The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is a 1970 film from Italy, directed by Dario Argento, running 101 minutes. reelscum files it under giallo.
- Year
- 1970 · 1970s films
- Country
- Italy
- Runtime
- 101 min
- Director
- Dario Argento
- Updated
- 29 Oct 2026
- Obscurity
- known (16/100)
- Also known as
- The Phantom of Terror · Point of Terror
Defined in the glossary: Giallo
Argento's debut, and the film that made the giallo an export.
Argento's first film as director, and the giallo template arrives almost fully formed. An American writer in Rome watches an attack through a gallery window, becomes convinced he saw something he cannot place, and spends the film failing to remember it correctly.
The killer's black gloves, the tourist who sees too much, the trauma explained too late: it is all here, shot by Vittorio Storaro before he was Vittorio Storaro. Morricone provides the lullaby that will not leave you.
Not his best, but the one everything else grew out of.
Trailer
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Written about
- The giallo, 1963 to 1976
A line of yellow paperbacks, a killer in black gloves, and Mario Bava building the American slasher a decade before Hollywood cashed the cheque.
On these lists
- The giallo starter pack
Six films, in this order. By the end you will know whether you can live without the plot making sense.
Filed alongside
Deep Red
Argento's best. Goblin's score does half the work and knows it.
Tenebrae
Argento's coldest and cleverest. That crane shot earns its reputation.
Phenomena
Insect telepathy, a Swiss boarding school, and a straight-razor chimpanzee. Argento off the leash.
A Bay of Blood
Bava invents the slasher a decade early. Friday the 13th copied two kills outright.
Inferno
Argento's sequel to Suspiria. Even less plot, even more colour. A building that is alive.
Blood and Black Lace
The template, and still the best-looking film on this list.
The Cat o' Nine Tails
Argento's least favourite of his own films. He is roughly right.
Suspiria
Barely a giallo and barely a plot. Possibly the most beautiful horror film ever shot.
Four Flies on Grey Velvet
Argento's third. Unavailable for decades, and worth the wait for the last shot.
Opera
Needles taped under the eyes so she cannot look away. Argento's last truly great film.
Don't Torture a Duckling
Fulci's best film and his angriest. A giallo about mob justice in a village.
What Have You Done to Solange?
Unusually sad for a giallo, and much better for it.