''The House of the Yellow Carpet'' ( it, La casa del tappeto giallo) is a 1983 Italian ''giallo'' film directed by

Carlo Lizzani Carlo Lizzani (3 April 1922 – 5 October 2013) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and critic. Biography Born in Rome, before World War II Lizzani worked as a scenarist on such films as Roberto Rossellini's '' Germany Year Zero' ...

Plot

Franca and her husband Antonio decide to sell a yellow rug which was a gift from Franca's stepfather. One day, while Antonio is out, a strange man responding to their advertisement rings saying he wishes to buy the rug. But the man's visit becomes a nightmare as he overstays his welcome. He kidnaps Franca and tells her he murdered his wife on that same yellow rug. Franca winds up killing the man.

Cast

Cast adapated from ''Blood & Black Lace''. * Beatrice Romand as Franca *

Erland Josephson Erland Josephson (; 15 June 1923 – 25 February 2012) was a Swedish actor and author. He was best known by international audiences for his work in films directed by Ingmar Bergman, Andrei Tarkovsky and Theodoros Angelopoulos. Life and career J ...

as Achille Cimatti *

Vittorio Mezzogiorno Vittorio Mezzogiorno (16 December 1941 – 7 January 1994) was an Italian actor. Biography Mezzogiorno was born in Cercola, the youngest of seven children. His older brother Vincenzo, who wanted to become a director, introduced him to the thea ...

as Antonio * Milena Vukotic as the psychiatrist

Production and style

''The House of the Yellow Carpet'' was the first film by

after his four year tenure as the director of the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

. The film was adapted from Aldo Selleri's 1978 radio play ''Teatro a domicilio'' and was adapted by Filiberto Bandini and Lucio Battistrada. Film critic and historian Roberto Curti stated that despite promotional material suggested that the material was part of a "horror-thriller fad", that the film was closer to the ''gialli'' of the 1930s. Adrian Luther Smith, echoed this statement referring to the film as a psychological thriller, stating despite some more violent scenes, "the emphasis is on pulling the proverbial rug, er carpet from beneath the audience's feet."

Release and reception

''The House of the Yellow Carpet'' was released in 1983. It was released by Lightning video in the United States as ''The House of the Yellow Carpet''. Adrian Luther Smith, wrote in his book ''Blood & Black Lace'' that viewers "willing to accept a dose of strong black humor with your ''giallo'', then you'll be able to stomach the eccentricities on offer here."

References

Sources

* *

External links

* 1983 films Giallo films 1980s psychological thriller films Films directed by Carlo Lizzani Films scored by Stelvio Cipriani 1980s Italian-language films 1980s Italian films Italian thriller films Films based on radio series {{thriller-film-stub