Six steps in yellow!
Much has been said about the Italian directorial migration to television and despite a couple of directors hanging in there and contributing to keeping the giallo alive the budgets and productions declined rapidly from the early 80’s (although A BLADE IN THE DARK and THE HOUSE OF THE YELLOW CARPET stand out alongside seemingly a spike in erotic thrillers) to the 90’s (Deodato’s couple of entries and Martino chipping in with MOZART IS A MURDERER amongst very few others) and beyond (EYES OF CRYSTAL; SLEEPLESS). For all intents and purposes the giallo as a genre was not only moribund but practically flat lining.
So it would be quite strange to see an Italian-Maltese co-production courtesy of Canale 5 pop up in 2012 with a giallo television anthology series. Not quite a ‘Masters of Horror’ approach, unlike the ill-fated crowdfunded THE BOOK, this series gave us six episodes from just three different directors, and only one of them truthfully could even be seen to be a master of the genre, sorry Roy Bava even with your impressive professional CV it can’t be done.
Disregarding the fact these episodes were made for the small screen the difficulty in getting hold of these episodes even in today’s internet age speaks volumes both to the alleged quality of the episodes themselves and no doubt the reception their fleeting appearance garnered.
Furthermore despite my research and searching for these episodes across multiple attempts I have only managed to find episode one, Presagi, and even then only with Italian audio. So, I dedicate this piece to all those other genre fans who waste hours searching for (but hopefully watching) these forgotten pieces of giallo, and I hope that should you feel the need to search for yourself, that through these basic descriptions of what the series actually contains that you will have better luck than me and can find the other five episodes that make up Sei passi nel giallo.
Episode 1 - Presagi
The title of this opening episode translates as ‘Omens’ and was directed by Lamberto Bava – a man who needs no introduction.
In this episode a medium Annalisa Dossi (Andrea Osvárt – who in the same year appeared in Nicolas Lopez’s AFTERSHOCK) dreams of a little girl who is being chased and murdered by a man dressed in black. Fearing this is a premonition she decides to go to the police, but the only person who believes is Harry Chase, a former FBI agent, as played by American Craig Bierko (CINDERELLA MAN; SCARY MOVIE 4; THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT; FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS).
Psychics, former police officers and a mysterious man in black combine in this episode to potentially kick off a very exciting series however it does not quite live up to the hype one places on it perhaps unfairly. Also worth noting is the casting of Roberto Zibetti who played Lorenzo in Dario Argento’s SLEEPLESS while Eliana Miglio had a small role in DEMONS.
Episode 2 - Sotto protezione
Bava is succeeded in the director’s chair by Edoardo Margheriti and his effort ‘Under Protection’, also known as ‘The Bodyguard’ by some English language audiences.
Margheriti is definitely a strange choice for this series due to his lack of experience and genre expertise when compared to both Bava’s although he had directed the 2009 TV movie NEGLI OCCHI DELL’ASSASSINO and a couple of action movies with Fred ‘The Hammer’ Williamson. Not exactly a great pedigree but he must have had some good contacts to secure this gig as his admittedly acceptable level of competence surely couldn’t have been enough.
In the episode a 17 year old girl is killed and her cousin is suspected of the murder. A year later a journalist looks into the crime but finds more than they expected to. None of the names of the cast are likely to stand out although most recognisable are Adriano Giannini (THE CONSEQUENCES OF LOVE) and Enrico Silvestin (THE LAST HOUSE IN THE WOODS). The trailer looks extremley cheesy.
Episode 3 - Souvenirs
Margheriti would remain behind the camera for the next instalment in the series with the aptly titled ‘Souvenirs’. In this film a criminal profiler, Brody (Demetri Goritsas – SAVING PRIVATE RYAN; NATIONAL TREASURE 2; EVEREST) and his wife are subjected to a revenge attack in which she dies. Brody moves away to start again but gets drawn into an old unsolved serial killer case which may not be just in the past. Rather annoyingly this looks the best of all the episodes.
Episode 4 - Gemelle
Finally relinquishing his seat, Margheriti is replaced by another Bava – this time Roy, for the episode that translates as ‘Twins’. No, not that one. Anyway a little bit of information on the director, Fabrizio ‘Roy’ Bava has only ever actually been the lead director on one project, the television movie DISTRETTO DI POLIZIA but has extensive second unit and assistant director experience having worked on genre fare such as RABID DOGS; THE CARD PLAYER; GIALLO and SHADOW all the way to more mainstream fare such as EVEREST and ZOOLANDER 2.
The classic fish out of water, or rather American in Italy, Angela Wyler (played by American actress Erica Durance – HOUSE OF THE DEAD; SMALLVILLE) sets out about finding her estranged deadbeat sister Christine. Utilising the help of a police officer (Daniele Pecci – THE TOURIST) things get serious pretty quickly and all does not seem as it first appeared with our simple case of disappearance.
Also worth noting is the casting of Roberto Zibetti who returns to the series having stared in the first episode.
Episode 5 - Omicidio su misura
Lamberto Bava would return for the penultimate episode which roughly translates as ‘Measured Homicide’ or ‘Tailor made murder’ to give it the proper English title. In this episode the terrifically named Randy Williams, a giallo writer, bumps into an old one night stand and not at all weird fan, after which he returns home only to find his wife murdered.
Seemingly an open and shut case to the investigators, Williams embarks on a journey to prove his innocence and the unfolding events begin to play out in the same manner as described in one of his manuscripts but can he prove his innocence in time or can he prove it at all? A touch of Tenebrae no doubt went into the writing of this episode.
Of all the cast the most recognisable is undoubtedly the lead, Rob Estes, who aside from several ad-hoc TV jobs starred in several episodes of 90210; CSI MIAMI and SUDDENLY SUSAN but he is joined by Romanian actress Ana Caterina Morariu whose most profile English language role was as Bruce Willis’ companion in the Hollywood film OCEAN’S TWELVE. The final main actor is Paolo Seganti who has performed in L.A. CONFIDENTIAL and CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE as well as several minor TV roles.
Interestingly there is also a paperback giallo of the same name written by Bruno Fischer but these appear unrelated.
Episode 6 – Vite in ostaggio
The final episode in the series roughly translated as ‘Live Hostage’ or rather bizarrely as ‘Kammerspiel’ in the American version. Once again this is an episode handled by Lamberto Bava.
A nightclub robbery ends in murder as our crooks Matthias (Antonio Cupo – AMERICAN MARY) and Kyle (Christoph Hülsen) flee the scene. Desperate to escape the police and avoid a roadblock they end up having a car accident resulting in their hard-gained loot being lost.
Cornered by police they take refuge, or should that be hostage, in a nearby house although they seem to have picked the wrong family to mess with as head of the family Dave McBain (A post-HERCULES and ANDROMEDA Kevin Sorbo) has a few secrets of his own. The casting of television staple Sorbo would at the very least have ensured this episode to be reshown but sadly even he could not lift this series in the consciousness of the general public.
A final recognisable face is that of Cosimo Fusco who starred in Argento’s THE CARD PLAYER and Strickland’s BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO.
So….
Having been billed as a return to the giallo productions of the early seventies it is a shame that the concepts (and execution) sound much more in-line with the trend that pervaded the later genre productions as well as the more traditional Italian mysteries and investigations. In fact the few reviews that do exist complain about a focus on exposition and the straight forward approach thereby reducing the sense of fear and tension.
Potentially one could argue the series is trying to capitalise on the wave of Scandinavian crime drama’s that were becoming popular at the time, in fact the Hollywood remake of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO came out just a year earlier, but this series does appear to be a missed opportunity particularly as the cast and crew are strong enough to or at least should have made an impression on audiences both domestic and international.
In today’s internet age where many obscure television movies can be found online even if not commercially available it is extremely frustrating that these episodes cannot be found at all (with the exception of Presagi) let alone with English-audio options.
At the very least I have collated what information I can find in one place should anyone else try to find out about this series. Sei passi nel giallo has now become my white whale but one ultimately I know that should I catch it will ultimately be disappointing if no doubt entertaining in a way that a cheesy American straight to TV cop show blended with Italian giallo can. What are your cinematic white whales?
Let me know on Twitter over @cosiperversa