Tenebrae
Director: Dario Argento
Cast: Anthony Franciosa, Giuliano Gemma, Christian Borromeo
Reviewed by Brian M. Sammons
After playing with the supernatural in Suspiria and Inferno, this was Argento’s triumphant return to black gloved killers and far too convoluted, sometimes downright confusing plots. Argento is a master of the giallo film, well as long as you don’t count the movie he did that’s actually called Giallo. That movie is just awful. Regardless, does this film (originally released in America under the gloriously goofy title of Unsane) deliver the goods as well as Argento’s earlier giallo films? Let’s find out.
Famous murder mystery author, Peter Neal, goes to Rome to promote his latest macabre masterpiece, a book called Tenebrae. Unfortunately, someone is using a straight razor to slash up pretty ladies in the same manner as people are killed in Peter’s book and then, just to make sure the author is getting the point, the killer sends him taunting letters. Against his better judgment, Peter gets pulled further and further into the whodunit as people close to him start getting slashed. And really, without giving the good, twisty bits away, that’s all I can say about this movie. What I can say is that the right amount of red stuff is present here, even if some of the kills in Tenebrae are a bit pedestrian compared to the usual crazy carnage you would expect from Argento. There is also the trademarked Argento WTF moment with the most athletic and angry doggy in history that comes completely out of nowhere and just so happens to chase a character to a very unfortunate location. Sure it’s completely nonsensical, but it’s awesome nevertheless. Oh, and do I have to mention the look of an Argento film? I mean I do with every review of one of his films, so by now you should know that Dario Argento is a master filmmaker, and while not all of his movies are golden, they always look damn good. So if you want to see how good looking movies should be made, this is an example of the maestro in action.
On to the extras that Synapse put on this new Blu-ray release. First and easily foremost, there is a feature length documentary called Yellow Fever: The Rise and Fall of the Giallo that is absolutely wonderful. If you are a fan of docs about horror flicks, this alone is worth the price of admission. But wait, as they say, there’s more… There is an audio commentary with film critic and Argento scholar, Maitland McDonagh. There is the option to play the movie with rare English insert shots added with seamless branching. There is an alternate opening sequence and an alternate US version of Unsane end credit sequence. And finally, there is an international trailer and, for some odd reason, a Japanese trailer.
Tenebrae is considered by some to be Argento’s last great movie. Whether you agree with that or not, what is undeniable is that this is Argento firing on all cylinders and delivering the giallo goods with both hands, clad in black gloves, and smeared with a bit too red blood. For Argento fans, giallo murder mystery buffs, lovers of the great horror directors, and fans of beautifully filmed movies of all types, this is a must have for you. If you fall into one or more of those categories, and you really should, then be sure to get this when it comes out September 13th.
