The 20 Greatest Italian Horror movies

The don corleone of Italian horror, lucio fulci designed movies that were cheap, disturbing and gorey as hell, the Beyond is unquestionably his most extravagent movie, blending gothic imagery with gore set pieces as nasty as anything that had been put on celluloid to that date. Highlight, Spiders eating a man's face off in extreme close-up.

Argento's finest hour doesn't suit everybody's taste but there is no denying that it's probably the closest anyone had come to putting a visual nightmare on screen so beautifully and disturbingly. Only David Lynch has come close since and even he can't top Goblins extremely creepy and intense score. Highlight, the Music of course.

That man Fulci again, this time he locates most of the zombie mayhem to a carribean island and takes the undead mythos back to it's haitian roots. Slow paced and quite dull for the first half an hour but once the dead rise in a show stopping, neck ripping graveyard sequence mid-way through it's a no holds barred exquisite exercise in guts & grue. Highlight, Fulci's most famous scene as a woman gets her eye gouged out on a wooden splinter, nice.

Deodato's reviled cannibal shocker is still just as nasty as it always was but retains it's power and has garnered a reputation as something of a ground breaker thanks to it's film without a film sequence that was name dropped as an influence for 'The Blair Witch project' weather or not thats true or not, Deodato conjured up some neat tricks to make the viewer believe what they were seeing could be real indeed. Pure exploitation and nothing more, take out the animal violence which is not needed & totally wrong and Cannibal Holocaust is actually a very good film indeed as it delivers exactly what it promises, not many horror films have the decency to do that. Highlight, The cannibals exacting revenge on our intrepid film makers.

Italian zombie classic with a spanish director at the helm, The Living Dead has all the hallmarks of what makes a great Zombie film plus a little extra thanks to the stunning british scenery and a strange bunch of character actors who seem to be having a blast hamming it up. The dialogue is Unintentionally funny but the gore set pieces are superb and if there is a more fun hour and a half to be had anywhere else, you be sure to let me know. Highlight, The zombies storm a police station for dinner.

Also known as 'Kill Baby Kill', Mario Bava's classic is not normally regarded as his finest hour but imo this little gem is the best of a great bunch. Mixing Eerie dialogue, a whirling sense of dread and an almost surreal David Lynch-like atmosphere to the whole thing, Bava's ability to make a loaf of bread seem ominous is here in full effect and the last half hour is as good as anything the great man had done or would do in his career. Highlight, The Moebius loop dream sequence, genius

Argento's breakthrough movie is still his best Giallo, peeling away the flab from his previous decent efforts in the genre, here from the opening credits sequence we get the glimpse of the italian maestro's deeply disturbing imagination. Attention to detail is everything and each scene provides a new clue as David Hemmings tries to unravel the murder mystery. providing Dario with the tag 'the new Hitchcock' Profondo Rosso served as a stepping stone to his now legendary status as the grand master of Italian horror. Highlight, The skeleton reveal.

Ok so this doesn't win any points for cinematic brilliance or anything technically superior but this incredibly frantic and silly zombie movie has everything thats good about Italian Gore movies of the seventies & early eighties (and alas everything thats bad aswell) Appalling dialogue, non-sensical plotting, strange looking people and zombies that only seem to have decayed around the head area but Burial Ground is Ridiculously entertaining and a great example of how low budgets don't neccassarly mean a poor end product. If you like this kind of thing, their aren't many better or funnier films out there than this, Highlight, 'This cloth smells of Death'

Pupi Avati's most memorable excursion into horror is undoubtedly an accuired taste as it's pacing is slow and it's plot not too forthcoming but what can't be denied is the films ability to suck you into it's strange other-worldliness. Not a straight forward Giallo as at times the atmosphere strains of the supernatural but the overall effect is queasy and very satisfying. Highlight, The shock ending

Not one to watch whilst eating, this nasty little cannibal movie chugs along at a good pace and director Aristide Massaccesi keeps the nastiness going throughout, with scenes of torture, necrophilia and body dissolving, it's not subtle but what it is is extremely well made and has the feel of an arthouse movie mixed with Hershell Gordon lewis splatter. Definately one for the avant garde gore fan. Highlight, The Jogger gets her insides played with.

Michele Soavi's Slasher doesn't really bring anything new to the genre but provides a rather beautiful and grissly sheen to the whole affair and his owl-head killer is a rather unique and strangley disturbing figurehead. Schooled by Argento in the art of cranking up tension, this film has always been greatly under appreciated, watch it, it's good, very good. Highlight, Every scene with the Killer.

Another Fulci Zombie classic, this time locating all the action to an old dark house with something nasty in the cellar. Another film that sluggishly starts but builds up to a great last half hour where Fulci lets loose his make-up department and all hell breaks loose. Again not going to win any awards for cinematic bravery but it does what it says on the tin, god bless Fulci, Highlight, The frantic Last 15 minutes.

Argento's second part of his three mothers trilogy is long and not as satisfying as Suspiria but still retains moments of brilliance aswell as some intense violence. almost like a collection of short stories as each new character is despatched every 20 minutes or so in extremely inventive ways. Argento took his symphony of terror idea and in some ways made it more nightmare-like (if that was possible) Highlight, The underwater scene

Soavi's Zombie love story loosely based on the comic book 'Dylan Dog' has more ideas than it knows what to do with but as a piece of work it is stunning to look at and Despite it's flaws immensely entertaining as Rupert Everett tries desperately hard to keep the dead in their graves whilst maintaining his sanity, his love life with a dead woman who keeps coming back to life and a friend who is in love with a severed head. It's framed like a beautiful painting, has the mood of a surreal porno and is probably the last great italian horror movie. Highlight, The snowglobe

A long time before '28 days later' Umberto Lenzi had already entertained the living dead as more than just shambling snails as Nightmare city admirably details with it's hordes of flesh hungry 100 metre runners. The film moves along as fast as the zeds with it's cast of italian b movie favourites including the superb Hugo Stiglitz being despatched as quickly as you can say 'you got red on you' Silly, zany and brilliant all in equal measure, check it out, i'm sure someone told Danny Boyle. Highlight, The Zombies arrival by plane (They've learned to fly planes?)

Antonio Margeriti (yes thats right, eli roth's undercover name in inglorious, see also Hugo Stiglitz) ventured into the cannibal genre with this superb tale of vietnam vets who after returning from duty have a taste for human flesh. Stalwarts John saxon & the great Giovanni Lombardo Radice are like the dream team of Italian exploitation and there's lots of stand out gore sequences including a great slow-mo shotgun to the stomach moment that seems to last a few minutes. Kind of rises above most of the genre as it's actually trying to make a point, no matter how clumsy it feels, great stuff. Highlight, The shotgun to the stomach scene of course.

Probably Argento's most celebrated Giallo alongside Deep Red. Tenebrae has the master throwing in the kitchen sink as far as plot devices & visual trickery is concerned, it's also probably his most violent movie before Mother of tears came along. Painting sadistic imagery with stark light interiors, the blood never looked more red but this film in context has something truly beautiful amidst all the technical bravado and brutal violence. Pretty much essential for fans of giallo & horror alike. Highlight, Argento's camera work throughout the movie, astounding.

Mario Bava's trilogy of terror was regarded by the director as his most satisfying movie and watching it you can see why. All the hallmarks of the great man's set design upbringing and technical nuance are there in spades whilst the performances are top notch especially the great Boris Karloff as a vampire slayer who may or may not be a fang himself. But for blood curdling horror check out the 3rd tale as a nurse is haunted by the nature of her guilt after stealing a ring from a corpse. Insanely gifted, Bava really was a true visionary of his day. Highlight, The sound effects on story 3, crazy scary.

Lamberto Bava & Dario Argento's mid eighties gore-fest plays like a pop video for the blood hungry masses. A neat little monster mash featuring some nasty effects and some incredible haircuts. Some impressive visual moments show glimpses of a talent that Lamberto Bava never fully realised largely due to the dwindling interest in the italian film industry for horror movies. The dialogue is clunky, stereo-typical & slap-dash but the good outweighs the bad and there is so much blood & guts that you'll forget that people are talking anyway. Highlight, The slow-mo demon silhouette scene.

Lucio Fulci's 2nd Zombie movie is probably the least lauded of his gothic gore quartet but is still unforgettable for many reasons. Not content with the gore quota from ZFE this time round we get drills into skulls, intestine spewing, eyeball violence amongst other pleasant goings-on. Actually a rather slow paced and action free piece with a large nod to HP Lovecraft in the storyline and place names but although the zeds don't make much of a appearence until the final third, fulci keeps the atmosphere nice and nasty and there is always Catriona Maccoll on hand to liven up the rather talkey exposition. Still essential. Highlight, Giovanni Lombardo Radice gets a drill to the bonce in extreme close-up as if we demanded it.