Tenebrae (el placer del miedo)

This is a stylish, sprawling giallo from Director Dario Argento. Writer Peter Neale is played by 50-something Anthony Franciosa, surrounded by a cheery, adoring gaggle of young ladies whenever he flashes his pearly whites. Unlike a lot of giallo leading men, however, Neale is likeable and a gentleman, at least most of the time, and Franciosca plays him very well. Some nicely paced set-pieces put the victims through their paces in a memorably punishing manner, often topped off with more than a splash of thick red blood.

Supporting players include the appealing Christian Borromeo as possible suspect Gianni, and the familiar face of John Saxon, who was prolific in film and television at this time, is Bullmer.

The star of the show though, is undoubtedly Argento's wondrous directorial flourishes. The squealing, electronic prog-rock soundtrack is provided by the idiosyncratic band Goblin. Like their other incidental scores it is somewhat 'full on' at times, but nevertheless injects various scenes with a sense of perverse dread, and enters fully into the director's somewhat gaudy style.

'Tenebrae' saw the welcome return of Argento to the world of giallo after delving into pure supernatural horror for his last few ventures. It proved he hadn't lost his stylish approach to the genre and remains a favourite of mine. The ending, where there is revelation upon revelation, is particularly successful. If you are considering venturing into the world of 'Tenebrae' for the first time, I advise you to avoid spoilers! My score for this is 8 out of 10.

"Tenebre " is closer ,in Argento's filmography ,to " profondo rosso " and "uccello della piume di cristallo ",than to "inferno" and "suspiria " which were pure fantasy horror .We deal with murder mystery again, whodunit.

Conan Doyle 's "hound of the Baskervilles" and his famous sentence ("whatever remains ,however improbable ,must be the truth ")give the final clue .Agatha Christie is also mentioned by the police lieutenant ("I read all her books and I could never guess any of her culprits") ,and in fact ,the plot ,save for the motivations and the gore, recalls some of her detective stories such a "the ABC murders" .

This Argento movie takes a little time to take off,but when it hits its stride, there's no letup as it continues to build in horror ,to an extraordinary finale ,which leaves "Friday the thirteen " far behind ;this director is also a past master when it comes to make a place terrifying : John Saxon in his "glass house" might be a red herring ,as was the woman to Tony Musante in "uccello ";

Besides Saxon, the cast includes two very good actors,Giuliano Gemma and Anthony Franciosa. Although far-fetched to a fault,the screenplay has its logic.

Tenebre (1982) is a cold, dark and sterile film from Dario Argento. In sterile I mean the clinical and septic surroundings that the city dwellers live in. Some of the sets are painted bright white and lighted in cool hues. The film is about a murder mystery writer named Peter Neal who comes to Rome on a business trip/vacation. During this trip, some murders are committed by a strange demented killer who's a big fan of Peter Neal. The film's translated title Shadow describes the film perfectly. To say how it relates to the film would be all too telling.

Some of the set pieces in this film are some of the most graphic and violent ones that Argento has ever concieved. They fit neatly within the confines of this tightly shot and directed thriller. One of Argento's best films (besides his opus Suspiria). I strongly recommend this picture. My favorite of the set pieces takes place in the final third of the movie. It's well worth the wait. Believe me.

A+

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 and violent style of storytelling , ¨La Terza Madre (2007)¨ has a lot of references to the previous two movies as 'Suspiria' and 'Inferno' which is a must for fans of the trilogy . And finally directed a so-so film called ¨Giallo¨ and recently ¨Dracula 3D¨ .

Perhaps one of the top mystery-thrillers of the 1980s; if you like films like "The 4th Man" (1983) or "Body Double" (1984), you'll fancy this one too. Well-constructed twisty-turny plot, virtuoso camerawork, sudden shocks, terrific synthesizer score, supremely good-looking female cast. It's also surprisingly self-reflexive: the character of the writer can be seen as a stand-in for Argento himself, who uses him as a means of addressing some of the most common criticisms made against his films. This is peak Argento. *** out of 4.