A young policewoman slowly goes insane while tracking down an elusive serial rapist/killer through Italy when she herself becomes a victim of the brutal man’s obsession. –IMDb

Director

Dario Argento was born on September 7, 1940 in Rome, Italy. He is the first born son of famed Italian producer Salvatore Argento and Brazilian fashion model Elda Luxardo. Argento recalls getting his ideas for film making from his close knit family and from Italian folk tales told by his parents and other family members, including an aunt who told him frightening bedtime stories. Argento based most of his thriller movies on childhood trauma, yet his own, according to him, was a normal one. Along with tales spun by his aunt, Argento was impressed by stories from The Grimm Brothers, Hans Christian Andersen, and Edgar Allan Poe. Argento started his career writing for various film journal magazines while still in his teens attending a Catholic high school. After graduation, instead of going to college, Argento took a job as a columnist for a roman evening newspaper, Paese Sera. Inspired by the movies, Argento later found work as a screenwriter and wrote several screenplays for a number of films, but the most important were his Western collaborations, which included Une corde, un Colt (1969), and the Sergio Leone masterpiece C’era una volta il West (1968). After its release Argento wrote and directed his first movie, L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo (1970) (“The Bird With The Crystal Plumage”), a loose adoption on Frederick Brown’s novel “The Screaming Mimi”, which was made for his father’s film company. Argento wanted to direct the movie himself because he did not want any other director messing up with the production and his screenplay.

After “The Bird With the Crystal Plumage” became an international hit, Argento followed up with two more thrillers, Il gatto a nove code (1971) and 4 mosche di velluto grigio (1971) (“Four Flies On Black Velvet”), both of them were backed by his father Salvatore. Argento then directed the TV drama “La porta sul buio: Testimone oculare (#1.3)” (1973) and the historical TV drama Le cinque giornate (1973). Argento then went back to directing the so-called “giallo” thrillers starting with Profondo rosso (1975) (“Deep Red”), a violent mystery-thriller with inspired a number of international directors with the thriller-horror genre. His next work was Suspiria (1977), a surreal horror film about a witch’s covenent which was inspired by the Gothic fairy tales of the Grimm Brothers and Andersen. He collaborated with his girlfriend, screenwriter/actress Daria Nicolodi, who acted in “Profondo Rosso” (“Deep Red”) and most of Argento’s films from then on to the late 1980s. Argento advanced the unfinished trilogy with Inferno (1980), before returning to the “giallo” thrillers with the gory Tenebre (1982), and then with the haunting Phenomena (1985).

The lukewarm reviews caused Argento to slip away from directing to producing and co-writing two Lamberto Bava horror flicks which were Dèmoni (1985) (Demons) and Dèmoni 2: L’incubo ritorna (1986) (Demons 2: The Nightmare Returns). Argento returned to directing with the “giallo” thriller Opera (1987), which according to him was “a very unpleasant experience”. A number of technical problems happened which delayed production, the lead actress Vanessa Redgrave dropped out before filming was to begin, Argento’s father Salvatore died during filming, and his long-term girlfriend Daria broke off their relationship. After the commercial box-office failure of “Opera”, Dario Argento temporarily settled in the USA where he collaborated with director George A. Romero with the two-part horror-thriller Due occhi diabolici (1990). Argento had previously collaborated with Romero on the horror action thriller Dawn of the Dead (1978). While still living in America, Argento acted in small movie roles and directed another violent mystery thriller Trauma (1993) which starred his youngest daughter Asia Argento from his long-term relationship with Daria Nicolodi. Argento returned to Italy in 1996 where he made a comeback in the horror genre with La sindrome di Stendhal (1996) and then by another version of Il fantasma dell’opera (1998) (Phantom of the Opera) both of which starred Asia. Most recently, Argento directed a number of ‘giallo’ mystery thrillers which include Non ho sonno (2001) (I Can’t Sleep), Il cartaio (2004) (The Card Player), and Ti piace Hitchcock? (2005) (Do You Like Hitchcock?), as well as two gory, supernatural-themed episodes of the USA TV cable anthology series “Masters of Horror”.

Always wanting to make a third chapter to his ‘Three Mothers’ horror films, Argento finally completed the trilogy in 2007 with the release of his latest movie La terza madre (2007) (Mother of Tears) which starred Asia Argento as a young woman trying to identify and stop the last surviving evil witch from taking over the world. In addition to his Gothic and violent style of storytelling, La terza madre (2007) has many references to the previous two films Suspiria (1997) and Inferno (1980) which is a must for fans of the trilogy.

His movies may regarded by some critics and opponents as cheap and overly violent. But second or third viewings regard him as a talented writer/director with a penchant for original ideas and creative directing. —IMDb

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Joshua

23May13

Put off watching this because most of Argento's post-80s stuff has been... let's just say it hasn't been up to par. The opening scene in the museum is fantastic though, and had me expecting an unsung masterpiece. Oh but how we fall. Better than Trauma, and most of what came after (Non ho sonno, 2001, being an exception) but not without its many faults. Like many recent Dario films, bloated and rough. Durable.

Simon James Constable

31Aug11

Yep, watch it in Italian! Asia's real voice and everything.
Scout

31Aug11

Great, thanks!
Morty

19Jun12

It is much better in Italian, as all of Argentos films. I re-watched this last night, and it is a intelligent and mature film. It also has one cinemas most haunting opening scenes.
Sheldon No

30Dec12

Dubbing, in general, makes you angry? It's not like the dubbed English is that different from the subtitles. And Argento still intended most of his films to be released in English. It's not the same as an Asian film dubbed into English when it has no right to be (Bio Zombie, anyone?).
Scout

30Dec12

Yeah dubbing makes me furious. I wouldn't want a silent film with voices the director didn't intend placed over the unspeaking mouths of actors. Why would I want to hear someone else talking over a performance they didn't give. Fellini and other 60s Italian filmmakers are often the exception because there is no alternative. But if the option to hear the voices of the actors exists, why in the world would I want anything else? Dubbing is a barrier between the audience and the film and the performer.
Simon James Constable

31Dec12

The unfortunate thing about Argento films is that you have to watch them dubbed either way since they were filmed silent.
Sheldon No

15Jan13

Look: Argento shoots his films with SOME actors speaking English. Some Italian, some German. They don't speak English just because the actors they're facing can't speak Italian. He instructs the actors to speak in their native language because his films have been dubbed over since 1969 when he made his first film. This is his tradition, it's the way he makes his movies. And, frankly- I doubt his best films would sound better in Italian anyway (and remember that Argento is my favorite director- so this is a sincere doubt). Overall, he remained very careful over his career to never have his films sink into laughable disconnect between the audience's English and his Italian. Which we know isn't true of Fulci ("Do Not Entry," "in you get," "take those pills your Baker prescribed," "Shall do!").