15 TERRIFYING ITALIAN HORROR MOVIES

As I've mentioned in past posts, "best of" and other lists are entirely subjective. Nevertheless, they allow the reader a glimpse into the subject and discuss movies and other topics that may be unfamiliar.

This particular article from Movieweb (with a bit of an overblown title) lists the "15 Most Terrifying Italian Horror Movies". Some are familiar and others are more obscure, but it offers a sort of primer to the genre.

I think it misses the mark with a few and would have replaced at least a couple with BLACK SUNDAY and TORSO.

15 Terrifying Italian Horror Movies That Will Keep You Awake for Days

Experience bone-chilling terror with these Italian horror movies. Prepare to be haunted for days after watching these spine-tingling classics.

By Danilo Raul | April 28, 2023 | Movieweb.com

Italian cinema has left its mark in the world in the post-WWII era. Horror films, in particular, elevated the art form in the country to new levels never seen by American audiences. During the 1960s, directors such as Mario Bava and Dario Argento established a signature style for the genre, with colorful lighting, the replication of intense atmospheres, and scripts full of psychological suspense. Many classic Italian horror films blend storytelling elements such as mystery, sexuality, and gore.

Italian horror cinema has continued to evolve with time. Modern offerings can't quite catch the special touch of their early efforts. The industry, however, was a trendsetter, with the first slasher being produced in Italy and the zombie craze exploding thanks to masters of the craft such as Lucio Fulci, who originated the Giallo movement. Other filmmakers, such as Lamberto Bava and Michele Soavi, would continue to explore different elements in the genre, such as psychological horror and supernatural terror, with impactful plot twists. Their influence can still be seen in American filmmakers and practical effects experts such as Robert Rodriguez and Tom Savini.

Multiple Italian horror films remain a genre staple, with their influence still seen in contemporary cinema. If you wish to indulge in the best horror fare from Italy, these picks will keep you awake for days:

15. Adam Chaplin (2011)

The only modern offering in the list is a great entry point to Italian horror, as it has all the over-the-top elements that make these movies visually stunning, even if the plot is pushing the boundaries of the fantastic. Adam Chaplin is a film written, directed, scored, and acted by Emanuele De Santi, featuring the talents of Valeria Sannino and Hildebrand Girone. A man named Adam finds his wife has been brutally murdered, and he wants revenge on those responsible, but the only means to do so is by making a pact with a demon who grants him supernatural powers.

The film follows the trend of violence for shock value you can see in modern American offerings such as Hostel. The main difference here is that this film truly goes over the top, with buckets of blood and gore exploding on the screen at any moment as Adam carries out his revenge. The movie had enough visual shock to get banned in countries like the UK and Germany, labeled the film as "torture porn."

14. Suspiria (1977)

The first film on our list by the master of horror, Dario Argento. He wrote and directed the movie featuring Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, and Flavio Bucci. The story centers on an American ballet student traveling to Germany to enroll in a prestigious dancing academy. Everything seems to be going normally until she finds out the school is the hideout of a coven of witches.

Suspiria is a vivid film, full of rich colors and striking visuals, which makes excellent use of the scored music to make every moment more impactful to the audience. Argento doesn't hold back on gruesome visuals, as most deaths are graphic and shocking. The film would also set the tone for future releases in the genre, with more horror films ditching subtlety and restrain to go all in into graphic detail.

13. The Beyond (1981)

Many classic Italian movies are often filmed with an English dub, and quite a few feature American talents. It's a way to make them appealing to international audiences. The Beyond is an offering by Lucio Fulci, who writes and directs the movie, starring Catriona MacColl, David Warbeck, and Cinzia Monreale. The story takes us to Louisiana, with a woman who inherits an old hotel, which happens to be located on top of one of the seven gates of hell, unleashing a plague of demons and zombies on Earth.

As you can probably imagine, this film dials up the violence to eleven, and it's not for the faint of heart. It's also a very particular movie since it doesn't offer the kind of resolution American audiences are used to. You get a lot of extreme displays here, such as eye-gouging zombies, face-melting demons, and dream-like sequences where characters don't know if they should trust their senses.

12. Blood Delirium (1988)

A solid entry in the gothic horror genre from writer Antonio Tentori and director Sergio Bergonzelli. The cast includes John Phillip Law, Gordon Mitchell, and Brigitte Christensen. The films explore physiological themes related to artistic expression and the lengths some artists will go to find the best source of inspiration to make their craft stand out. It all begins with a man named Saint Simon, who has lost his drive due to the death of his wife.

Desperate to get back on his feet, he exhumes his wife's corpse to use it for inspiration. His butler, mixed in his shady deals, kills a young pianist resembling Simon's wife, who would go on to discover the right tone of red for his paintings. It's a disturbing film exploring necrophilia, BDMS, and other taboo topics of the time. The film was deemed too graphic, so it went direct to video in its heyday.

11. Deep Red (1975)

Deep Red is a fantastic slasher movie that predates Halloween by three years, crafted by the master Dario Argento, who again writes and directs this film. The cast this time includes David Hemmings, Daria Nicolodi, and Gabriele Lavia. The plot revolves around a famed medium perceiving the presence of a killer at a conference. She is later killed by the mysterious figure she almost identified in the open. A man named Marcus Daly witnesses a murder and must team up with a reporter to solve the mystery.

Deep Redfeels like the gory version of a Hitchcock film. The twisted ending will keep your eyelids wide open at night for some time. Although the movie has several extreme depictions of violence, especially towards women, the film is regarded as a masterpiece by critics. It's a massive influence on modern filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino, who has nothing but praise for the story and the shocking nature of the mystery unfolding on screen.

10. The Sister of Ursula (1978)

The Sister of Ursula is likely the campier entry in our list, as the film leans heavily on the sexual aspects of the horror that most 80s slashers would frequently exploit in later years. Written and directed by Enzo Milioni, the story follows two sisters named Ursula and Dagmar, who go to spend some time at a seaside resort.

With a cast of beautiful women, including Barbara Magnolfi, Stefania D'Amario, and Vanni Materassi, the film is a raunchy giallo offering shocking sex scenes and plenty of violence as an unnamed assailant begins a killing spread among promiscuous women in the resort. The movie stands out for creating the perfect atmosphere for everything that takes place, but more so for everything, the film crew managed to get away with back in the day.

9. La Bambola di Satana (1969)

The film was distributed to American audiences as "The Doll of Satan." It's an early attempt at neo-gothic horror and the sole entry by filmmaker Ferruccio Casapinta from a script co-written with Mario Bianchi. Starring Erna Schurer, Umberto Raho, and Renato Romano, the film's plot reads like a Scooby Doo episode where a young couple is summoned to a castle after Elizabeth inherits the property.

Most of the girls' relatives try to convince her to sell the castle for cheap, telling her it's haunted. After her boyfriend talks her out of it, she's suddenly abducted by a mystery figure. What follows next is one of the most dream-like depictions of torture ever on-screen. Shocking by 1969 standards, the film looks tame compared to modern works, but it's still a gruesome watch if you don't have the stomach for it.

8. What Have You Done to Solange? (1972)

What Have You Done to Solange? It is a film written and directed by Massimo Dallamano; it's been categorized by fans as a Giallo film since it relies heavily on sexual elements to tell the story. The film's plot centers around a teacher named Enrico, who finds himself entangled in a conspiracy web for dating students. He becomes the prime suspect in numerous murders at the school where he works.

Featuring the talents of Fabio Testi, Karin Baal, and Cristina Galbo, the script effectively builds up the mystery. All murdered girls belonged to a society with secrets about influential people obtained through intercourse. Enrico tracks down the leads on all the murder cases until he makes a discovery. The shocking ending reveals an unlikely figure doing the murders to get justice for a lost soul who didn't comply with the secret coven.

7. A Bay of Blood (1971)

A Bay of Blood is another giallo film with heavy Hitchconiang influences. Written and directed by Mario Bava and starring Claudine Auger, Luigi Pistilli, and Claudio Camaso, the film's plot revolves around a string of murders in a bayside location. A Countess is suddenly killed by her husband, who is killed by a mystery assailant shortly after. Police forces label the event a homicide-suicide, but one cop can ignore specific details.

As the real estate agents of the Contessa plot to take over their assets, four teenagers enter the picture to complicate matters. A hidden figure from the Countess's past comes calling, and he will only stop once he gets everything he's owed after being neglected for so long. It's a solid movie with great pacing and multiple twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat as the bodies pile up.

6. The New York Ripper (1982)

Written and directed by Lucio Fulci and Gianfranco Clerici, The New York Ripper landed on screens during the slasher mania that started in American cinema thanks to Halloween. The movie's plot follows a detective hunting for a deranged serial killer in New York City. The cast includes Jack Hedley, Almanta Suska, and Howard Ross.

An eavesdropping landlady offers the first clue to proceed with the case, but the bodies are piling up. The detective notices the pattern of the killings as the murderer seems to target prostitutes or girls suspected of promiscuity. A few survivors recount their attacks while offering more details, such as the killer missing two fingers. The twisted ending is a surprise, as with most European films; this one doesn't have a straightforward and cut narrative.

5. The Embalmer (1965)

The Giallo era of films was very prolific, with plenty of people trying their hand at twisted storytelling. Some never passed a couple of solid offerings before moving on to other genres. Such is the case of Dino Tavella, who wrote and directed The Embalmer in 1965. This movie is a precursor to the House of Wax, but the scripts play more like a Greek tragedy.

Starring Maureen Lidgard Brown, Gino Marturano, Alcide Gazzotto, and Alba Brotto, the story begins with a twisted nameless killer geared in ritualistic fatigues. He's collecting young women which he kills and embalms to preserve their beauty. The disappearances catch the attention of a reporter to investigate the murders. When he suddenly begins a relationship with the murderer's next victim, he must conform to this psychopath and save his new love interest.

4. Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

You really can't make a list of terrifying Italian movies and not talk about the granddaddy of them all. Written by Gianfranco Clerici and directed by Ruggero Deodato, this controversial movie features the talents of Robert Kerman, Francesca Ciardi, and Perry Pirkanen. The film plays like a documentary about a group of filmmakers venturing into the Amazonian rainforest to film a tribe of cannibals.

Cannibal Holocaust's visual style is raw, like an uncut-found footage film before those were a thing. Deodato was heavily criticized for making this movie, to the point of being arrested in his native Italy. The movie plays the caveat of the obnoxious foreigner in a land he doesn't understand to face the consequences of their actions. It's a gory venture, full of animal cruelty and vicious killings, that was banned for nearly 30 years in many world regions.

3. Black Sabbath (1963)

Another entry by filmmaker Mario Bava, this film is a horror anthology telling three stories, each featuring its unique style and tone. The cast includes classic American mainstays like Boris Karloff alongside working talent such as Mark Damon, Michèle Mercier, and Susy Andersen. The script was crafted by Marcello Fondato, Alberto Bevilacqua, and Mario Bava.

Each story is unique and relies heavily on psychological horror. In The Telephone, we have an assailant tracing the steps of a girl who used to work as a prostitute but has moved on to other things. The assailant is the one taken by surprise at the very end. The Wurdulak sees a family haunted by a Slavic vampire who takes them out individually. The final story, The Drop of Water, will teach us not to mess with the dead, especially if we work in a funeral parlor.

2. Anthropophagous (1980)

Written and directed by Joe D'Amato with the help of George Eastman, this film has proved to be a hot potato since it premiered in 1980. It also sparked the prosecution of British censorship before it premiered in the country. Featuring the talents of George Eastman, Tisa Farrow, and Zora Kerova, this popular Italian horror film has been recut and renamed for multiple markets worldwide. It's known as The Beast, The Savage Island, and The Grim Reaper in other countries.

Anthropophagous is a film famous for its raw depiction of cannibalism. The story follows a group of tourists stranded on a deserted island where a cannibalistic madman begins to hunt them down and kill them gruesomely. It's a terrifying watch, full of disembowelment and gore, with unrelenting brutality and nihilistic portrayal of a heinous act that has become a fetish for many, thanks to the internet.

1. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)

Our last entry is another Dario Argento masterpiece. Regarded by many as one of the most influential Italian giallo films ever made. The movie stars Tony Musante, Suzy Kendall, Enrico Maria Salerno, and Eva Renzi; the script adapted by Argento is loosely based on Fredric Brown's novel Screaming Mimi. The plot centers around an American writer who seems embroiled in a series of murderers after witnessing the assassination of a woman in an art gallery.

After providing testimony to law officers, the writer decides to conduct his research. Each time he gets close to a piece of the puzzle, a new body piles up. The film is famous for offering all the visual trademarks of classic Italian giallo films, such as the nameless, hooded killer, impactful on-screen deaths, and the use of sex to sell the story. The twist at the movie's end would mark another trope with an unexpected payoff that subverts expectations.