Knife + Heart (Un couteau dans le coeur), a new giallo*-inspired French outing from director Yann Gonzalez, 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. Its plot—not its most important attribute—is pretty simple: A masked killer is on the loose. He's murdering young gay porn actors. Vanessa Paradis stars as a porn producer named Anne, who keeps losing actors to the murderer. 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. 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.

[Giallo: a subgenre of Italian horror film from the '60s–80s that emphasized flamboyant style over bloody substance —Stranger Things To Do]. by Chase Burns