Good movies by Dario Argento?

Started by KyriakosCH, Tue 29/05/2018 03:28:06

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KyriakosCH

I like the following:

Profondo Rosso
Tenebre
Suspiria
Phenomena

Suspiria and Phenomena have issues with the plot (well, more issues ;) ), but sort of make up for them in other ways.

I like Argento, although he is repetitive and doesn't seem to mind plot that much. Profondo Rosso probably has the most concrete plot of his movies that i have seen.

Whatever, though; Phenomena has Jennifer Connelly, and apparently the girl (also called Jennifer) in SNES horror classic "Clocktower" was modelled after her :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJZ__uy7T_Y
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TheFrighter


Yeah, Argento is more talented as director than writer.

Inferno is very visionary and inventive, if you don't care the final.

Sadly in recent movies he use Asia as main character, with poor results.

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LimpingFish

Oh, man, don't get me started! I could talk about Argento (and Italian horror in general) all day long!

I'll just say that everything up to and including Opera is worth seeing. After that, it's a very mixed bag. He made three films is a row starring his daughter Asia (Trauma, The Stendahl Syndrome, and The Phantom of the Opera), and even though I like elements of each, it's quite hard to recommend them to anyone other than fans. Then he went back to his giallo roots with Non ho sonno, which, though minor, is a semi-return to form.

Then thing get...messy. The Card Player is something an Argento film should never be...boring and dull. The Third Mother just doesn't work on any level, except maybe for shock value. Giallo is, if anything, too silly, and Dracula 3D, save for a couple of somewhat decent scenes, is just...bad.

Having said all that, Phenomena is one of my favourite films (ever since I seen it way back in the day, cut and re-edited, as Creepers) and I'll recommend it until I'm blue in the face.



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KyriakosCH

#3
Thank you both :)

Of the other italian horror directors, which movies are of note?

Regarding Inferno... I didn't like it ^_^ Not just the ending. It felt a lot emptier than the other ones i saw.

Daria Nicolodi used to look so good, though (nod)

(from Profondo)

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mkennedy

#4
Quote from: KyriakosCH on Wed 30/05/2018 02:01:05
Thank you both :)

Of the other italian horror directors, which movies are of note?



Isn't Guillermo Del Toro Italian? The Mimic films were pretty good and the second one had an excellent twist at the end.

TheFrighter

Quote from: mkennedy on Wed 30/05/2018 03:04:37

Isn't Guillermo Del Toro Italian?


No, he's mexican. :P

Quote from: KyriakosCH on Wed 30/05/2018 02:01:05

Of the other italian horror directors, which movies are of note?



Let's start from Argento's alumni:

Michele Soavi' La Chiesa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAPHtW1g4qI

Sergio Stivaletti's I Tre Volti Del Terrore

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WSCJ1rDlak

Others will follow...

_

Frodo

I LOVE Dario's version of Phantom Of The Opera.  Just... amazing!  :cheesy:

LimpingFish

Quote from: KyriakosCH on Wed 30/05/2018 02:01:05
Of the other italian horror directors, which movies are of note?

Italian horror is minefield of varying quality, which, to me anyway, is half the fun. Among some truly terrible films, you'll find stunning cinematic gems, usually low on coherent plotting, but packed with amazing ideas and visuals. The aforementioned Michele Soavi (I really like La Chiesa, and I'd also recommend his giallo Stagefright, along with his magnum-opus Dellamorte Dellamore) is as good start as any.

For unapologetic horror schlock, the Demoni films of Lamberto Bava are some of the best examples. Two of his lurid gialli, A Blade in the Dark and Delirium, are also worth a watch. A generation before Lamberto, was his father, Mario Bava, who gave us gialli classics such as Blood and Black Lace and Hatchet for the Honeymoon, along with the gleefully violent A Bay of Blood.

But, personally, I'd probably start with Lucio Fulci and his "Gates of Hell" trilogy; City of the Living Dead, The Beyond, and The House by the Cemetary.

Like I said, it's a minefield (For every Argento, there's a Bruno Mattei, for every Bava, a Joe D'Amato), but the the above-mentioned directors and films are probably some of the best known, and better regarded, of the genre.
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KyriakosCH

Hm, i tried to watch some movies by other italian directors (Fulci's house by the cemetery, and Soavi's Stagefright) but they seem to be less stylish than Argento's (i did expect that) and also have less of a notable plot as well :/

I suppose he is just the clearly towering figure.
I am also watching Opera, but i can't say i like it much either (laugh)
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Mandle

I do like Argento but still cannot forgive him for the hatchet job he did on his edit of "Dawn Of The Dead", probably my all-time favorite horror movie, and, because Argento is popular here in Japan, it's the only version I have been able to buy. I didn't realise it was his edited version until I watched it otherwise I wouldn't have wasted my money.

KyriakosCH

I tried to watch the Stendhal Syndrome, and gave up after 20 min... :)
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TheFrighter

Quote from: KyriakosCH on Wed 30/05/2018 02:01:05

Of the other italian horror directors, which movies are of note?


For example:

Stelvio Massi's Arabella l'angelo nero (warning: VM14)

https://www.dailymotion.com/8cb65ed6-2f85-45fc-a3e4-9917d9cacb5a


Francesco Laurenti's La casa 4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VYIT2P4XN0

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