Dario Argento

[horror]

I wanted to make the first post in the new forum. :D

What is your favorite Argento movie?

I'm not sure what my very favorite movie of his is, but "Terror at the Opera" has some of the coolest imagery I've seen in a horror movie.

[avenger00soul]

Let the bashing begin. I don't like the films Argento has directed. He did write Demons though so I'll give him credit for that crazy ass film.

The only Argento-directed film I have thoroughly enjoyed is Two Evil Eyes. The Black Cat segment he did was wonderful.

[Tony]

I too am not much of an Argento fan. I have only caught two of his flicks Deep Red and Suspiria and I hated both of them. I think his stuff is definitely an acquired taste because he does have lots of fans

[vera-icon]

you're right Tony, Argento's films are an aquired taste.. and i've aquired it. lol
Argento is one of my favorite directors.
i'll admit that the acting can be a little cheesy and the blood is a bright bright red at times... but the deaths in his movies are like art, the colors and the atmosphere he creates are visually stunning.
at first i didn't like Argento.. the first film i ever saw of his was The Bird With The Crystal Plumage, it was strange to say the least and i was left thinking... wtf??
but then i saw Demons and thought maybe he's not too bad, so i checked out Suspiria... the acting left something to be desired, but it was the imagery that made me want to see it again. so far i've seen a number of his films and have become quite a fan. i think once you get past the acting and the partially dubbed english and focus on the artistic aspects of the films you might become a fan also.
Argento's films aren't for everyone.. even i don't like all of his films, but i appreciate the effort he puts into them.
Btw.. my favorite movie of his has to be The Stendhal Syndrome... or okay, Demons. lol

[avenger00soul]

See, I love Demons cuz Argento didn't direct it. He only wrote it. I like the sequel too.

Have you seen Tenebre??? This is about the only one left I want to see (mainly cuz John Saxon is in it).

[dmihatmttl]

Count me in as one of the few who just can't get into Argento's work. I've always felt that his movies are extreme cases of "style over substance," though I do agree that they are wickedly beautiful and of course this is all just my opinion.

For the record, I do like SUSPIRIA a lot, and plan on buying it soon. That's about the only one I dig, though . . . .


James N.
http://members.tripod.com/~NEWMANATOR/index.html

[avenger00soul]

Originally posted by dmihatmttl
Count me in as one of the few who just can't get into Argento's work. I've always felt that his movies are extreme cases of "style over substance," though I do agree that they are wickedly beautiful and of course this is all just my opinion.

For the record, I do like SUSPIRIA a lot, and plan on buying it soon. That's about the only one I dig, though . . . .


James N.
http://members.tripod.com/~NEWMANATOR/index.html

I feel the same way you do about Argento except I hated Suspiria. The one Argento movie I liked was Two Evil Eyes. Romero directed the first story and Argento directed the second one. Pretty impressive. Good flick.

[Ritualistic]

I am a big Argento Fan.. I love about all of his movies. I am really into Italian horror. I love everything from "Deep Red" to "The Church"

[abbycomix]

I definitely loved Suspiria because of the art direction, sets, and the music. Goblins rock! Very spooky. The story was a bit weak though. I did like Jessica Harper and enjoyed her in Phantom of the Paradise too. I have yet to see any others by him though.

[mictlan]

I don't like Argento's giallo stuff too much; just not my cup of tea.

Suspiria was great, a little weak at times, but the visuals and music pay off. Style over substance, that's me...

I wanted to like Inferno better but it just felt a little more rushed and crude than Suspiria. Inferno did flesh out the 'three mothers' story more... there was supposed to be a third one! but Argento and Claudia Niccola had a falling out.

Two Evil Eyes was cool, though Harvey Keitel seemed pretty surprised to find himself in a horror film.

Did you know that Argento co-wrote Sergio Leone's Once upon a time in the west?

[avenger00soul]

Originally posted by mictlan
I don't like Argento's giallo stuff too much; just not my cup of tea.

Suspiria was great, a little weak at times, but the visuals and music pay off. Style over substance, that's me...

I wanted to like Inferno better but it just felt a little more rushed and crude than Suspiria. Inferno did flesh out the 'three mothers' story more... there was supposed to be a third one! but Argento and Claudia Niccola had a falling out.

Two Evil Eyes was cool, though Harvey Keitel seemed pretty surprised to find himself in a horror film.

Did you know that Argento co-wrote Sergio Leone's Once upon a time in the west?

I loved Keitel in Two Evil Eyes and I had no idea Argento co-wrote Once Upon a Time in the West.

[avenger00soul]

Tenebre came on IFC late last night. It was still boring, but I think it's the best Argento movie I've seen so far just because of the ending. Tons of blood on a white wall is a fantastic visual.

[Jupiter]

Argento is definitely a case of style over substance but in times when the horror movies are being remade constantly i find this refreshing.
Thought Demons was pretty bad personally, but Suspiria and Opera are masterworks. (Opera's ending aside)

[Ritualistic]

Originally posted by abbycomix
I definitely loved Suspiria because of the art direction, sets, and the music. Goblins rock! Very spooky. The story was a bit weak though. I did like Jessica Harper and enjoyed her in Phantom of the Paradise too. I have yet to see any others by him though.

goblins are fucking great. this is why I love to watch italian horror. well besides the gore goblins is another reason.. :)

[The_Return]

http://fotofon.cathexes.net/archives/bump01.jpg

Suspiria, btw:p

[42ndStreetFreak]

My Argento ratings (of the one's I have seen) are, in order:

"Tenebre"
"Inferno"
"Deep Red"
"Suspiria"
"Opera"
"Phenomena"
"Bird"
"Cat"
"Sleepless"
"Stendhal"
"Trauma"
"2 Evl eyes"
"4 flies"


"Tenebre" is perhaps his best film for me...Wonderful film making and a great plot to wrap the glorious and gloriously violent and bloody set-pieces around. The famous 'roof/wall crawl' sequence is something that should not work, but does. Marvellous work.
Excellent score as well....Just wonderful stuff. Great twists and a truly deranged finale.



"Bird" is a tamer film than most Argento, though the uncut print does have a sort of bloody throat slitting and also contains a pretty infamous scene of sexual violence where a razor is used to cut off a victims panties before slashing her.
But it plays like a more explicit Hitchcock styled Giallo than the blood and thunder Giallo style of "Tenebre".

Best part about the film is the support characters, who are given some great dub jobs. Especially the stuttering Pimp and the craaaaaaazy artist.
A nice line in humour and suspense and some well crafted set-pieces round it off.



"Deep Red" is great, with some classic set-pieces...but suffers from (even in it's welcome edited English language version) some overlong scenes. The worst of which is Hemming's search around the deserted house, which really outstays it's welcome (not helped by an equally repetitive bit of the otherwise excellent 'Goblin' score)

Still a wonderful film though, with some great gore, nasty as hell violence, a generally excellent score, Argento in top Directorial flair,and a nice turn by Hemmings (who has a very enjoyable relationship with Daria's likeable character).



"Phenomena" has some stunning set pieces and some great music (and use of music, esp during the sequence when she follows the fly to the house), but the overall idea seems just too fantastical for a film that is not a supernatural story.
The aforementioned 'following' of the fly is in itself rather silly as is her telepathic communication. It all comes across as just too damn whimsical. And although the vengeful Chimp was fun, again the idea of this Chimp (no matter how well trained) tracking down and then following the killer to leap at just the right time was again an act coated with too much fantastical whimsy.
Connelly's character was also rather unpleasent at times, coming across like a rather spoilt brat at times.

Still a very good Argento though.



"Trauma" is not as bad as rumour has it. But it does play far too much like a straight to video American flick and the editing on the murders is pretty messy. The murder weapon is delightfully nasty and cruel though and adds some much needed old school Argento sadism to the proceedings.



"Stendhal Syndrome" is certainly far from prime Argento and the fact that it's his daughter in the sex/rape scenemakes it rather creepy! But it was okay...and had some nasty moments to keep you interested when the film threatened to bog down with Asia's unlikeable and rather dull character.



"Cat" is a good little film, but it does have the TV movie pacing of a lot of Gialli.
It has a couple of brutal moments (and one great death set piece) plus a smattering of welcome nudity.
Best part of the film is the nice chemistry between the leads.
The cute girl who plays Malden's neice went on to have her crotch nibbled by John Saxon in "Cannibal Apocalypse"!



"Inferno" is great on a big screen, and has easily one of his best set-pieces ever in the opera music/power cut double murder.
A perfect combination of violence, gore, suspense, editing, cinematgraphy, direction and music.
Sure it's kind of weird, and the Halloween part 'Death' get up is rather lame...but otherwise this is a delightfully off the wall, surrealist nightmare...Again a very good score as well.



"4 flies" had some good moments, but overall this was a plodding, badly acted film that almost always failed to deliver.
Certainly not as good as "Cat O Nine tails" and most definately not fit to wipe the arse of the excellent "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage".
"flies" is one for Argento completists only imho... http://www.beardyfreak.com/rvfourflies.htm



"Suspiria" for me seems too slow in the middle more to the fact that the start, when viewed in a cinema or on DVD with a sound system especially, is such a full on bombastic assualt on your senses that anything that happens next (let alone dialogue scenes) will feel very static.
But that start is still perhaps the best and most unique start to any horror film, ever. And seen as it should be (cinema aside) on DVD in widescreen with a sound system then it takes on even more of an aggressive majesty.

The rest of the film has some great moments of course and the excellent 'wire room' shock is wickdly effective and the lead up to the dog attack is also great (muzzle's a bit fake looking but the uncut view of the tearing aftermath with the real dog help matters).
Overall it's still a unique film (a few other Argento films aside like the really surreal and vastly underrated "Inferno") that is really a victim of it's own jaw dropping opening.



"2 Evil Eyes". Argento's is the best of the two stories, but it's still very average and unmemorable. And Romero's is just plain dull and looks and plays like an episode of a TV show.



"Sleepless" is hurt by BAD dubbing, obscure plotting and a confused revelation finale, plus silly 'Killer Dwarf' idea complete with a dire 'comedy round up the Dwarf suspects' sequence with dreadful comic musical scoring.

But it has Argento's first full frontal shot, a new and pretty good 'Goblin' score, some very violent and nasty deaths (this ranks up there with "Deep Red" in the sadistic murder stakes..it even steals the teeth bashing scene) and a nice turn by Max Von Sydow.

Far from classic Argento though due to the plodding pacing, out of place non-humour, truly bad Englisg dub (Von Sydow and his voice aside) and confused and messy final revelation.



"Opera" is defintely a flawed film...but still damn good stuff with some superb set-pieces, wonderful cinematography and some great music.
The Metal tunes are rather cheesy...but i think they work well here.

The 'AB' DVD was a revelation as well... totally complete print, with roughly 5 extra scenes NOT seen in the "Terror At The Opera" version. And the soundtrack (although not featuing much rear speaker activity) is nice and crisp and superbly bombastic. And a truly eye catching picture, The Opera House looks beautiful.

The ending is also the rare, longer, 'back to nature' version.


**SPOILERS**


The whole 'dummy' trick is outstandingly stupid though...and no death for the psycho seems an anti-climax.

[The_Return]

You may be inheriting Stingy's long post title, lol

[elias]

I really enjoyed Suspiria and Infernon wasn't bad either. I'd definitely like to see the third in the trilogy whenever it's made/released.

[aborted]

im a big Argento fan but if i had to pick which i dont but i will id pick opera just because its so fucking twisted....it would probably be my favorite movie ever if it ended in the fire. btw how messed up is it that in the peephole bullet scene to make his ex-wife's hair bounce up he used dynomite putty put directly on her skull......i dont think i'd let an ex put dynomite on me.

[AUSTIN316426808]

Originally posted by horror
I wanted to make the first post in the new forum. :D

What is your favorite Argento movie?

I'm not sure what my very favorite movie of his is, but "Terror at the Opera" has some of the coolest imagery I've seen in a horror movie.

I never realized that I joined the first day the forum opened.

[Wendigo]

Deep Red is great, but Suspiria is definitely my favourite :D. Both soundtracks are masterpieces, the use of colours in Suspiria is unique and some sequences are definitely disturbing ( that with the barbed wire... arghh...).
Argento's last works, on the contrary, are really far from those I consider good horror movies. It's a pity, but we still hope he'll find again his best creative vein ;)

[aborted]

Originally posted by Wendigo
Deep Red is great, but Suspiria is definitely my favourite :D. Both soundtracks are masterpieces, the use of colours in Suspiria is unique and some sequences are definitely disturbing ( that with the barbed wire... arghh...).
Argento's last works, on the contrary, are really far from those I consider good horror movies. It's a pity, but we still hope he'll find again his best creative vein ;)


:eek: the stendhal syndrome was good and sleepless was decent so hes only done one BAD movie, the phantom of the opera, ive not seen the card player but you cant really say that hes lost it.

[Wendigo]

Aborted, did u really enjoy "The stendhal syndrome"!? Argento would be glad to know it ;). Personally, I found this movie really disappointing. Nothing surprising or scary... and the acting is very poor :(. "Sleepless" is decent... but nothing more (and I'm expecting much more from one of my favourite moviemakers).
"The card player" isn't worth seeing... I found it boring and irritating at the same time :mad: !

Someone can say that I'm too much demanding, but I do love Argento and I want to see him at his best... and his last movies are really far from those works of art like Suspiria, Deep Red, Tenebre etc.

Maybe he hasn't lost his vein, but he is certainly not showing it ;) .