Touching the Colour and Sound of Your Body’s Tears: Affect and Homage in the Neo-Giallo

Produced in Italy throughout the sixties and seventies, giallo films were murder mysteries presenting stock characters and by-the-numbers narratives. What really drew audiences to these films were the scenes of explicit violence and titillating nudity, with the act of murder presented in lurid and graphic detail. Dismissed at the time as exemplifying the traits of low culture and ‘bad’ filmmaking, these films have since become subject to critical re-evaluation and interest. Along with this renewed critical attention, several contemporary filmmakers have produced new gialli, or what have been referred to as neo-giallo films. These filmmakers are not influenced by the giallo’s narrative structure, but the ways in which these films evoked immediate sensory responses through vivid expressionistic colour schemes, psychedelic soundtracks, and an approach to violence that is deeply visceral and tactile. In this essay I will discuss how, through the use of affect theory, a new avenue of exploration is opened up when examining the neo-giallo, a shift away from discussion about whether these films are “good” or “bad”, instead uncovering how these contemporary works are embodied events. Through stylistic excess, repetition, and intertextual references, the neo-giallo is experienced corporeally, a stimulating overload arousing all five senses.