DOCSLIB.ORG

12 Brutal Facts About Dario Argento's Supernatural Thriller

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
12 Brutal Facts About Dario Argento's Supernatural Thriller Phenomena: 12 Brutal facts about Dario Argento’s supernatural thriller By Tiffany Aleman for 1428 Elm Phenomena is a murder mystery with fantastical elements set in the Swiss Alps. Although Dario Argento is notorious for his art house Giallo masterpieces, he has also made fun horror films — visual horror sleaze at its best. Phenomena is one of Dario Argento’s best works that gets overshadowed by the ​ ​ ​ more prominent Suspiria. Here’s a list of fun and brutal tidbits about the film: ​ ​ THE QUEEN OF THE FLIES ● Jennifer Connelly plays a girl who sleepwalks at her new school; she may have a split personality, but her second personality has the psychic ability to connect with telepathic insects, as in, they do her bidding. Flies, butterflies, maggots – they all love her! ● The actress gives a moving performance as a strong-willed girl with supernatural powers, who befriends an older scientist. The jealous girls at school try to bully her because she’s the beautiful daughter of a movie star, but she calls down a rain of flies on the estate. Back off, ya’ll! DR. LOOMIS IS A BUG SCIENTIST ● Donald Pleasence, who starred as the iconic Dr. Loomis in Halloween, plays a ​ ​ forensic entomologist, an expert on insects; the relationship between Professor McGregor and Connelly is wholesome and absolutely endearing. He is a kind, disabled scientist, who wants to bring the murderer, who is killing girls at the school to justice; he encourages Connelly and confirms that she has psychic abilities and calls her, ‘a great detective’. The hardest part in the film is watching him die — stabbed in the stomach by Frau Brückner wearing a man’s hat and jacket in disguise. ● The iconic actor starred in a number of legendary shows over his career, such as The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and Colombo; he played a murderer in ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Colombo, so, of course, he’s caught and punished because Colombo is King. ​ ● But the coolest fact about Pleasence is that he hosted the Halloween episode of Saturday Night Live in 1981, when the musical guest was the punk rock ​ ​ band Fear. ​ ​ CREEPY OPENING ● Fiore Argento is Dario’s daughter from his first marriage to Marisa Casale, a ​ glass maker. In the infamous opening scene (which serves as her IMDB headshot) of the film, she’s stabbed in the stomach and her head smashes through a glass pane window in grueling, slow motion. ● The killer beheads her and throws her head into a waterfall. Fortunately, the beheading takes place offscreen, by the unknown murderer. ● Is it symbolic that Argento essentially murders his daughter with shattering glass, considering that his ex-wife and mother of his child — was a Master glass maker? In fact, death by glass is a trademark of Argento’s films; people smash-fall through windows: impaled, penetrated, gouged, and some victims even walk through shattered glass — uh, maybe it’s a creepy coincidence. ​ ​ ● But what if his ex-wife’s glass restoration...became a part of his psyche? Horror is about our common fears — perhaps living in a glass maker’s house, constantly around dangerous glass with young children running about, secretly worried Argento? HEAVY METAL GOBLINS ● The Phenomena soundtrack includes music by progressive rock band Goblin, ​ ​ Iron Maiden and Motorhead. Many critics hated the use of heavy metal music, finding it jarring, but some millennial horror fans may enjoy discovering it. ● Motorhead plus Iron Maiden plus Goblin is gold, baby! Goblin collaborated with Argento in Deep Red and Suspiria — two of his most successful films, but their ​ ​ ​ ​ last collaboration was in 2001. INFAMOUS TAGLINES Phenomena had 7 taglines that are still entertainingly apt: ● Jennifer Has A Few Million Close Friends. She’s Going To Need Them All. ● It Will Make Your Skin Crawl. ● When Insects Attack! ● From Dario Argento the Master of Terror. ● Evil is alive and killing. ● A new breed of terror. ● A nightmare ALIVE! 90’S VIDEO GAME ● The Japanese 1996 video game Clock Tower is a survival horror adventure ​ ​ game inspired by Phenomena . ​ ● The character of Jennifer Simpson is clearly based on Connelly’s supernatural, fly-whispering protagonist. Jennifer Simpson looks exactly like Jennifer ​ ​ Connelly, minus wardrobe differences. ● Video game developer Hifumi Kono loved horror films and wanted to create a ​ ​ game in homage to Phenomena. Clock Tower was successful enough that it ​ ​ ​ ​ was rereleased in 2011 on the Playstation Network. WOMEN CAN KILL TOO, YA KNOW ● Phenomena features a homicidal maniac — a woman, a common twist in ​ Argento’s work, played by his wife, Daria Nicolodi. Her character was sexually ​ ​ assaulted and a child conceived from the attack, symbolically bearing the mark of tragedy. ● The boy was born with a deformed face, like a boiled lobster with teeth. In a shocking moment, Connelly discovers him standing in the corner of a room, crying, as if punished for something bad, but when he turns around — his face is a horrid red mess — maggots, crawling out of his gaping mouth. Terrifying! But it’s the sound of the poor boy crying…that is particularly unsettling. DARIA LOVED DARIO ● Daria Nicolodi, who stars in the film as the protective but homicidal Frau Brückner, divorced Argento in 1985, the year the film opened, which means they were most likely struggling as a couple during the production, which may explain her wicked laugh by the Poltergeist pool. ​ ​ ● The actress fell in love with Dario while filming Deep Red in 1974 and starred ​ ​ in his next four films: Inferno, Tenebrae, Phenomena, and Opera. Suspiria was ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ based on her childhood. ● Nicolodi swears in print…that the witches in Suspiria were based on real ​ ​ ​ people. In the film, she’s a hot mess of a woman; she’s the murdering psychopath, who keeps the dead close to her with a secret death pool in her dungeon, filled with rotting corpses and maggots. In the end, similar to Pamela ​ Voorhees, she attempts to murder Connelly, blaming her for the death of her ​ grotesque son, after a cloud of flies, loyal to the Queen of Bugs, swarm him to death. ● Frau Brückner is a tragic character for certain. When the detective questions her in the third act, he brutally asks her if she remembers her assault, and she opens her blouse to reveal an angry, red scar from the attack. Egads, Phenomena is like a Southern Gothic horror novel, but worse, far worse, for ​ the woman attacked becomes the attacker. Also, what’s up with the detective asking intrusive questions like that, yo? DON’T LOOK NOW — IT’S A CREEPY KID ● The 1973 film, Don’t Look Now, starring Donald Sutherland includes a scene, ​ ​ ​ ​ where a child turns around to reveal a grossly deformed face – like the wretched boy in Phenomena. Nothing is more terrifying than this trope! Not ​ ​ even the spooky baby crying in Prevenge! Cringe forever, man. ​ ​ MONKEY SHINES IN THE SWISS ALPS ● There’s a homicidal chimp in the movie — the adorable monkey Inga bit a chunk of Jennifer Connelly’s finger off and Connelly was rushed to the hospital to have the finger reattached. ● Argento had asked Connelly to rest her hand on the monkey to prevent her from turning around, but the monkey flew into rage and attacked her. ● After that, the monkey disliked Connelly and apparently waited until she had an opportunity to attack Connelly again, but you’d never know from the way the two cuddle-hug at the end of the film. MOMMY ISSUES ● In the Synapse version of the film, Jennifer tells her roommate that her mother ​ ​ abandoned the family on Christmas Day. This is a true story based on Argento’s childhood. WE ALMOST HAD A SEQUEL ● Phenomena is one of Dario Argento’s favorite films. He planned on shooting a ​ sequel in 2001, but it was canceled due to a contract issue with Medusa ​ Films. Maybe we’ll get lucky in the future. ​ Phenomena is streaming on Shudder and Amazon Prime, although they are different ​ ​ ​ versions; the curated Shudder pick is the international, 110 minute version from Synapse films, with 30 minutes of additional footage, not featured in the 1986 ​ American release, Creepers. ​ ​ However, the one on Amazon has three minutes of accidentally un-dubbed footage of Daria Nicolodi and Jennifer Connelly screaming at each other in Italian. Be sure to watch them…back to back, on a dark night. Do you like Dario Argento films? What fun facts or tidbits do you know about Phenomena? Feel free to share your answers in the comments section! .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Pictorial Imagery, Camerawork and Soundtrack in Dario Argento's Deep
    ACTA UNIV. SAPIENTIAE, FILM AND MEDIA STUDIES, 11 (2015) 159–179 DOI: 10.1515/ausfm-2015-0021 Pictorial Imagery, Camerawork and Soundtrack in Dario Argento’s Deep Red Giulio L. Giusti 3HEFlELD(ALLAM5NIVERSITY5+ E-mail: [email protected] Abstract. This article re-engages with existing scholarship identifying Deep Red (Profondo rosso, 1975) as a typical example within Dario Argento’s body of work, in which the Italian horror-meister fully explores a distinguishing pairing of the acoustic and the iconic through an effective combination of ELABORATECAMERAWORKANDDISJUNCTIVEMUSICANDSOUND3PECIlCALLY THIS article seeks to complement these studies by arguing that such a stylistic and technical achievementINTHElLMISALSORENDEREDBY!RGENTOSUSEOFASPECIlC art-historical repertoire, which not only reiterates the Gesamtkunstwerk- like complexity of the director’s audiovisual spectacle, but also serves to TRANSPOSETHElLMSNARRATIVEOVERAMETANARRATIVEPLANETHROUGHPICTORIAL techniques and their possible interpretations. The purpose of this article is, thus, twofold. Firstly, I shall discuss how Argento’s references to American hyperrealism in painting are integrated into Deep Red’s spectacles of death through colour, framing, and lighting, as well as the extent to which such references allow us to undertake a more in-depth analysis of the director’s style in terms of referentiality and cinematic intermediality. Secondly, I WILLDEMONSTRATEHOWANDTOWHATEXTENTINTHElLM!RGENTOMANAGESTO break down the epistemological system of knowledge and to disrupt the reasonable
    [Show full text]
  • Art, Argento and the Rape-Revenge Film
    University of Edinburgh Postgraduate Journal of Culture and the Arts Issue 13 | Autumn 2011 Title The Violation of Representation: Art, Argento and the Rape-Revenge Film Author Alexandra Heller-Nicholas Publication FORUM: University of Edinburgh Postgraduate Journal of Culture and the Arts Issue Number 13 Issue Date Autumn 2011 Publication Date 6/12/2011 Editors Dorothy Butchard & Barbara Vrachnas FORUM claims non-exclusive rights to reproduce this article electronically (in full or in part) and to publish this work in any such media current or later developed. The author retains all rights, including the right to be identified as the author wherever and whenever this article is published, and the right to use all or part of the article and abstracts, with or without revision or modification in compilations or other publications. Any latter publication shall recognise FORUM as the original publisher. FORUM | ISSUE 13 Alexandra Heller-Nicholas 1 The Violation of Representation: Art, Argento and the Rape-Revenge Film Alexandra Heller-Nicholas Swinburne University of Technology Considering the moral controversies surrounding films such as I Spit on Your Grave (Meir Zarch, 1976) and Baise-Moi (Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh-Thi, 2000), the rape-revenge film is often typecast as gratuitous and regressive. But far from dismissing rape-revenge in her foundational book Men, Women and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film (1992), Carol J. Clover suggests that these movies permit unique insight into the representation of gendered bodies on screen. In Images of Rape: The ‘Heroic’ Tradition and Its Alternatives (1999), art historian Diane Wolfthal demonstrates that contradictory representations of sexual violence co-existed long before the advent of the cinematic image, and a closer analysis of films that fall into the rape-revenge category reveals that they too resist a singular classification.
    [Show full text]
  • © 2018 Donata Panizza ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
    © 2018 Donata Panizza ALL RIGHTS RESERVED OVEREXPOSING FLORENCE: JOURNEYS THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHY, CINEMA, TOURISM, AND URBAN SPACE by DONATA PANIZZA A dissertation submitted to the School of Graduate Studies Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Italian Written under the direction of Professor Rhiannon Noel Welch And approved by ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey OCTOBER, 2018 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Overexposing Florence: Journeys through Photography, Cinema, Tourism, and Urban Space by DONATA PANIZZA Dissertation Director Rhiannon Noel Welch This dissertation examines the many ways in which urban form and visual media interact in 19th-, 20th-, and 21st-centuries Florence. More in detail, this work analyzes photographs of Florence’s medieval and Renaissance heritage by the Alinari Brothers atelier (1852- 1890), and then retraces these photographs’ relationship to contemporary visual culture – namely through representations of Florence in international cinema, art photography, and the guidebook – as well as to the city’s actual structure. Unlike previous scholarship, my research places the Alinari Brothers’ photographs in the context of the enigmatic processes of urban modernization that took place in Florence throughout the 19th century, changing its medieval structure into that of a modern city and the capital of newly unified Italy from 1865 to 1871. The Alinari photographs’ tension between the establishment of the myth of Florence as the cradle of the Renaissance and an uneasy attitude towards modernization, both cherished and feared, produced a multi-layered city portrait, which raises questions about crucial issues such as urban heritage preservation, mass tourism, (de)industrialization, social segregation, and real estate speculation.
    [Show full text]
  • Unmasking the Devil: Comfort and Closure in Horror Film Special Features
    Unmasking the Devil: Comfort and Closure in Horror Film Special Features ZACHARY SHELDON While a viewer or critic may choose to concentrate solely on a film’s narrative as representative of what a film says, some scholars note that the inclusion of the supplementary features that often accompany the home release of a film destabilize conceptions of the text of a film through introducing new information and elements that can impact a film’s reception and interpretation (Owczarski). Though some special features act as mere advertising for a film’s ancillary products or for other film’s or merchandise, most of these supplements provide at least some form of behind-the-scenes look into the production of the film. Craig Hight recognizes the prominent “Making of Documentary” (MOD) subgenre of special feature as being especially poised to “serve as a site for explorations of the full diversity of institutional, social, aesthetic, political, and economic factors that shape the development of cinema as a medium and an art form” (6). Additionally, special features provide the average viewer access to the magic of cinema and the Hollywood elite. The gossip or anecdotes shared in interviews and documentaries in special features provide viewers with an “insider identity,” that seemingly involves them in their favorite films beyond the level of mere spectator (Klinger 68). This phenomenon is particularly interesting in relation to horror films, the success of which is often predicated on a sense of mystery or the unknown pervading the narrative so as to draw out visceral affective responses from the audience. The notion of the special feature, which unpacks and reveals the inner workings of the film set and even the film’s plot, seems contradictory to the enjoyment of what the horror film sets out to do.
    [Show full text]
  • Volume 8, Number 1
    POPULAR CULTURE STUDIES JOURNAL VOLUME 8 NUMBER 1 2020 Editor Lead Copy Editor CARRIELYNN D. REINHARD AMY DREES Dominican University Northwest State Community College Managing Editor Associate Copy Editor JULIA LARGENT AMANDA KONKLE McPherson College Georgia Southern University Associate Editor Associate Copy Editor GARRET L. CASTLEBERRY PETER CULLEN BRYAN Mid-America Christian University The Pennsylvania State University Associate Editor Reviews Editor MALYNNDA JOHNSON CHRISTOPHER J. OLSON Indiana State University University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Associate Editor Assistant Reviews Editor KATHLEEN TURNER LEDGERWOOD SARAH PAWLAK STANLEY Lincoln University Marquette University Associate Editor Graphics Editor RUTH ANN JONES ETHAN CHITTY Michigan State University Purdue University Please visit the PCSJ at: mpcaaca.org/the-popular-culture-studies-journal. Popular Culture Studies Journal is the official journal of the Midwest Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association (MPCA/ACA), ISSN 2691-8617. Copyright © 2020 MPCA. All rights reserved. MPCA/ACA, 421 W. Huron St Unit 1304, Chicago, IL 60654 EDITORIAL BOARD CORTNEY BARKO KATIE WILSON PAUL BOOTH West Virginia University University of Louisville DePaul University AMANDA PICHE CARYN NEUMANN ALLISON R. LEVIN Ryerson University Miami University Webster University ZACHARY MATUSHESKI BRADY SIMENSON CARLOS MORRISON Ohio State University Northern Illinois University Alabama State University KATHLEEN KOLLMAN RAYMOND SCHUCK ROBIN HERSHKOWITZ Bowling Green State Bowling Green State
    [Show full text]
  • Affiche 2020 Du 29 Janvier Au 2 Février 2020 Coup De Maître
    N° 201 VENDREDI 20 DÉCEMBRE 2019 LE JOURNAL DU FESTIVAL 27e FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DU FILM FANTASTIQUE AFFICHE 2020 DU 29 JANVIER AU 2 FÉVRIER 2020 COUP DE MAÎTRE On a coutume de dire que le Festival de Gérardmer est devenu au fil des éditions, la convention du genre fantastique, l’événement où l’on peut vivre ce que l’on ne vivra pas ailleurs. Invités prestigieux, films rares, charme des montagnes vosgiennes, activités de plein air… le cocktail fonctionne à merveille et c’est là l’une des clés de cette réussite. Un succès qui ne risque pas de s’étioler au vu des premiers éléments annoncés pour cette 27e édition avec, en guise de plat de résistance, une recette que nous aimons particulièrement concocter : rassembler à Gérardmer la grande famille du fantastique. Après 2008, 2013 et 2015, non seulement les Maîtres du genre seront de retour en 2020 dans la Perle des Vosges, mais nous aurons aussi l’honneur d’accueillir, pour la première fois, une femme comme présidente du jury : Asia Argento. Quel magnifique cadeau de Noël ! À ce sujet, n’oubliez pas que notre billetterie est d’ores et déjà ouverte en ligne… si vous êtes à la recherche d’une idée originale pour faire plaisir à vos proches. Je vous rappelle également que le festival dispose d’une fondation offrant d’importants avantages fiscaux à ses mécènes. Bonnes fêtes de fin d’année à tous ! Pierre Sachot Président de l’association du festival et de la fondation « Gérardmer Culture Initiatives » BENVENUTA SIGNORA PRESIDENTE ! ASIA ARGENTO, PRÉSIDENTE DU JURY DES LONGS MÉTRAGES Fille du cinéaste Dario Argento et de la comédienne Daria Nicolodi, Asia Argento présidera le jury des longs métrages 2020.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Edinburgh Postgraduate Journal of Culture and the Arts Issue 07 | Autumn 2008
    University of Edinburgh Postgraduate Journal of Culture and the Arts Issue 07 | Autumn 2008 Title Palimpsest, Pasolini, Poe and Poetics, or the phantoms haunting Dario Argento’s Opera (1987) Author Keith Hennessey Brown Publication FORUM: University of Edinburgh Postgraduate Journal of Culture and the Arts Issue Number 07 Issue Date Autumn 2008 Publication Date 12/12/2008 Editors Jack Burton & Jana Funke FORUM claims non-exclusive rights to reproduce this article electronically (in full or in part) and to publish this work in any such media current or later developed. The author retains all rights, including the right to be identified as the author wherever and whenever this article is published, and the right to use all or part of the article and abstracts, with or without revision or modification in compilations or other publications. Any latter publication shall recognise FORUM as the original publisher. Palimpsest, Pasolini, Poe and Poetics, or the phantoms haunting Dario Argento’s Opera (1987) Keith Hennessey Brown University of Edinburgh Italian horror and thriller auteur Dario Argento’s films are replete with images and themes of haunting: the solidified residue of malign, murderous thoughts sensed by the medium at the parapsychology conference which opens Profondo Rosso (1975) or the literal haunted houses inhabited by the witches Mater Tenebrarum, Suspiriorum and Lachrymarum in the horror films Suspiria (1977) and Inferno (1980). Above all, Argento’s gialli – i.e. Italian-style thrillers – from The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) onwards present a succession of protagonists who find themselves haunted by some vital fragment of sound or image that they cannot quite recall, going up against antagonists whose inability to overcome the haunting legacy of some incident in their past compels them to kill again and again.
    [Show full text]
  • First Line of Title
    DREAMS ON THE SCREEN: AN EXPLORATION OF DARIO ARGENTO’S GREATEST NIGHTMARES by Matthew Bleacher A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of the Arts in Italian Studies Summer 2020 © 2020 Matthew Bleacher All Rights Reserved DREAMS ON THE SCREEN: AN EXPLORATION OF DARIO ARGENTO’S GREATEST NIGHTMARES by Matthew Bleacher Approved: __________________________________________________________ Giorgio Melloni, Ph.D. Co-Professor in charge of thesis on behalf of the Advisory Committee Approved: __________________________________________________________ Laura Salsini, Ph.D. Co-Professor in charge of thesis on behalf of the Advisory Committee Approved: __________________________________________________________ Meredith K. Ray, Ph.D. Interim Chair of the Department of the Languages, Literatures and Cultures Approved: __________________________________________________________ John Pelesko, Ph.D. Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Approved: __________________________________________________________ Douglas J. Doren, Ph.D. Interim Vice Provost for Graduate and Professional Education and Dean of the Graduate College ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to start by thanking the entire Italian Department at the University of Delaware and professors Laura Salsini and Giorgio Melloni in particular. Laura Salsini acted as editor in chief, kept me organized throughout the thesis writing process, and believed in me when I did not. Giorgio Melloni offered invaluable insights into Italian cinema, and I am especially grateful to him for stepping out of his comfort zone to watch and discuss horror films. I would also like to thank Meredith Ray for encouraging me to undertake this endeavor, which has been the highlight of my academic career. Thanks also to my family and friends for their various forms of support.
    [Show full text]
  • Arrestato Dario Arge Per 23 Grammi D'hashish
    GIOVEDÌ 20 GIUGNO 1985 l'Unità - CRONACHE Firenze: nuovo arresto Emozione e polemiche in Giappone Aids, primo infetto emofilico per le tangenti. In per l'omicidio in diretta. Ma c'è Ancora non è obbligatorio manette un industriale anche chi è dalla parte dei killer il «test» sul sangue donato FIRENZE — Un altro arresto per Io scandalo delle tangenti TOKYO — L'opinione pubblica giapponese e riggio alle 16.30 ed è stato ripreso minuto per ROMA — In Italia si e registrato il primo mala­ 1G di questi si sono conclusi con la morte. Per denunciato da un esponente comunista. È finito in carcere a mondiale è sotto choc per il comportamento dei minuto dalle reti televisive con immagini vio­ to da Aids emofilico. Un caso che purtroppo tutti gli altri è ancora impossibile fare una pro­ Soliicciano con l'accusa di concorso in corruzione l'industriale 40 giornalisti e teleopcratori che ad Osaka han­ lente, macabre e sconvolgenti. Due uomini, non sarà l'ultimo visto che questa categoria di gnosi positiva che escluda l'esito fatale. In par­ piemontese Cesare Alessio, di Carcsana in provincia di Vercelli, no ripreso la raccapricciante uccisione di un uno più anziano, Atsuo lida, 56 anni, in com­ malati ha bisogno, per fronteggiare l'emofilia ticolare, ha detto il professor Rossi, «ci sarebbe titolare assieme ai fratelli Roberto e Giuseppe di una grossa uomo d'affari, indiziato di una colossale truffa, pleto chiaro ed un altro più giovane, Masazaku di un derivato del sangue (il fattore ottavo) che da mettersi le mani nei capelli guardando il società di importazione di generi alimentari.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Download
    CINERGIE il cinema e le altre arti 4 CRITICA Expressionist Use of Colour Palette and Set Design in Dario CINEFILIA Argento’s Suspiria (1977) E FESTIVAL STUDIES At the time of Suspiria’s release in the United States in 1978, the Soho Weekly News critic Rob Baker identifi ed Dario Argento’s new cinematic experience as a “horror fi lm (The Cabinet of Dr Caligari) laden with […] the self-conscious convoluted fairy tale Alice in Wonderland”1. Baker’s statement introduces two fundamental issues regarding the fi lm itself. Suspiria constitutes a step forward in Argento’s career both in terms of narrative and style. Firstly, the fi lm is the director’s fi rst foray into the realms of the wholly supernatural horror of occultism and witchcraft. Particularly, Argento chooses the narrative trope of the fairy tale to narrate the negative effects of black magic on people and the horrifi c consequences that may derive from opposing the occult power of witches. Secondly, the fi lm was inspired by the visual tropes of German Expressionism, such as Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Das Kabinett Des Dr. Caligari, 1920). Baker’s analysis, however, allows ample space to Suspiria’s fairy tale component by referencing Lewis Carroll’s novel but does not explore how and to what extent Suspiria may have been infl uenced by Wiene’s fi lm. Argento himself is very open about the importance of German Expressionism on his style of fi lmmaking even going so far as to state that: “il cinema espressionista tedesco […] penso sia molto presente nei miei fi lm […].
    [Show full text]
  • Argento's Aesthetic Alignments
    Argento's Aesthetic Alignments: A Cognitive Approach to the Films of Dario Argento by Nia Edwards-Behi MA Film Studies 2010 Aberystwyth University Argento‟s Aesthetic Alignments Contents Acknowledgements ... i Introduction ... 1 Chapter One - Dario Argento: Contexts and Precedents ... 5 Chapter Two - “Why do you despise women so much?” The Camera in Tenebrae ... 14 Chapter Three - “This isn‟t one of your crummy movies!” Editing Terror at the Opera ... 23 Chapter Four - “I‟m blind, not deaf, you get it? Not deaf!” The Sounds of Suspiria ... 29 Conclusion - Argento‟s Aesthetic Alignment ... 37 Bibliography ... 42 Filmography ... 45 Appendix A – Tenebrae (I) ... 47 Appendix B – Tenebrae (II) ... 50 Appendix C – Terror at the Opera ... 54 Appendix D - Suspiria ... 57 Acknowledgements My first and foremost thanks must go to my supervisor, Dr. Paul Newland, without whose invaluable guidance my work would still be an incoherent jumble of thoughts on paper. Secondly, to Holly and Liam Dacre-Davis, for keeping me motivated and distracted in equally as useful measures; and to Sarah Bertram, Sarah Harman, Bethan Jones and Jonna Verdel for lending an ear when it was needed. Finally, to my parents, for always being interested in and supportive of my work, even when it‟s about something as horrific as Dario Argento. i Introduction “I like women, especially beautiful ones. If they have a good face and figure, I would much prefer to watch them being murdered than an ugly girl or man.” – Dario Argento1 A man‟s teeth smash onto a table edge, before he is stabbed through the neck. Another is dragged along a road by a truck before having his skull crushed in oncoming traffic.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Download
    22 “Te sound, it looks wonderful.” — Dario Argento If the colour yellow once evoked the pleasant imagery of bright summer days and blooming bush daisies, it certainly took a dark turn in the cinematic world of twentieth century Italy. Murder mysteries shot in saturated colours depicting grim, twisted nightmares of brutal killings became the new yellow—the giallo flm. But before referring to a genre of graphic Italian horror flms, giallo, the Italian word for yellow, was used to describe a genre of paperback mystery novels with bright yellow spines and covers introduced by the Milanese publishing house Mondadori in 1929.1 Most of the stories were translations of English whodunits and hard- boiled detective novels, including work by Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Agatha Christie 2, with translations of Edgar Wallace novels appearing to be some of the most popular during the 1930s and 1940s.3 Despite the fact some critics, such as Alberto Savino, believed that mysteries were “unnatural” and “foreign” to Italian culture, these novels managed to inspire not only an Italian literary tradition with authors such as Giorgio Scerbanenco, Andrea Camilleri, and Carlo Lucarelli 4, but also some of the most terrifying and visually striking flms to come out of Italy during the 1960s and 1970s. Gialli frequently cross generic boundaries of crime flms, horror movies, and thrillers, and therefore may be more appropriately considered flone, as they are by many Italian critics, rather than part of a genre.5 Meaning large thread, the term flone is used to indicate a looser collection of similar themes and styles.6 Gialli can be more generally related to each other in this way, and thus a flm like Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977) can be called giallo despite its greater resemblance to the supernatural horror thriller.
    [Show full text]