The Horror Show
City of Lust (Yellow)
by David A. Holcombe
I hate it when a film makes a self-proclamation. Last time I fell for that was when I saw Automaton Transfusion. It proclaimed itself as the zombie film of our generation. I won’t make that mistake again. I saw that City of Lust announced itself as a modern day Giallo film and my only thought was, “Challenge accepted.” Giallo was a popular genre of the 70’s. I’ve noticed growing popularity of the genre lately, especially the works of Dario Argento. I thought that there was no way that City of Lust could live up to the genre.
Ariana is a hair stylist that everyone hates for no absolutely reason. She has a strong fear of men, which is totally justified. One night she finds a flyer for a phone sex line. She calls them up seeking the company of women. That’s where she meets Jackie. Jackie is Ariana’s foil. Ariana is meek, shy, and very passive. Jackie is forward, take charge, and outgoing. They decide to meet and immediately hit it off. All the while, people who have been mean to Ariana begin disappearing. Other problems come her way too, her brother was released from prison early and the police have connected the disappearances to her.
I’m going to say it now, spoiler alert, so skip on down. I want to talk about some major details in the plot. I have a huge pet peeve against characters that are inexplicably evil. Ariana’s brother for example, I get that he’s a bad dude because he raped his sister. That’s pretty messed up. I know that he’s developed a weird obsession with her. However, his motivations were never explained. Was this obsession developed early in life or what? No character is pure evil; people have motivations for everything they do. He murdered Ariana’s building superintendent, best of all, for no reason. The best I can think is that her brother assumed the super was her lover. When characters needlessly kill, it breaks the believable factor for me. It just really gets to me. Let’s talk about the killer. I don’t know if it was supposed to be a surprise, but it was Jackie the whole movie. It just kind of seemed obvious. A new person enters Ariana’s life and people start to die. The murderer shouldn’t be obvious; it’s a giant middle finger to the audience. When I watch movies I like to play detective and try to figure out who the killer is, sometimes I’m wrong. If I’m denied that option I get upset. One other thing, I kept getting a Black Swan vibe the whole movie. It’s really a fair comparison, in my opinion. I kind of felt like Ariana and Jackie were the same character. It isn’t really addressed in the plot but I couldn’t shake that feeling. Jackie is almost always seen with Ariana. For a majority of movie they never really interact with other characters when they are together. They are seen together but aren’t acknowledged together. There were a few other minor details that also led me to this conclusion. Ariana tells her friend Renee about Jackie and responds more or less with, “Who is Jackie?” It’s a minor detail that easily could have been left out, but wasn’t. Another is when Ariana is dreaming of her past, she had nightmares of the night her brother raped her. It was cut together with tons of weird footage, one of which is a mask, much like the one Jackie wore when she was killing. She even knows what Ariana has been through without talking about it. I think Jackie was created by Ariana to defend herself. This may not be true, but it seems like a possibility.
Now would I call this as Giallo film? Yes I would, an alternate title for City of Lust is “Yellow.” Giallo is Italian for yellow. Giallo films are notable for grizzly murders and sex. This movie has some brutal killings. My favorite was a curb stomp onto broken glass. There was also a good bit of nudity and lesbian sex scenes. The murder mystery aspect is also quite common. I can’t say it was as much of surprise in this movie. However, the killer did operate in disguise until the ending. Those who haven’t figured it out could still be surprised. Psychology is another part of Giallo. Ninety percent of this movie follows Ariana. As such, we experience her strong paranoia of men. Everyone alienates her. This furthers her paranoia and she is forced to see a doctor. This film doesn’t take the elements of Giallo to the nth degree like the films from the 70’s, but it did enough for me to associate it with the genre.
I was very neutral about this film. I found the plot elements very lackluster and predictable. I did really like Ariana as a character though. We could easily sympathize with her. When everyone else in a movie hates a character, you really start to feel for them. Even her fear of men was really defining. When her superintendent harmlessly comes to fix her sink, she hides scissors behind her back. This was one of our first interactions with her, and you immediately understand something happened to her. I also felt that it did a great job at adapting elements of Giallo into modern film. Granted, I would have loved to see it move over the top. I don’t think it’s too much to ask for a decapitation in a Giallo film. Honestly, I only watched it because it was a self proclaimed Giallo film. In any other circumstance I probably would’ve passed on it. Now, that doesn’t make it a bad movie, it’s just not a movie for me. If you like Giallo give it a look. It’s less than 80 minutes and well worth the time. Avoid it if you like to question large portions of the plot like myself.
Billy Wayne Martin, HMS
The Horror Show Menu.