Get ready! Starting tomorrow, the Drive-In Super Monster-Rama is presenting “Giallopalooza”, two big nights of classic, fully restored giallo thrillers from such maestros as Dario Argento, Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci and Sergio Martino!

On Friday, September 17, the line-up will be What Have You Done to Solange?, Torso, A Lizard In a Woman’s Skin and The Cat O’Nine Tails. Saturday, September 18 they will present Deep Red, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Blood and Black Lace and Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key.

Admission is $10 per person each night (children 12 and under FREE with adult guardian). Camping on the premises is available each night for an additional $10 a person, and that includes breakfast.

Advance tickets are available online at the Riverside Drive In’s webpage.

Here are the eight movies. To read a deeper review, just click on the link.

What Have You Done to Solange?: When a philandering teacher romances a student on a boat, they are witness to a murder on shore, the first of many that may be caused by the actions of the teacher.

Massimo Dallamano started his Schoolgirls in Perili trilogy, which includes What Have They Done to Your Daughters? and Rings of Fear, with this mixture of the German krimi film and the Italian giallo. He’s aided an abetted by an Ennio Morricone score and cinematography by Aristide Massaccesi, which is the real name of the man with so many of them, Joe D’Amato.

Torso: A serial killer is using a red and black scarf to murder several gorgeous college women. Is even an escape to a resort far away far enough?

Sergio Martino is one of the absolute master directors of giallo and while this film flirts with the slasher by the end, it still has many of the trademarks of the genre. It also has an astounding sequence where the masked killer appears in the morning mist that gets me every time.

A Lizard In a Woman’s Skin: The daughter of a British politician witnesses a death in one of her dreams and when she wakes up, she’s the suspect in this journey through madness.

If you only think of Lucio Fulci as a gore director — well, there’s goes in the too — this is one movie you need to discover.

The Cat O’Nine Tails: A newspaper reporter and a puzzle-obsessed blind journalist — and his niece — attempt to solve murders connected to a pharmaceutical company’s experimental, top-secret research project.

Dario Argento’s second film in the Animal Trilogy was written by Argento with Dardano Sacchetti and Luigi Cozzi. It’s also notable because it has two leads familiar to American audiences, James Franciscus and Karl Malden.

Deep Red: The murder of a psychic leads a pianist and a journalist on their own investigation into just who could be committing a series of horrific crimes.

Argento’s first team-up with both Daria Nicolodi and Goblin. Plus, this movie has perhaps the most frightening appearance of a doll ever.

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage: An American in Paris witnesses an attempted murder and tries to solve the mystery. But does he remember everything?

Dario Argento’s 1970 film was a hit worldwide, signalling a rush for nearly any Italian exploitation director to make films with animal titles, black gloves, POV killers, jazzy soundtracks and no small number of murders.

Blood and Black Lace: A fashion house of ill-repute is where models engage in sin and pay the price in a movie that is quite literally a pornography of violence (and style).

This is my favorite giallo of all time and you have no idea just how excited I am to see it play out on the big drive-in screen, the places where movies are most meant to be viewed.

Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key: I remember in the time before I watched this movie where I’d just stare at the poster and the title and wonder, how is this even a real thing? And it is, a glorious Sergio Martino-directed opus.

Also released as Gently Before She Dies, Eye of the Black Cat and Excite Me!, Martino’s fourth giallo is a direct reference to the note the killer leaves for Edwige Fenech in his first take on the form, The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh.

Remember — the event is this Friday and Saturday with admission just $10 per person each night (children 12 and under FREE with adult guardian). Camping on the premises is available each night for an additional $10 a person, and that includes breakfast. Advance tickets are available online at the Riverside Drive In’s webpage. I hope to see you there — stop by and ask for a drink of J&B or one of the many cocktails I’ll be making up for the evening.

Night one cocktails:

Che cosa hai fatto al gatto nero? AKA Drinks of The Black Cat (adapted from this recipe)

• 1 oz. blue curacao
• 1 oz. vodka
• 3 oz. lemon-lime soda
• 1 oz. cranberry juice
• .5 oz. lime juice

1. Fill a shaker halfway with ice, then add curacao, vodka and lime juice. Shake.
2. Add soda and stir.
3. Pour cranberry juice into a tall glass. Over the back of a spoon, strain the mixed ingredients over the cranberry juice and see how gorgeous it looks, like Barbara Bouchet showing up in motorcycle gear in Perversion Story.

Una mela che porta le tracce della violenza AKA The Apple Murders (from the J&B site)

• 1 5 oz. J&B
• 4 oz. sparkling apple juice
• Apple, cored and sliced

1. Put on black gloves and play with a switchblade, noticing how it catches the light.
2. Core and slice apple, then place in glass with ice.
3. Pour apple juice and J&B over top. Enjoy!

Night two cocktails:

6 drink per l’assassino AKA Blood and Penny Black Lace (adapted from this recipe)

• 1.5 oz. J&B
• .5 oz. pink grapefruit juice
• .5 oz. honey syrup
• Dash of lemon juice
• Dash of bitters
• A cherry

1. Shake all ingredients with ice in a shaker until cold.
2. Told with a cherry, then watch out for spiked gloves to the face.

L’uccello dal piumaggio giallo AKA The Bird Who Dreamed of Another Cage (adapted and changed from this recipe)

• 1.5 oz. rum
• .75 oz. Campari
• .5 oz. lime juice
• .5 oz. maple syrup
• 1.5 oz. pineapple juice

1. Watch a murder happen with no context, then get dragged into the investigation.
2. When that’s done, pour everything into a shaker with ice, shake it up and pour into a glass. Enjoy!

The artwork for this article comes from Bill Van Ryn and it’s awesome.