Tenebre (1982)

Thrilling and shocking Giallo by the talented writer/director Dario Argento . Exciting film with effective aesthetic that has lots of gore , guts , chilling assassinations and twists plots . An American crime writer named Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) arrives in Rome to promote a new novel , which triggers a killing spree in the manner described in his book , including savage cutting . As Detective Giermani (Giuliano Gemma) in charge of the investigation, along with a detective female partner . Peter Neal is unaware that he is also being followed by his embittered ex-wife Jane (Veronica Lario) and stalked by a serial killer bent on harassing him while killing all people associated with his work on his latest novel.

This is a Shocker/Chopper/Slasher/Horror/Thriller hybrid . Italian cult director Dario Argento , master of arty gore , brings this scary and stylish story plagued with depraved gore murders . This intriguing film packs chills , suspense , thrills , bloody murders and plot twists ; however it contains some gaps in the flick big enough to sink credibility . Interesting screenplay plenty of twists and turns by the master of horror , Dario Argento , who double-crosses and cheats like mad to conceal the murderous's identity and including imaginatively staged gory killings ; resulting to be one of his most successful movies . This is a trademark terror work for the Horrormeister Argento with high tension quotient and equally elevated suspense by means of an ever-fluid camera that achieves colorful shots well photographed . ¨Tenebre¨ is an acceptable and passable entertainment with surprising and intriguing situations , it does have some good and eerie moments . Ample support cast formed by usual in Italian Terror such as Ana Pieroni , Lara Wendel , Christian Borromeo ,John Saxon , John Steiner and Daria Nicolidi , Argento's wife . Furthermore , a colorful cinematography in deep red by Luciano Tovoli , Argento's usual and a creepy musical score composed by means synthesizer .

Dario Argento is one of those film-makers who set off simple for frightening us to death . His period of biggest hits were the 70s when he directed the animals trilogy : ¨Four flies over gray velvet¨, ¨The cat of nine tails¨, ¨Bird with the crystal plumage¨, after he directed some masterpieces as ¨Suspiria¨ (1977), a surreal horror film about a witch's coven that was inspired by the Gothic fairy tales of the Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Anderson, which he also wrote in collaboration with his girlfriend, screenwriter/actress Daria Nicolodi, who acted in "Profondo Rosso" ("Deep Red") and most of Argento's films from then to the late 1980s . Argento advanced the unfinished trilogy with Inferno (1980), before returning to the "giallo" genre with the gory Tenebre (1982), and then with the haunting ¨Phenomena¨ (1985) , one of the best ¨Giallo , all of them confirm Argento's dedication to the technicalities of constructing frames in Grand Guignol style . In 1995 Argento made a comeback to the horror genre with ¨La Sindrome Di Stendhal (1996)¨ and then by another version of ¨The phantom of the Opera¨ (1998) both of which starred by his daughter Asia Argento . Most recently, Argento directed a number of 'giallo' mystery thrillers which include Insomnio (2001), ¨Il Cartaio (2004)¨, and ¨Ti Piace Hitchcock?¨ (2005), as well as two creepy , supernatural-themed episodes of the USA TV cable anthology series "Masters of Horror". Furthermore , to his Gothic an

Fmovies: After the opening credits the film starts in New York, as American author Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) cycles to JFK airport. He flies to Rome so he can promote his new murder mystery novel 'tenebrae'. Meanwhile in Rome a woman tries to steal a copy of the book from some shop and is caught. She convinces the security guard to let her off. But someone in the store is watching her and has seen whats happened. Back at her flat she is attacked, pages of the book 'tenebrae' are forced into her mouth and her throat is slashed with a straight razor, just like the one the killer uses in the book. The police head straight for Neal to question him, while there Neal receives a letter and phone call from the killer, from then on Neal is thrown in a complex mystery and plunged into the centre of a number of senseless, violent murders. Written and directed by the overrated Dario Argento this is definitely one of his best films. Stylishly filmed with visually pleasing photography, the stand out sequence being the murder of the two lesbians, the camera starts outside of a window looking in at one of the victims, it then moves up a level to another window, it moves across the side of the house to yet another window in which the second victim can be seen playing a record, then the camera moves up toward the roof, glides along it and back down the opposite side of the house from which it started to rest on the killers gloved hand breaking into the house. All in one smooth flowing shot, very impressive. Add to this lots of close ups, strange angles, free flowing camera movements and a nice color scheme, and we have a very good looking film. Acting is OK, most of the lead characters are a little bit bland. While the film does contain a nice amount of nudity, violence and gore it is perhaps a little more restrained than you might expect, except for a scene towards the end of the film where a woman has her arm chopped off with an axe, how much blood?! Having said that the murders are very well done, and Dario films them with style, like the rest of the film. Script wise, I liked the twists and turns but the reasons for some of them didn't make much sense. And one or two bits stray into silly horror film cliché, like the dog attacking the girl, my least favorite sequence in the film. Overall a very good horror mystery. Make sure you listen and pay attention otherwise you may miss some vital plot points, like it appears some of the people who have reviewed it on the IMDb did. One negative would be that once you have watch tenebrae once I don't think many people would be interested in watching it again, as once all the twists are revealed it loses its mystery and impact a little. Certainly worth a rent, recommended.

Excellent giallo thriller from Italian horror master Dario Argento is a favorite of many Argento fans and for good reason.

Mystery author becomes the inspiration (or is he the target?) for a serial killer who has been murdering various women.

Stylishly done all around and with a gripping story, Tenebre is a fine example of a perfect giallo film. Argento flairs his usual lavish style, with some impressive camera work and some highly intense (and bloody) murder sequences. No director can make cold-blooded murder has artistically appealing as the great Argento! With this film the violence and gore are pretty high, and so is the suspense. Many of the murder scenes are unforgettably brutal too! Argento even gives this film a kind of erotic edginess that few of his other works ever possess. Also contributing to the film is the great electronic rock score from Marante, Pignatelli, and Simonetti.

Star Anthony Franciosa does a good performance, while Daria Nicolodi is charming as usual. Veteran actor John Saxon is good as always playing Franciosa's agent. Christian Borromeo is also solid as a young man who joins the mission to solve the murders.

Twisted and shocking all the way, Tenebre is a stunning horror film that had a hand in inspiring a number of films since its release. Fans of Argento and the giallo genre simply must see it!

**** out of ****

Tenebre fmovies. The Story: An American bestseller-author comes to Rome to promote his new book, "Tenebrae". Shortly before he arrives in Fiumicino, a murder series starts, young girls are slashed with an old rasor blade - their mouths stuffed with pages of "Tenebrae".

Police starts investigation (Giuliano "I only drink on duty" Gemma), with little luck - murdering continues. In fact, hardly anybody survives - but the characters don't die in vain: All murders are directed excellent - especially the one with the current Mrs. Silvio Berlusconi, Veronica Lario, who plays "painting" Jane.

Tenebre is pure giallo. A cold movie, shot almost entirely in daylight, in E.U.R. - a district in the south of Rome; modernistic, cool - and very stylish.

There are about 10 very well directed, esthetic murder scenes, which manage to fit a logical plot, well, at least for giallo-standards.

11 black gloves out of 10 - Tenebre is a must see, if you want to explore the Genre Giallo - start nowhere but here. And two thumbs up for the great ABE DVD Version!

Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa), a best selling mystery novelist, travels to Rome to promote his new book, Tenebrae, but before he arrives, a serial killer starts a reign of terror, inspired by the killings in the novel. Neal & his secretary Anne (Daria Nicolodi) decide to try & solve the murders. But can he find the killer before he strikes again?

Something of a change after the surreal, free-roaming nightmare-scapes of his two `Three Mothers' film (Suspiria –1977 & Inferno - 1980), Tenebrae is more concerned with narrative than most of Dario Argento's films. And if the director is at his best when he treads most daringly away from plausible reality, then Tenebrae is nevertheless an ideal starting place for newcomers to his work. A basic detective thriller structure is neatly offset by a series of weird flashback sequences (more memory than actual event), & some typically surreal chance events, notably the lengthy suspense sequence involving a vicious dog. Technically dazzling, the film is thoroughly doused with lashings of violence & gore, topped with the extended quasi-Hitchcockian suspense sequences that the director does so well. A sequence with Bulmer (the excellent John Saxon) in a square is easily a match for the cropduster build-up in North by Northwest (1960). The dazzling scene with the camera travelling over the roof of a building, peering in all the windows is no less effective, with Goblin's rock-disco score becoming music on the stereo upstairs. All of the (numerous) murder sequences are handling with astonishing flair & panache, being almost poetic at times.

Re-uniting with Suspiria cinematographer Luciano Tovoli (who also did Antonioni's The Passenger - 1975), Argento forgoes the rich colour schemes that characterised the `Three Mothers' films. Here, everything is in blinding, sterile white – a direct contrast to the themes of the film (the title means Darkness – i.e. of the soul). It also provides a telling visual contrast to both the deep red of blood & a key pair of shoes, as well as black (the genre standard leather gloves, sunglasses, & hair – all the women are brunettes).

Tenebrae also pre-dates Scream (1996) with its self-deconstruction & irony, the characters constantly discussing everything from literary influences & narrative construction to representations of women. Thankfully, despite plenty of humour in the film, it's no-where near as annoyingly self-satisfied or unsubtle as Scream. In fact, Tenebrae is rich with subtexts, particularly about sexism. The killer is driven by his inability to accept female empowerment, rendered by the symbolic rape of him by her stiletto (& revenged by his knife), the part being played by a transsexual. Sure, none of this is subtle, but the brazen lack of subtlety is one of the things that makes Argento's films so treasurable. Accusations of misogyny could be laid, but when depicting a misogynistic killer, it's inevitable that there's going to be more female deaths than male, & the deaths of the men are handled no different to those of the women.

Of course, it's plenty easy to ignore the subtexts & simply enjoy Tenebrae as the deliriously off-the rails, hyper violent thriller, with gratuitous nudity & surreal gore. As a flat-out rollercoaster ride, Tenebrae delivers the goods in full. The only question is whether or not you can handle it.

With its leather-gloved killer, amazing score, spectacular and innovative camera-work, and wonderfully gory murders, Tenebre delivers everything you could ask for in a giallo. Like many Italian murder mysteries, the story takes some swallowing, but if you can accept the convoluted plot, there's plenty of fun to be had.

Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) is a best-selling novelist who becomes involved in real life murder mystery when the victims of a razor-wielding killer are found with pages from his latest book stuffed in their mouths.

One of director Dario Argento's best movies, Tenebre is packed to the rafters with the kind of stuff that make good giallos such a trip to watch. As pretty girls are stalked and killed by a raspy-voiced maniac, the director offers genuine clues and red herrings aplenty, allowing the audience to have fun trying to figure out who the killer is. The movie's stunning cinematography is accompanied by one of Goblin's greatest scores, transforming what may have been mundane moments in the hands of a lesser director into pure works of art (in one amazing scene the camera simply prowls slowly around the outside of a building, but with Argento in control, it is simply breathtaking!).

Murder has never been so stylish, and even the most grisly deaths are stunningly captured. A particularly memorable moment has a young girl stumble into the house of the killer, before being chased through a garden; this scene is shot from the axe-wielding maniac's point of view, and is incredibly effective.

Fans of gore are also catered for with several gruesome murders, the best of which involves bucket-loads of arterial spray decorating most of a wall. Juicy!

Argento reveals the identity of the killer in a suitably silly finale (all gialli have them), before offing the murderer in a fittingly gruesome manner.

Check out Tenebre and witness one of the great works from one of Italian horror's finest.