One of the most beloved subgenres in the realm of horror filmmaking is that of the giallo. Filled with striking visuals and coupling stark violence with lurid sexuality, the giallo film was a fertile ground for filmmakers in the ‘70s and ‘80s, giving us such classics as Hatchet For A Honeymoon, A Lizard In A Woman’s Skin, All The Colors Of The Dark, and Deep Red. The precursor to slasher films, gialli rarely featured any overt and distinct supernatural elements, relying instead on entirely human killers. Dawid Torrone’s Dead By Dawn upends the giallo formula by maintaining all of the classic elements of the subgenre while injecting a heavy dose of straight up supernatural weirdness into it.
Torrone’s set up is deliciously simple: a group of actors and a director have set up shop in an old theatre to rehearse for a play. What starts out ominously enough with seizures and apparent visions for one of the actors quickly ratchets up into gratuitous violence, until the actors find themselves in the midst of some kind of arcane ritual.
The glory of this film is Torrone’s ability to maintain a feeling of restraint for much of the first two acts, giving us something more akin to the classic giallo with absolutely gorgeous visuals and unorthodox cinematography that lends the film a welcome dreamlike feel with plenty of neon soaked lighting and writhing bodies. Once the killer makes their first appearance and the killing starts, however, Torrone abandons any and all sense of restraint and moderation. The luscious visuals are still present, with the lighting and color being straight out of an Argento film, but Torrone ups the ante of giallo with heaps of unabashed violence. It feels like the result of Gasper Noe and Dario Argento making their own version of Terrifier at times.
The supernatural aspect of the film isn’t entirely surprising and is broadcast from a million miles away, but Torrone manages to make it fit within the classic giallo frame. The mythos is vague enough to not get hung up on but still fleshed out enough to make sense in the context of the film. And while there’s plenty of homages to classic giallo and satanic horror films present, the look of the killer is…a bold choice. A welcome one, but definitely a bold choice.
Dead By Dawn isn’t breaking any new ground, but it’s an absolute feast for the eyes, a satisfying, nasty little movie that will scratch any itch for giallo and slasher fans.
