Gay people really like horror movies. It's a fact that has plagued me.
My gay friends and partners are always offended when I tell them I don't like horror. As if it were a moral failing. My current boyfriend once informed me that if I liked and watched horror movies, it would improve his quality of life. He said I should "rethink my choices."
Thankfully for him, and my relationship, I've been introduced to a horror genre that has opened my eyes to the majesty of murder: giallo.
Giallo (or gialli if it's plural) is a mostly-Italian-made thriller-horror genre that peaked in popularity around the mid-1970s. The giallo film that hooked me was Dario Argento's Deep Red, which I'm now embarrassed to admit I didn't watch sooner.
Deep Red was unlike any horror film I'd seen before: gorgeous, funny, frightening. Murder underscored by Italian prog rock. Art deco castles stained with technicolor blood. Psychics crashing through glass windows. Today it comes across as campy, with more time put into visual storytelling than character development, which I love. If characters are going to get senselessly slaughtered, who cares if they make sense?
I watched two more giallo films right after I finished Deep Red. I was hooked.
I say all of this to introduce Knife + Heart (Un couteau dans le coeur), a new giallo-inspired French outing from director Yann Gonzalez. It was one of my favorite offerings at this year's Seattle International Film Festival, and Grand Illusion Cinema is bringing it back just in time for Pride.
Knife + Heart is a strong contemporary giallo, albeit on the campier side. Its plotânot its most important attributeâis pretty simple: A masked killer is on the loose. He's murdering young gay porn actors. No one knows what to do.
Vanessa Paradis stars as a porn producer named Anne, who keeps losing actors to the murderer. Paradis, an internationally famous French actress who first achieved success at 14 for her kitschy hit single "Joe le Taxi," is perhaps best known in the United States for her relationship with Johnny Depp. He was her partner for 14 years.
In Knife + Heart, Anne decides her actors' murders are good publicity. She makes a porno about their deaths, an exploitative masterpiece cleverly titled Homocidal. But Anne is mostly preoccupied by the dramatic love affair she's carrying on with her editor, Lois, played by Kate Moran. Booze, sex, boners, tears, and blood ensue.
Like a good giallo, Knife + Heart's mood is often more important than its plot or character development. And the aesthetics are memorable: The killer uses a dildo with a hidden switchblade knife. There are artisanal leather murder masks. Decadently glittery gloves. Cabaret scenes featuring sluts in bear costumes.
Also like a good giallo: The film has a killer soundtrack to underscore the bloodshed. It's by M83, the dreamy synth-pop band behind the hit 2011 single "Midnight City." (M83's main member, Anthony Gonzalez, is the director's brother.) Their music makes the film feel drugged-out and euphoric, like climaxing at 5 a.m. after partying all night. Except in Knife + Heart, the characters might not survive to see daylight.
