Popular reviews

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  Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★★★ 10

  The Girl Who Knew Too Much (imported into the US as Evil Eye, but Evil Eye is a totally different and much worse version of the movie you should avoid if at all possible) became famous somewhat retroactively when it was eventually recognized as the first film in the giallo genre, but to me it feels more like classical Hollywood Golden Age film noir. It features gorgeous black and white photography (deep focus, sharp shadows) and a dark city with a seedy underbelly lurking just beneath the surface of its idealistic appearance.

  Nora Davis is a tourist visiting scenic Rome on vacation, and while staying at a friend's house she witnesses a murder that slowly becomes linked to a string…

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  Review by Timcop ★★★★ 3

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  Like proto-De Palma, this has so much going for it in terms of style and great-looking black and white photography that I was in hog heaven.

  And remember kids: don't do marijuana cigarettes because you'll just black out for days and dream up a bunch of murders.

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  Review by laird ★★★★ 4

  Much better than I was expecting: sometimes "patient zero" movies (in this case Girl Who Knew Too Much is credited as being the predecessor to what became known as giallo) seem quaint, but creaky compared to what they inspired. In this case, while the seeds of certain aspects are apparent, the movie very much stands on its own as a fun, lightly comedic whodunnit. Surprisingly, some of the comedy is extremely subtle. For instance the Italian characters keep telling the titular American tourist "girl" how safe and beautiful Rome is, and then she is almost immediately witness to all kinds of crimes and transgressions. When it needs to switch gears from Nancy Drew to something more adult and terrifying, it…

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  Review by Bob McCully ★★★½

  Mario Bava's seminal thriller, a first stab at the Giallo blueprint just dripping in those jewels of Italo God prowess.

  While on vacation in Rome, Nora gets mugged and knocked down in the city streets, only to come to while a supposed murder has just happened. A woman's body flops down with a fresh knife in the back, a man in the shadows moves the corpse away from the scene, Nora is traumatized. Yet after the incident, no one believes her. A thirst for murder-mystery novels fuels a deep curiosity to crack this illusive case.

  An interesting foray into what would later be steeped in so much lurid content and bold style, here we have a surprisingly light and zany…

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  Review by Tears_in_Rain ★★★½ 5

  Watched Evil Eye Cut

  Decided to scratch another Bava off my list and watch The Girl Who Knew Much with Jozlyn, but there were two cuts. So I ask her which one she thinks we should do. "I wanna watch the longer one," she says. If only I had known. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  You see, I wanted to watch Mario Bava's Hitchcockian proto-giallo. Unfortunately, we ended up watching the American edit that changes the soundtrack, removes some scenes, and adds other scenes in order to dial up the comedy (ending up with a slightly longer runtime). The soundtrack sounds out of place and the whole thing induces a severe case of tonal whiplash, as it turns on a dime, shifting between lighthearted…

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  Review by Steve G 🇵🇸 🇾🇪 ★★

  The Fourth Summer of Scam

  I've realised recently that my sometimes choppy relationship with giallo films is not to do with the genre itself, more who's making those films.

  Hello, Mario Bava. I'm probably never going to get into this guy, I just really don't like his way of doing things and I didn't much like The Girl Who Knew Too Much. And if you think that I'm going to refrain for what will be my 997th rant about voiceovers on Letterboxd.com then you don't know me at all well.

  I really fucking hate voiceovers, ok? And this one is incredibly shit. There are very specific examples of films and narratives where it's necessary and works but by and large…

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  Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★★★

  Giallovember 2021

  "It's very dangerous, reading."

  The Girl Who Knew Too Much is a curious candidate for the "first giallo" because it doesn't quite feel like one yet. Gialli are known for their color, after all, and this movie's in black and white! And in terms of its narrative and thematic content, it feels more like classical-era Hollywood film noir, more like a straightforward adaptation of a pulpy crime novel — which is what a lot of gialli were at their most basic level, to be fair, but the more specific stylistic signifiers aren't here yet. And on the one hand, duh, they hadn't developed yet, but on the other hand, Bava's own Blood and Black Lace somehow feels like…

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  Review by sakana1 ★★★ 13

  Fairly general spoilers ahead.

  Often considered the first giallo, Mario Bava's The Girl Who Knew Too Much is a surprisingly breezy affair, albeit one periodically punctuated by visually impressive moments of genuine suspense.

  Starring a pair of American actors and featuring contributions from no fewer than six writers (including Sergio Corbucci), the film tells the story of Nora Davis (Letícia Román), a young American who arrives in Rome to visit an elderly relative who she unexpectedly finds to be very ill. When the relative dies, Nora finds herself wandering in the dark down the Spanish Steps where she's mugged, then witnesses what she believes was a murder, something which turns her into a Nancy Drew-esque character, searching Rome for answers.…

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  Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★★★ 2

  "It's very dangerous, reading."

  Interesting as the "first giallo" now that I have a broader understanding of the genre because it doesn't quite feel like one yet. It feels more like a straight adaptation of a pulpy crime novel, which is what a lot of these were at their most basic level, but the more specific stylistic signifiers aren't here yet. And on the one hand, duh, they hadn't developed yet, but on the other hand Blood and Black Lace feels like a proper giallo just one year later. And maybe some of it comes down to it just not feeling as sleazy or trashy as most gialli do; it feels more like Hitchcock than Sergio Martino. It has some…

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  Review by Slig001 ★★★★

  Often credited as the first Giallo (or at least a strong prototype) Bava's playful whodunit is interesting for its significance to the genre, and interesting in its own right, despite being the great director's least commercially successful film. The plot focuses on a young girl who loves murder mysteries. She finds herself in one when she travels to Rome and witnesses a girl being murdered on the street! The film shifts gears between lightweight mystery, playful comedy, Italian travelogue and psychological thriller. It's not seemless but there's a sort of joyous clumsiness to it all that is fun to watch and lends the film an extra helping of intrigue. It has two good looking leads in Leticia Roman and John…

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  Review by Sally Jane Black 2

  A plot that hinges on authorities refusing to believe a woman about a crime has a powerful resonance right now; Bava of course had no intention nor capacity to explore that resonance in 1963 (or likely ever). But there are moments where that hits all the same. There are parts of this that should be iconic (the string trap, the first murder, the pillar cleaner), but they just miss the mark. The filmmakers are capturing a lot of beauty and tension--the frame is full of sights worth drinking in--but the story needs to delve into what its presenting more fully to become a great film. Instead, we get a truly horrible scene where sexual/domestic violence is played for a romantic joke and an ending that works its hardest to rob the lead woman of her "she was right all along" moment.

  October count: 11/31

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  Review by DANIEL ★★★★ 4

  DARIO ARGENTO: [smoking a blunt] Can you get so high you die?
  MARIO BAVA: ...dude.