Book Review - Giallo Meltdown 2

Much like the first Giallo Meltdown book, Giallo Meltdown 2 is a breezy, funny trip through a lengthy viewing binge of European giallo films. With these books author Richard Glenn Schmidt is not trying to write a carefully researched examination of these movies. His goal is to present an almost stream of consciousness series of reactions to the films as they play out over several weeks. Structured like a peek at diary entries complete with ruminations on accompanying meals and unexpected delays in the forward motion of the project these books are a giggle inducing joy. It’s as if the reader is sitting on the couch next to Richard as he marathons through a pile of unwatched movies in his collection. This is as close as you’re likely to get to sharing the couch with an enthusiastic fan of the genre who enjoys nearly every entry, even if some of them are confusing or overly bizarre.

There are several reasons to check this new book out. First, both Giallo Meltdown books serve as an informative listing of possible future viewing with Richard giving you an enticing thumbnail sketch of each movie. If you want to concentrate on the most erotic efforts the genre has to offer you can make a search list as you read along. If you enjoy stories in which the solution somehow negates the entire reason for the mystery, you can jot them down. The same can be done for the less common tropes of the genre such as flashbacks that explain things in a confusing way or poorly filmed uses of vehicular homicide or pointless animal deaths. And I am pleased to report that there are nearly no spoilers offered in the book’s arch descriptions of the murder plots. The accounts of each film’s story touch on just enough details to entice the curious and amuse me.

Another reason I enjoyed this new collection of genre observations is that Richard actually spends some time breaking out a listing of Spanish gialli, a personal point of pleasure. There are many examples beyond the classic Paul Naschy effort BLUE EYES OF THE BROKEN DOLL (1974) so this book does a deep dive into several of the most obscure and even manages to create my current favorite chapter title in a movie related book – The Blood in Spain Falls Mainly From the Vein. Brilliant! Digging into the genre efforts from Spain points readers to both (very) obscure Naschy films and the long list of entertaining Hispanic related murder mysteries that lurk in mostly unexplored corners. I’ve been pushing for the genre cinema of Spain to get more attention for about a decade and I welcome any help.

And the book gets bonus points for its hysterical description of one of my favorite over-the-top  American giallo entries, Richard Rush’s COLOR OF NIGHT (1994). I’m a huge fan of Rush’s other films (check out THE STUNT MAN someday) but this thriller is one of the most unintentionally funny movies I have ever encountered and it was a joy to read the details of someone else’s first full viewing. I wish I had made notes back when I originally caught this years ago but I doubt my rattled thoughts would have been as amusing. I can almost recommend the entire book just for this section. My only qualification is that, unlike the author, I will certainly again watch this overstuffed psycho erotic sexual ball pit one day. Watching a talented filmmaker go this far off the rails is almost required repeat viewing.

As you can tell, I think this sequel Giallo Meltdown book is worth your time. It’s a light, fun read that serves well to point even long-time genre loving fans to new viewing possibilities. A lot of the rarer titles will be difficult to access but the descriptions here will only fuel your curiosity and desire to seek them out. 

The book can be purchased through Amazon in either paperback or ebook HERE.