A Blade in the Dark: Translating the Giallo Killer into the Slasher

Translation is a topic that often is brought up in the field of film studies, but mostly it is connected to literal translation from one language to another. Few academic works discuss the concept of translating genres from one to another. Authors such as Michelle Cho have attempted to do this by looking at translating culture. My essay examines translating genre by citing influences between the Italian Giallo genre on the American Slasher genre of the 1980s. Giallo films are function as Italian murder mysteries, most noted for their high body count and story surrounding the hunt for the killer. Since genre theory is a tricky concept, particularly in translating genre, this paper attempts to cite the translation from one of the most dependable forms of genre studies, the use of genre conventions, or tropes, to show similarities in plot, style, and content between these two genres. This paper does not look at any one film in particular but instead draws from a wide variety of sources to see patterns in tropes between these two similar genres to show similarities, differences, and sources of influence that the Giallo genre had on the Slasher genre, and how later Slasher films in turn, influenced late Giallo films. This study is important because it shows how the influence one genre and country can have influence on the genres, cyclical release patterns, and popularity of another country.