What's so great about Tenebre?

[roshiq]

There's a scene in TENEBRE where the main character, Peter Neal, says, "All detection is boring. But, if you cut out the boring bits and keep the rest, you've got a best-seller." That's what director Dario Argento has done with this film - removed the boring detective work and given us a ripping good mystery with plenty of gore...axe in the head, slit throat, stabbings but the the best one is at the end when a victim's arm is chopped off with an axe and the blood splatters the white wall behind her (my signature!;) ).....definitely made it one of the greatest slasher of all time.

[_____V_____]

Originally Posted by Doc Faustus

But, I'm also with V in that Tenebre is sort of underwhelming compared to his other work. Argento is impressive because he's a radical within an innately radical genre and there are just fewer radical aspects of Tenebre.

Certainly Tenebre was one of his lesser impressive efforts, when compared to his 70s works. Yet it does have a strong visual impact ala most giallos, hence it is regarded up there with Argento's finest. For me, my Top 5 of Argento would be :

• Suspiria
• Deep Red
• Phenomena
• Inferno
• Tenebre,

in that order.

Argento is not a narration, he is an experience.

[Despare]

Originally Posted by _____V_____

For me, my Top 5 of Argento would be :

• Suspiria
• Deep Red
• Phenomena
• Inferno
• Tenebre,

My list is very similar but mine is missing Tenebre which is instead replaced with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage.

[Elvis_Christ]

What films would Halloween and Black Christmas derived their direction and inspiration from? Just curious because I'm always on the lookout for good slashers, and I'd like to see more influence on that particular sub-genre.

Twitch Of The Death Nerve

[ChronoGrl]

Originally Posted by Elvis_Christ

Twitch Of The Death Nerve

Thanks. I'll have to add that to my Netflix queue.

Rod - In what movies did Argento invent Slasher? What movies did you allude to? I honestly want to check out more.

Jenna - Thanks again for the recommendations. Last night I just watched Fulci's Zombie (Zombie 2) and... I LOVED it. Absolutely hands down loved it from the cheesey ZOMBIE VS SHARK scene (COMPLETE WITH REAL SHARK!!) to the gratuitous nudity to the gore incredibly and beautifully bleak ending. I thought that the direction and composition was fantastic. I am definitely going to check out more Fulci.

Doc - Thanks for those recommendations as well. I definitely enjoyed Suspira more than Tenebre because I thought it was more artfully done and imagistic. I honestly think that Suspira completely eclipses Tenebre and am interested that some people consider Tenebre to be a better film (though I think that, in taken with the context of his body of work, the movie becomes much more interesting). Suspira was definitely more creepy as well, and I thought that the abstract and absurd scenes made a lot more sense in that context than in Tenebre.


Thanks for the list, V and your critique of the genre. This is one of the more interesting threads that we've had in a while. And I honestly think that there should have been a sub-genre for Giallo Cinema (because they can't always be slid into Slasher - I think that there are enough archetypes and markings of this genre to give it a space by itself).

So here is a question for Giallo fans:

If the HDC sub-genre voting pool had changed with Giallo as a topic...


What are your top 5 Giallo movies and why?

[Despare]

I don't know if I could really create a "top 5" but I can tell you that Suspiria is my favorite thanks to the ingenious death scenes couple with a brilliant use of color, lighting and sound. I can also tell you that in my top five would have to be Evil Dead Trap. Evil Dead Trap uses the Giallo formula to create an oddly engaging horror film and probably the best non-Italian or Giallo I've watched. Although Keller's movie will probably change that.

[Doc Faustus]

Anybody else here a fan of Miraglia's movies? I really like the Red Queen Kills Seven Times.

[hollywoodgothiq]

Lots of people hitting the target but no one hit the bulls-eye yet, so here goes...

TENEBRE is Argento's best - and one of the best horror films ever - not because it is non-linear or an experience, but because it is anti-linear, a structural device used to undermine our comfortable sense of a rational world in which things make sense.

The film deliberately evokes old-fashioned amateur detective stories in which the writer of mystery fiction matches wits (and usually outwits) the official police force. There are also direct references to the Sherlock Homes stories, in which any incredible mystery could be solved with enough brain power.

Having set all this up in the first half, the film deliberately blows it to pieces in the second half by introducing all the wild and crazy Argento stuff his fans have come to crave. The intrusion of the near irrelevant set-pieces (like the girl chased by the dog who eventually wanders into the killer's lair by accident) undermine the logical structure of the film.

This leads to the conclusion, in which the traditional detective methods fail to identify the killer because the killer's behavior does not conform to any rational concept: he left his ex-wife and yet he kills her and her lover, theoretically out of jealousy but really because he is reliving an old nightmare of having been sexually humiliated on the beach by a young woman who shoved that wonderful phallic red stilletto heel down his throat.

All this ties in with the self-reflexive nature of the movie. TENEBRE is about a book called "Tenebre" that inspires a reader to act out the horrors described therein. In effect, the film is saying that society's worst fears about the horror genre are true. Fear comes not from identifying with the film's characters and wondering if they will survive but from the cynical message being purveyed, in which we are supposed to wonder whether filmmaker Dario Argento and his ficitonal counterpart, mystery writer Peter Neal, are not too close for comfort.

Read more here http://hollywoodgothique.com/tenebre1982.html

[Zero]

for what its worth i've never been a big fan of the italians - just not my cup of tea (which doesn't necessarily mean any education is going to change my inclination).

good discussion though - it is interesting hearing why others laud these films so highly (but I don't think its helpful to impose these tastes on others)

[hollywoodgothiq]

Of course we must impose these tastes upon others. Everyone must think, feel, and act exactly the same. Only when there is complete unity of mind on all subjects will true happiness be achieved!