Dario Argento's films are known for having subpar scripts and acting, but there just isn't anything visually or narratively fresh to keep your mind from noticing just how awful it all is. Argento seems to be lazily sticking with what made some of his other films so successful instead of trying anything new.
Rewatches are so rewarding. You realise you once thought this was dull and realise what a tit you were. Argento is growing on me even more, able to make a film like this with a very well structure narrative, but completely abstracting it so that the bleached light lingers and cinematic depictions of violence *feel* more than mere body counts when you absorb the wait and coincidences before and after them. He takes a real life issue of someone stalking him, threatening him, and uses it to raise his camera over the place a creator puts themselves in creating this material, and without spoiling anything, how people even in genre films like this can show how human beings don’t reveal everything about themselves to others and be even worse sadists in a literal sense.
I know exactly what you mean. Not only rewatching it initially, but then checking it out with the Thomas Rostock commentary, which does yeoman's work to chart out just how intricate and nuanced the structure of the film really is.
I have the opening song as my ringtone. One my the best Argento movies in my opinions.
Argento's playing a clever fucking game here. Deceptively simple, with its muted colors and straightforward plot: but it's absolutely rich with subtext. Take it as a rebuttal of misogyny, take it as the history of giallo distilled into ninety ironclad minutes, take it as a comment on artifice, take it as a fuck you to anyone who wanted Suspiria 2 (and I don't mean Deep Red, JAPAN), but don't dismiss it. Brilliant.
Probably the last one of Argento's great gialli... "Tenebrae" is an overspill of suspense and mystery with obvious flaws to the scipt, but great visual features and nice acting creations. He exploited Bava once again and mingled him with Sherlock Holmes' stories, but this shit hits you definitely!
A very enjoyable exploitation thriller; I love Argento's style and the way it straddles the line between art and trash. I even think the Goblin score for this one is better than Deep Red's.
The long craning shot (and the rest of the scene that follows it) may be one of my favorite moments in Argento's filmography. Or the horror genre in general.
Much leaner than Deep Red and just as sophisticated. Thomas Rostock’s commentary on the Arrow disc (which sports, unfortunately, a terrible transfer) made me a true believer, detailing the pathological and multi-tiered use of doubling and dream logic to structure and embed meaning in the film. On a first viewing I’ll admit I missed much of this. Best home video presentation I know of: the Wild Side Blu-ray (France).
I don't necessarily think that this is a bad movie, but I didn't enjoy it because this is the point in Argento's career where I got tired of him repeating himself over and over again. Even some of his films before this were starting to get dull, but after this, besides just working with dull material, his form started dropping to the point where his films became laughable. And today his films are just plain horrible!
Typically mad slasher film from Dario Argento ,llook out for cut versions they are terrible
Solid giallo thriller from Dario Argento. It lacks the visual sophistication of his best work and the plot stretches credibility considerably (not to mention an incredibly dated score that is more annoying than fun), but it's a lively effort with a number of memorable stylish sequences. Argento's output has always been uneven, and while this one isn't among his masterpieces, it can be considered one of his successes.
**1/2 Average giallo. More murders, more day scenes and day murders, and, that's original, a murder in the middle of the day in a plaza. Less improbable blue, red or green projector lamps and an even less plausible screenplay if it's possible. In fact, the problem with the movies directed by Dario Argento, with the exception of DEEP RED, is the screenplay. Argento is without contest an interesting filmmaker but is definitely a very poor scriptwriter. A DVD zone hardcore fans. Only.
A genuine treat for Argento fans. This film displays all of the things people love about Argentos films: wonderfully inventive/bloody but beautiful deaths, spectacular camerawork, excellent pulsating soundtrack (from Goblin members) and a few genuine shocks. It does of course also contain some dreadful acting and huge plot holes but by the end of the film most people will be so overwhelmed by the technical mastery of the film that they will forget the faults quickly. After Deep Red and Suspiria it may be my favourite.
