Over his forty-year career, and nearing one hundred feature-length films, America's low-budget horror/ sci-fi director Mark Polonia has tackled most sub-genres. But one he’s never attempted, until now, is the giallo. The Girl Who Wore Yellow Lace is his first stab (pun very much intended) at the genre, and it’s colour-filtered, black gloved/ masked killer-bound affair with a few fleshy moments. Here from SRS Cinema is a DVD release of the film, including in a director's commentary.

If you have even a passing interest in low-budget horror/ sci-fi fare, you’ll know Mark, as he started his career in the early 80s, making SOV classics with his brother John, such as  Splatter Farm and Hallucinations. Since then, he’s racked up nearly one hundred director credits.  To highlight his prolific career, The Girl Who Wore Yellow Lace is one of eleven films he helmed in 2024.  The film's script was written/ produced by Frank Durant (Killer Campout, R.I.P. Van Wikle), with one of Mark’s regular collaborators Jeff Kirkendall, appearing as a rather quirky/ kind of creepy police investigator.

I guess you could say the film was influenced/ inspired by one of the first giallo films, 1964’s Blood And Black Lace, as like that film, The Girl Who Wore Yellow Lace is set around a modelling agency, where a black gloved and black out face mask is taking out the models.  But the film to hand is very much set in the modern day, with things such as social media posting, OnlyFans, etc, woven into the plot.

The film's lead character is Arianna (Alyssa Paige), a blonde twenty-something who has, when we first meet her, just signed up with Massimo Modelling Agency-run by the gravelly voiced/ sassy Contessa (Jennie Russo).

The film opens with an off-screen machete kill of a naked woman, whose hands and feet are tied with yellow tape.  Then I’d say it’s another twenty or so minutes before we have another murder, and I’d say if I had one criticism, it’s the lack of murders, and the only fleeting gore for a giallo.

Anyway, on the more positive side, Polonia manages to create a neat feeling of black gloved unease, going from mad-killer leering & chuckling at pictures of the models, and stalking around/ sneaking up on victims.
Arianna lives in a lakeside house, and this is used to great moody/ lightly creepy effect. As for suspects, we have a few- Arianna’s nerdy/ awkward boyfriend Jack (Addison Turner), sleazy ‘n’ sleeping with the models photographer  Franco (Marco Sandoval), and detective Mack & black gloves wearing inspector Dante(Kirkendall).

On the acting front, I’d say the highlight here is Russo as the plain-speaking/ at times, sweary agency owner. Then Kirkendal, as the rather oddly behaving detective.  Paige is just fine as our lead, though nothing to write home about. We also have cult actress Lynn Lowry (Shivers, The Crazies) appearing as the former owner of the agency.

All in all, I’d say, as always, Polonia does a great job with his limited budget, and he does manage to create a giallo air well, with some moments of both tension/ unease. It’s just a pity the murders were not more elaborate/ on screen…. but I’d say if you're ready for not much on this side of things, you won’t be too disappointed.

On the extras side, we have just a commentary track from Mark Polonia, and as always, he does a great, down-to-earth/ interesting track. He starts by talking about how 90% of the film was shot in the lakeside house, and we find out that the first nude killing was done in the house's basement.  He gives us a potted history of the giallo form. He talks about how amazingly the film was shot in just three long days of shooting, with the use of two cameras. We find out that Ms Lowry had the best time she’d had on a film in a long time. The character names were based on those in Blood And Black Lace, as well as the killers' look.  We find out he’s personally not a huge fan of social media, and he explains why. We find out the film was shot in November of 2023 in Upstate New York. Later, he talks about Jeff Kirkendall character, with his awkward stares/ odd breaks in dialogue. And the effective use of lighting in the film, as with all of Mark’s tracks, it’s well worth a play.

In finishing, The Girl Who Wore Yellow Lace is a competently made/entertaining enough modern giallo. It’ll be interesting to see if Mr Polonia returns to the form again, and if so, maybe with a touch more gore.