Why is this film not available on DVD? I saw it twice on German TV, many many years ago. And then lost all trace of it. Even in Italy I tried to find it in Video shops. Nobody even knew what I was talking about. So finally I started thinking, well, perhaps I had only imagined the film. But thanks to your website, I realise it all wasn't just a figment of my imagination.Now for the concrete thing: Is there any way I could buy an Italian copy of this film? Can we ask the producers to provide it in one form or other before it complete disintegrates? That would be a great contribution to keeping cultural works alive.

The House With Yellow Carpet is one of the lesser known Giallo's, but it's easily one of the most captivating I ever saw. The film does not adhere to most of the Giallo standards; and does not make murder and violence the main elements of the story. Instead, the film is a tightly-wound psychological thriller that relies mainly on its small cast of characters and many twists and turns to keep things interesting. The film is based on a stage play by Aldo Selleri and focuses on a young couple; Franca and Antonio. The live in a high rise apartment building and have a big yellow carpet for sale. They advertise the carpet and eventually a buyer responds to the ad; however, just as he is due to arrive, Antonio has to leave the apartment. The buyer arrives in the form of a strange man; and Franca is left to deal with him on her own. It's not long before it becomes apparent that buying the carpet is not his only motive for being there; and after confessing to murdering his wife on the carpet that is for sale, he proceeds to terrify the young woman.The film is very much on a small scale; there are only four characters in the whole film and most of it takes place in just a small apartment. However, director Carlo Lizzani still manages to create a very interesting little film. The House With Yellow Carpet (another great Giallo title) is completely bizarre in the way that the plot works; and this helps to keep things intriguing. Erland Josephson is the pick of the cast in his role of the potential buyer. His style and mood fit the film perfectly and it's his character that delivers most of the twists. The film constantly changes as it goes along and the script constantly messes with the audience. As mentioned, there's little blood and violence in the film; although a sequence depicting a man inserting a needle into his eyeball is not for the feint of heart. After a while, it becomes clear that it's better to just let the film play out rather than try to second guess it; and thankfully the ending does come as a surprise (although the final twist can be guessed much earlier). Overall, this is a fascinating little film and is well worth the effort of tracking it down!

This a technically a giallo (it even has the word "giallo" or "yellow" in the Italian title), but it was made late in the giallo game and is different in many ways from most films in the genre. While many giallos are jet-set travelogues (stereotypically, beginning with an airplane taking off or landing), this movie is very claustrophobic, confined almost entirely to a dingy city apartment. Also, while most giallos are very cinematic, this one, with its limited sets and emphasis on acting, is very theatrical. As another reviewer said,it is a lot like "Wait Until Dark", but that movie was originally a play; I'm not sure whether this was as well, but it sure seems like one.A married woman is left alone in an apartment after her husband leaves for a LONG time to attend to parking tickets. A strange man shows up looking to buy a yellow carpet that the couple is selling. The man reveals personal information about the woman and then attacks her, mercilessly chewing the scenery (I'm not sure if he's just a bad actor, or if he's actually a good actor PLAYING a bad actor). She accidentally murders the man (or he commits suicide--I was a little unclear on that part). Then the man's wife shows up looking for him . . . So is this another hare-brained giallo plot? Perhaps. So who might be behind it? Hmmm.As ridiculous as the plot is, it is pretty effective in places. This kind of theatricality is often pretty annoying in movies, but it works sometimes when the characters themselves are SUPPOSED to be ham actors. Even more than "Wait Until Dark" this reminded me of another English move called "The Penthouse" in this respect. It's not as good as either of those, but it's not too bad for an 80's giallo either.

"The House of the Yellow Carpet" is a keen, witty, highly imaginative psychological thriller that has nothing to do with "supernatural rugs" or any such nonsense and is a cut above plenty of Italian horror films I've seen. I stumbled upon mention of this rare film in one of those long, long lists of "My Favorite Horror Films" people love to post on the Internet. The title grabbed me immediately and struck me at first as hilarious. I just had to find out what, if anything, could be so "horrifying" about a yellow carpet that it could provide the basis for a "horror" film.Well, there's nothing much horrifying about a yellow carpet, but there's plenty horrifying about a husband who stays awake all night staring at his sleeping wife and working himself into a fury because in her sleep she's amorously murmuring some other guy's name. I wish I could say more without spoiling the plot. All I can say is, this film features a highly unusual serial killer whose "method acting" is as unsettling as it is, at times, amusing, though the underlying message of "The House of the Yellow Carpet" is dead serious.Erland Josephson, a noted Swedish actor (and collaborator with Ingmar Bergman) who has a huge list of TV, film, stage, and literary credits to his name, is super here as "the man who comes to buy a carpet." You might remember him from "Fanny and Alexander," "The Passion of Anna," "Saving Grace," "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," "Hanussen," "Sophie," and "Prospero's Books." Born in 1923, he's still alive and working (he played Franz von Papen in the 2003 Italian made-for-TV movie "Il papa buono" about Pope John the 23rd). See "House of the Yellow Carpet" for him alone, but you might be pleasantly surprised that he's not the only thing about this film worth watching.