Feb 9th Phenomena
In the vast Argento fandom — and “vast” might be a gross overstatement here — few movies are more disagreed upon than Phenomena (1985). The reasons are many, though often connected to the rather odd plot of a girl (Jennifer Connelly in an early role) who can communicate with insects, which leads her on the trail of a killer. Add to that the guidance of a monkey and a rather unfitting heavy metal soundtrack, and you got yourself quite the variety bag here.
To me, the soundtrack is the biggest issue with the movie. The Goblin credited parts (although word has it Claudio Simonetti really was behind these cues as a solo artist) are great, which really makes the oddly placed Iron Maiden (and many more) tracks stand out in a less than good way. It ruins some of the flow to the movie, which really is quite docile in an almost Suspiria like way.
This might also explain why the first half of the movie doesn’t quite work. The stop and go feel makes it all feel a bit off. For whatever reason, this seems to get quite a lot better in the second half. Go figure.
And there is quite a bit to like about the movie. It’s nicely filmed, and the last part is pretty tense. Donald Pleasence (well known as Dr Loomis in the Halloween series) is as great as he always is.
Yet compared to his previous work, this is definitely not Argento’s finest. Worth watching, definitely, but no classic.
Jan 15th Tenebre
After two supernatural thrillers, Argento went back to his giallo roots with 1982’s Tenebre (original title: Tenebrae). The movie, surrounding an author being stalked by a killer, was, apparently, inspired by a real life situation the director had gone through. If this is true or not is still a bit of a question mark, but never the less gives Argento quite a bit of room to have some fun with his public persona.
Tenebre is a good thriller, and stands out for having a couple of the better actors in Argento’s line of movies in Anthony Franciosa and the always excellent John Saxon. (Note that I’ve yet to see the recently released Giallo, starring Adrien Brody.) Franciosa, particularly, shines as the lightly befuddled author caught in the middle of the murder mystery. He seems genuinely perplexed why anybody would take a page out of his books (literally during one particularly gruesome scene) and copycat his murders-in-print. This is definitely Argento’s best leading man since David Hemmings.
As for the soundtrack, it might just be Goblin’s best. So good, in fact, that Justice “re-imagined” it multiple times for their Cross album. And of course, it is the incredible crane shot which to this day is jaw-dropping.
I mean, wow… Argento has committed three over the top amazing shots so far in his career, and it is obvious why this is considered the first. (The two others can be seen in Opera and Nonhosonno.)
Tenebre is definitely top tier Argento, with its twists and turns, thundering soundtrack, and technical mastery.
Which leads us to my ranking…
Dec 28th Inferno
Well, blow me down, and oh! em! gee! it’s the first of my two favorite Argento movies, Inferno (1980)!
And really, you won’t find that many people who agree with me, as its predecessor, Suspiria, is by most considered the superior movie. Fair enough, but I find this, the second entry in the Three Mothers trilogy (which recently was completed with La Terza Madre), to be not just the perfect Argento movie, but the perfect movie within the confines of what it is.
Like Suspiria before it, this is again a movie that strictly follows nightmare logic: a huge mansion, now being used as an apartment with room placements that make no sense, set on a basement filled with water is something that might not be structurally sound, but whatever. This is an Argento movie. Anything goes.
The movie is similar to its predecessor in many ways (particularly the color palette), but significantly slower. This is partly due to Keith Emerson’s sleepy soundtrack (a rather underrated one at that), and even more so because of the filming and editing. Each shot is gorgeously set up — similar to Suspiria, but prettier — and they’re held in perfect timing. Gone is the pulse pounding 15 minute opening of the first Mother, now replaced with a slow trek which leads the heroine to a room filled with water.
The legendary Mario Bava worked for a short time on the movie, and have often been credited with this underwater scene. And while his contributions to the movie were definitely an asset, particularly his mix of paintings and live filming, he categorically did not have anything to do with that part of the Inferno. In fact, Argento was in the hospital while the scene was filmed, and the crew — who were directed through highly detailed notes — was credited at the end of the film. (Why the scene isn’t considered Argento’s is beyond me. It’s not like he’d have jumped into the water if he was there.)
There is no shortage of crazy violent scenes in Inferno, but they’re all, for the lack of a better term, weird. I mean that as a compliment. In fact, the whole movie is so dreamlike that it might just confound viewers more than Suspiria ever did. And to me, that is OK.
I like this movie quite a bit, and so should you.
New! Because of popular demand, I will try to rank each Argento movie I watch, as I watch them. Which leaves the current standing…
- Inferno
- Suspiria
- Deep Red
- Four Flies on Grey Velvet
- The Cat o’Nine Tails
- The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
Yes. I know it’s all chronological so far. But that shall change next time, when Tenebre is being watched. (Dam dam dam!)
Dec 7th Suspiria
This is, of course, it. The Argento movie “everybody” knows, being referenced in Juno and all, which, at least for a few minutes, made the director a “touchstone for hipster youth.”
What you actually may or may not feel about Suspiria (1977) largely depends on what setting you watched it in. Having seen it in a “Halloween-month horror showing”-bar setting with a friend who hadn’t previously watched it, it was clear, judging by his reaction, that there is a “right” way to watch Suspiria. It’s kind of a cheesy movie if you try to judge each part of it on its own merit.
Turn off the lights, however, and remain quiet throughout, preferably while being just slightly drowsy, and you see the whole picture. And it is kind of glorious.
Suspiria is not supposed to be logical. It’s a surrealistic nightmare, based on, among other things, classic fairytales and stories of Argento’s at-the-time domestic partner Daria Nicolodi’s grandmother’s (supposed) childhood.
And from the moment the protagonist, Suzy Bannion, gets in a cab to get to a German dance academy, it is a descent into a pretty horrifying nightmare.
The first 15 minutes are, somewhat unfairly yet also understandably, considered the best part of the movie. Not only does it include one of the most intricate and crazy killings on film, it is also where the utterly bizarre tone of the movie is set. The pulsating red, blue, green, and yellow lights with strange and beautifully shot happenings progress in a slow yet strangely intense manner, flanked by a jamming Goblin soundtrack (co-written by Argento).
Quite a bit of the soundtrack was recorded before the filming, and the music was blasted on the set while filming, to unnerve the actors. Many will also argue it’s Goblin’s best soundtrack, which is not without merit. (Though I personally consider Tenebre their best work, but that’s for another post.) Apparently Argento-fans Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg blasted the album on repeat while writing their seminal horror-comedy Shaun of the Dead.
The movie is strange, and I can see why it’s not for everybody. In effect Suspiria is an art house horror movie, which, let’s face it, is a bit of an odd combination. If you can get past that it is strange, however, and take it in the way it’s supposed to be watched, it truly is a surreal masterpiece in all its visual and audible glory.
Dec 3rd Deep Red
After the much ignored Le Cinque Giornate (not reviewed here, as it’s largely not considered an “Argento movie”), Argento made the wise move (at least as far as I’m concerned, and let’s face it — I’m pretty much always right as far as I am concerned) to return to the horror genre with Deep Red (1975, original title: Profondo Rosso), the film that arguably kicked off his golden era of movie making.
On the surface, this is a pretty standard mystery, following Marcus Daly (nicely portrayed by David Hemmings, best known from Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 film, Blow Up) searching for the killer of a famous psychic, a murder he himself witnessed. In other words, not a million miles from The Bird with the Crystal Plumage.
Yet it’s the execution that sets the movie apart from the countless 1970s gialli: Deep Red is jawdroppingly shot, using color techniques arguably only mastered by the great Mario Bava before this. Add to that the framing and the pace of the editing, and it is fairly obvious that Quentin Tarantino studied Deep Red closely before making… well… the majority of his movies. (Particularly the Kill Bill films come to mind, visually speaking.)
Deep Red was also the first Argento movie to feature music by Goblin, making what remains one of the highest selling movie soundtracks of all time. Indeed, the music helps drive the plot along in an interestingly rhythmic fashion. The prime example, other than the memorable and oft-repeated theme, being the bass and rhythm guitar driven “Mad Puppet” — named for a puppet which served as the inspiration for the “Billy” puppet in Saw — which accompanies a lengthy trek through an abandoned mansion.
There were certainly many of hints what Argento was capable of with the Animal Trilogy, but this was the home run that elevated him to a cult director status. A good indication of where the movie stands among Argento’s fans is that it was named his best movie in a reader’s poll at the official unofficial official Argento fansite, Dark Dreams.
Suspiria might be Argento’s most famous movie, but this is indeed in all likelihood his best movie, even though I wouldn’t call it my personal favorite. Those two are yet to come. Wait, and be excited!
Dec 1st Four Flies on Grey Velvet
Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971, original title: 4 Mosche di Velluto Grigio) concludes Argento’s “Animal Trilogy” and, after a brief foray into television (and the rarely seen non-horror Le Cinque Giornate), would catapult him into what many consider his 12-odd-year “golden period.”
But that’s for another post, and it could be argued that Four Flies on Grey Velvet (and indeed the rest of the “Animal Trilogy”) is one of his best works. Here the more conventional film making of its “prequels” was starting to be pushed aside to make way for the more Argento-esque. The Ennio Morricone score, for example, plays a smaller role, and is accompanied by a more jazz-y prog-rock soundtrack. Morricone and Argento apparently had some disagreements over this, and it would be Morricone’s last score for Argento until 1996’s The Stendhal Syndrome. (He was, of course, for the most part replaced by Claudio Simonetti and his band Goblin.)
As part of the trilogy, this movie feels a whole lot more like a pure giallo than The Cat o’ Nine Tails. The plot of a man set up to commit a murder by a photographer in a creepy mask who continues to stalk and taunt him with pictures of the killing… Yes, there’s definitely something pulp about the whole set up. But it’s wicked fun to watch.
Four Flies… was largely considered Argento’s “lost movie” as its availability was pretty much non-existent until early 2009, when the remastered uncut DVD was released. Apparently Paramount sat on its rights for all those years, refusing to release it, which is odd, seeing a new version of Suspiria is released every other week. (That might be a hyperbole.)
Again, I digress. In terms of a giallo murder mystery, Four Flies on Grey Velvet is as classic and classy as they come. The pounding soundtrack, good chunks of humor (Jean Pierre Marielle walks a fine line in his portrayal of a homosexual private investigator, without stumbling to the wrong side of aforementioned line), and “bullet effect” before its time, make up a thriller that truly is an Argento classic.
Nov 25th The Cat o’ Nine Tails
The Cat o’ Nine Tails (1971, original title: Il Gatto a Nove Code) might very well be the coolest movie Argento has ever made, which, frankly, doesn’t take that much. I mean, inviting your friends over to drink cappuccino and wear berets wouldn’t work too well if you were watching somebody getting shanked with a razor blade in Tenebre, would it?
The Cat o’ Nine Tails is a bit different. Here you have cool cars in cool chase scenes (some of which are fantastically shot), with cool men delivering cool lines to cool women. Yet, for being an Argento movie and a giallo, there is little blood or gore, and quite a bit of plot. In fact, the whole story is quite excellent, with more tensity than The Bird with the Crystal Plumage.
The premise surrounds a blind man who accidentally overhears a suspicious conversation which has him thrown into a world of murder, intrigue and biochemistry. Yes. I kid you not. Biochemistry. A large part of the story surrounds the XXY syndrome, a chromosome abnormality which makes people more prone to commit violent crimes.
In other words, this is more of a pure suspense thriller than most of Argento’s work, and a very good one at that. As often as he is called “the Italian Hitchcock,” this is really the only Argento movie I can think of that is very much in the style of “The Master of Suspense.” (Do You Like Hitchcock? being the obvious exception.)
The soundtrack is, as with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, provided by Ennio Morricone, and some good music it is. As for the filming, there are some excellent shots to be seen, though not as over the top as some of Argento’s later work.
Most of all, The Cat o’Nine Tails is probably one of Argento’s most accessible movies. No crazy Surpiria/Inferno type surrealism to be seen here. This one is worth checking out for anyone who likes a good thriller without too much gore.
For more, check out IMDb.
Nov 24th The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
After co-writing the highly successful Once Upon a Time in the West (1968, original title: C’era una volta il West), Argento moved on to direct (and write) his first feature, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970, original title: L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo). No matter what you think about Argento, you have to give the man this: He jumped into giallo film making both feet first. I mean really: The man has had the reputation of misogyny (however unfair as that might be) ever since Plumage, which should be a good indication of how violent this movie is.
And make no bones about it, this is as violent as a giallo comes. For those not familiar with the term giallo, it simply is a sub genre of whodunit crime movies, often with a lot of blood set to a pumping soundtrack. The word is Italian for “yellow,” which references the color of the covers of the print paperbacks that were the basis for the genre.
As a directional debut, the movie is surprisingly tight. Flawed, but tight. Plot wise and look wise, there are things here that will stay with pretty much any Argento movie up until today: The protagonist sees something, in this case a murder, but he can’t quite remember exactly what he saw. The filming of the killer’s black-gloved hands — belonging to Argento during the murder scenes — with a knife. Crazy beautiful colors and set designs. A booming soundtrack, this time courtesy of the legendary Ennio Morricone. And so on and so forth.
The movie progresses with the hapless witness tracking down a killer who also is tracking him down, through a slew of dead bodies.
It’s a simple story, but then again, I’m a simple man. What is not so simple is the filming. While not as breathtaking as some of his future work, Plumage offers some styles of shots that have been a staple in horror movies ever since. Watch this film and then jump over to Carpenter’s Halloween and you will see what I’m talking about. (Carpenter has cited Argento as an influence multiple times.)
Plumage isn’t Argento’s best work — it’s obvious who the killer is from the get-go — and in some ways it feels like this is the first stab (get it?!) at making what would turn out to be his 1975-classic, Deep Red, which is very similar, yet a lot better.
That’s not to say this isn’t a fun movie, though. If you can cope with watching a lot of cornsyrup, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is a highly entertaining thriller.
For more, check out IMDb.
Nov 23rd Watching every Dario Argento movie, ever
I enjoy the movies of Dario Argento. So much, in fact, that I’ve decided to review every Argento movie chronologically on this very site. Probably much to the excitement of my four readers!
For those not familiar with Argento, he is an Italian writer/director, whose most famous screenplay isn’t for an “Argento movie,” but for Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West, currently ranked #23 on IMDb’s top movie list. For fans of horror movies, however, titles like the murder mystery Deep Red and the surrealistic dream-like Suspiria are titles that instantly are connected to his name. Adjectives like “gory” and “bloody” might also come to mind to most Argento followers, though in an age of Hostels and Saws, his gore is decidedly artistic looking as opposed to realistic.
To truly appreciate Argento’s best work, though, you don’t need to enjoy conventional horror movies. There isn’t much conventionality in the man who has been dubbed — and while this is supposed to be complimentary, there aren’t many similarities between the two directors — “The Italian Hitchcock.” Argento, at his best, delivers visually stunning movies with pounding soundtracks. The stories might not always make sense, nor are they supposed to, and the acting and dialogue might be eclectic at best at times, but when it’s all said and done, that is all part of the charm. Argento is an acquired taste, kind of like tripe.
In other words, get ready to have your minds blown starting tomorrow, when I start my journey through Argento’s movie landscape with 1970’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. You will love it.