh, no kidding. Yes. I can't find it streaming anywhere. It's on YouTube, but I can't find it like it's not on Apple Music or anything. But yeah, it is a song. It's kind of a bluesy like it's got bass. it's got bass, it's got like a blues guitar. That's so funny. The lyrics go, anyone who has a fantasy,

come with me, come with me. So yeah, look it up on YouTube. Oh, that's awesome. That's great. So thanks so much, Alejandro. This has been a mini episode of the Flophouse podcast. We are produced by Mr. Alex Smith, who is in the room. Say hi, Alex.

Hi. This podcast is on Maximum Fun. It's a podcast network. There's plenty of great podcasts. Check them out. For the Flophouse, I've been Stuart Wellington. I've been Jan McCoy. And joining us is. Alejandro Arbona, thank you guys for having me. Stuart, I've been Stuart Wellington. I've been J.M. McCoy. And joining us is...

Alejandro Arbona. Thank you guys for having me. Stuart, enjoy your J&B. Yeah, I will. I'm gonna get faded, baby, and watch some movies. Pfft. -♪ -♪ Maximum Fun.

A worker-owned network. Of artist-owned shows. Supported. Directly. By you.