The House of the Yellow Carpet is one of those movies where the less you know about, the more you're likely to enjoy it. With this movie, too much plot detail would be a bad thing. I'll just say that a young couple, Franca and Antonio, have a carpet (yellow of course) they'd like to sale. It was a present from Franca's stepfather, but it doesn't work in their small flat. While Antonio is away, Franca answers the door to an old man with an interest in buying the carpet. But is the carpet really all he came for? Anymore detail would seriously be too much. The House of the Yellow Carpet is s small, often claustrophobic, thriller/giallo with only four speaking parts. It's filled with more tension and suspense than many better known movies. I'd compare the felling to something like Wait Until Dark. It's a little slow to get going, but once it does, it's edge of the seat type stuff. The acting is beyond first rate. Erland Josephson as the old man and Béatrice Romand as Franca give some of the best performances I've seen in a while. Just brilliant. And I can't say enough about director Carlo Lizzani. Every twist and turn in the script works flawlessly. This is a fantastic movie that deserves a much wider audience.

Small cast does well in small setting; claustrophobic film largely takes place in their flat, as weird husband and his wife, who calls out another's name while asleep, try to sell a the biggest yellow rug, which doesn't even fit in their flat and was given to her by her now dead father. Potential buyer appears, while hubby is out, and proceeds to psychologically taunt and terrorise her, knowing personal information about her, before turning violent, and she kills him in self defense. His wife shows up looking for him, and that first of several twists is where the real fun begins. Surprisingly for a giallo, it mostly shows restraint in regard to violence and gore, using them sporadically, in only a couple of scenes, relying on acting and atmospheric photography to create tension and suspense. Interesting composure as well, and the film doesn't over do the dark lighting.

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 not very well known Italian thriller (Giallo) is a thoroughly unique feature that reinvents classical issues of the Film Noir and the classical Italian Giallo of the 1960s and 1970s to become an extremely original movie of its own.Most remarkably, "La Casa del Tappeto Giallo" is packed with surprises, and - best of all - they are all real surprises that manage to startle the viewer. Also, the setting of the flat where the yellow carpet of the title lies remains the almost only setting of the whole feature (with very few exceptions), which adds a creepy claustrophobic touch to the quite subversive and mean story. Lizzani also delivers a healthy portion of subtle but delicious black humor, and some nasty moments typical for the Giallo genre.Not to forget the splendid cast. Especially Erland Josephson delivers a delightful performance. The fine score was composed by Stelvio Cipriani, best known for his compositions for Italian police thrillers of the 1970s (e.g. "La Polizia ha le Mani Legate").Not to be missed... if one can get hold of a copy.