Euro Horror Director of the Month - Month 1(Feb. 01) - Dario Argento

[Jason25]

I thought it would be cool to have a new feature called the Euro Horror Director of the Month. I thought we could discuss all details of this certain director all month long. Opinions?
Anyways, I thought it would only be fair to pick Dario Argento as the 1st Director awarded this distinction. Dario certainly has made a huge impact in this category.

Yeah, Argento is pretty good. Although he does seem to reuse ideas in films.

I like his camerawork a lot, especially in Deep Red.

I must say I find his filming his daughter in less than savory circumstances a wee bit disturbing though.

[DVD Connoisseur]

Argento is a very talented director - his eye for detail and innovative techniques, coupled with genuine atmosphere in his movies, makes him "the master of horror" (IMHO).

I love sitting down and watching an Argento movie. The films are escapist with their lovely settings but also full of suspense and shocks. For me, Opera is Argento at his best...the movie is atmospheric, it contains great music and has some of the best set pieces I've ever seen. Deep Red and Tenebre are classic thrillers...superb. As I've said before, Stendhal Syndrome is a hugely underestimated movie - this will be seen as a classic in 20 years time. At the moment, it's "newness" seems to be working against it.

Where as directors such as Tobe Hooper and John Carpenter seem to have lost their edge, I would say that Argento has maintained his brilliance. I have yet to see his latest film but I am sure it will be innovative and refreshing compared to 99% of the current horror fodder served by the studios.

[The Chaostar]

I agree on Stendhal 100%.
I was lucky enough to see the film in cinema (in it's one and only screening here in Greece) and I found it amazing, his most mature work to date. The Phantom was also interesting with it's fellinian "arty" atmosphear, but not for everyone's taste, I must admit that.

DVD Con - Carpenter lost his edge? Vampires was a damn fine film. I can't comment on Hooper, as I can't think of anything more recent than TCM2 of his that I've seen...

I've seen only a few Argento films, but he's quickly shot to the top of my list of directors whose films really hold my attention because of their imagery.

Plots/characters are well-drawn enough to keep your attention, no different from most horror films, I guess, but the cinematography and imagery is what separates him from others, IMHO.

Thank goodness for those nice widescreen AB discs, huh?

[Paff]

RE: Argento's influence on others.

Unfortunately, I now have to take statements like that with a grain of salt since Lloyd Kaufman (in the intro to Stendhal Syndrome) talks about Suspiria being an obvious influence on The Toxic Avenger. What??!? How so? In that they are both motion pictures?

But another director who uses Argento as an influence is the guy who made Idle Hands. Don't know his name, don't feel like looking it up on IMDB. That's a commentary well worth listening to, 'cause the guy really knows his horror. He openly talks about some scenes being lifted directly from Suspiria and Tenebrae. (the latter especially). But there's also talk about Dead-Alive, Re-Animator, and Cannibal Ferox. One of my favorite commentaries, and better than the movie itself (except for Jessica Alba)

[DVD Connoisseur]

Originally posted by napalm68:
DVD Con - Carpenter lost his edge? Vampires was a damn fine film. I can't comment on Hooper, as I can't think of anything more recent than TCM2 of his that I've seen...

I love Carpenter's early work but I wasn't too impressed with some of his more current works (In the Mouth of Madness, springs to mind). However, I have yet to see Vampires. I may be eating humble pie yet!

[Paff]

Is an Argento/Carpenter comparison even fair?

Carpenter has done so many diverse films, it's only surprising he hasn't made MORE disappointing films. There's been Sci-Fi (Dark Star), Crime (Assault on P13), Slasher (Halloween), Ghost Story (The Fog), Action (Escape From NY), Alien/Monster (The Thing), the list goes on...

Argento, on the other hand, has mostly made Giallos. There's been a few diversions (Suspiria, Inferno, Phenomena, Two Evil Eyes, Phantom), but he's made several films all with similar themes. He's even re-used several themes more than once. A fan like myself could call it "thorough", yet a critic could just as easily use the word "repetitive"

Look at some similar Argento themes:
What did I see or not see?: Bird w/CP, Deep Red, Trauma
The effects of trauma on later life: Bird, 4 Flies, Deep Red, Tenebrae, Trauma, Stendhal
Behavior affected by Art:Bird, Deep Red, Stendhal
Weird Science: Cat O Nine Tails, 4 Flies, Phenomena, Stendhal

And this doesn't even include the theme of Obsession, which could almost be in every film.

Argento's body of work is living, breathing, always developing and moving ideas forward. Carpenter almost has to re-invent himself with each film.

I like both. But with Carpenter you have to look at each film on a case-by-case basis, yet Argento is best viewed as a whole. For that reason, I do prefer Argento, but I still see comparing the two to be more than slightly unfair.

[DVD Connoisseur]

Paff, I agree with your comments. I wasn't aiming to compare Argento with Carpenter directly, I was just making a point about my feelings of consistency in Dario's films. When I sit down with an Argento movie, I know I'm going to be transported to a dark, fantastical world. I meant no offence to Carpenter fans - I am one myself. Apologies for my ambiguity.

[mutleyhyde]

Hey guys, isn't Carpenter considered like a god in Europe? I only bring this up because of the comparison to Argento, and vaguely remember hearing something about Carpenter's legendary status in Europe. I wonder how Argento, and the Italian film community in general, regard Carpenter. He's been bashed left and right since the early nineties here in the U.S.. It seems to me that that Europeans reward diversity in ones works, whereas we Americans are less patient. Hell, I don't think I've seen any Carpenter since Starman. Maybe I'll have to rent Prince of Darkness, Vampires (I actually only heard it sucked), and In the Mouth of Madness, and give him a fair late 80's - 90's shake for myself.

As for Argento, he rules. No other Euro director has kept my interest as he has (well, except for Sergio Leone, but we're talking horror here). However, it does take a certain mind to comprehend what he does, or how Europe does film in general. When I was first getting into Argento, my friends all quickly got bored with him. I feel these friends just didn't have vision, or an open sense of perspective. They only wanted movies that just had action, action, action, and got instantly bored with anything that had any atmosphere. Hey, that's okay too. I love Predator, Aliens, From Dusk Till Dawn... I just like to be held in suspense too. I think that's why I took to Hitchcock at such an early age, or maybe it's because of him that I have my appreciation of suspense and style. Argento certainly has suspense and style to spare, and it's all twisted in his own unique way. To me Argento's films are always new and exciting.

Originally posted by Paff:
Is an Argento/Carpenter comparison even fair?

Carpenter has done so many diverse films, it's only surprising he hasn't made MORE disappointing films. There's been Sci-Fi (Dark Star), Crime (Assault on P13), Slasher (Halloween), Ghost Story (The Fog), Action (Escape From NY), Alien/Monster (The Thing), the list goes on...

Argento, on the other hand, has mostly made Giallos. There's been a few diversions (Suspiria, Inferno, Phenomena, Two Evil Eyes, Phantom), but he's made several films all with similar themes. He's even re-used several themes more than once. A fan like myself could call it "thorough", yet a critic could just as easily use the word "repetitive"

Look at some similar Argento themes:
What did I see or not see?: Bird w/CP, Deep Red, Trauma
The effects of trauma on later life: Bird, 4 Flies, Deep Red, Tenebrae, Trauma, Stendhal
Behavior affected by Art:Bird, Deep Red, Stendhal
Weird Science: Cat O Nine Tails, 4 Flies, Phenomena, Stendhal

And this doesn't even include the theme of Obsession, which could almost be in every film.

Argento's body of work is living, breathing, always developing and moving ideas forward. Carpenter almost has to re-invent himself with each film.

I like both. But with Carpenter you have to look at each film on a case-by-case basis, yet Argento is best viewed as a whole. For that reason, I do prefer Argento, but I still see comparing the two to be more than slightly unfair.

I like your classification system but Suspiria can fit in the "what did I see...?" category or you can classify Suspiria, Inferno, and Phenomena as Fantasy/Supernatural. Suspiria and Phenomena are two of my favorite Argento films (Phenomena is actually my all-time favorite film) because they have that fairy tale, dream-like "away from home" feeling and they're both gloomy yet colorful at the same time.

mutleyhyde - Yeah Carpenter is considered an autuer in france...

It is impossible to compare Carpenter and Argento. Yes, Carpenter can NEVER be accused of doing the same thing twice (with the exception of the Escape films. Even with the Halloween series, he only directed the first one, and with number three, was trying to get them to go down a different trail, rather than some embarassing unstoppable monster franchise.

Although I like Argento, there are too many plot ideas just plain reused - Ie, the momentary glimpse of the killer at the start of BWTCP and Profundo Rosso leaving the lead wondering what he saw for the rest of the film; The killer being a
<--------------SPOILER-------------->
disgruntled mother and getting decapitated right at the end in Profundo Rosso and Trauma...

And I thought In the Mouth of Madness a great film, personally. I am too embarassed to watch either Memoirs of an Invisible Man or Starman, though

On a film making point of view, Carpenter is a master of widescreen. Argento is great at widescreen, although his films never seem to be shot anamorphically, and vary in aspect ratio. Carpenter's are always 2.35:1 anamorphic (with the exception of Dark Star).

But Argento is a definite master of the camera in motion, and closeup filming. Deep Red has some pretty great examples of this, especially one tracking shot I recall where the camera makes a smooth sudden left hand 90 degree turn, moves forward, makes a 90 degree right turn, without breaking pace.

[Paff]

Busted. Suspiria totally does that "What did I see?" thing.

And while it's not a major plot point, it does come up in Tenebrae too (when the kid realizes he missed something in Christian Berti's murder)

It's not an exact classification of course, just an observation about similar themes.

And like I said, it's the recurring themes that make me enjoy Argento so much. Stendhal brings up ideas first introduced in Bird, a film made 27 years prior. There's no ONE answer to the questions Dario asks, and since he goes over things more than once, even HE doesn't have a clear cut answer.

[mutleyhyde]

Yeah, and what about that great continuous shot in Tenebrae, where he starts at the one window and works around the outside of the house/apartment to the others. An incredibly classic voyeuristic shot. You should try Starman though. It's been years, but I remember liking it. I had no conscious idea that it was Carpenter though, untill I checked IMDb for that last post. I also have my reservations about Memoirs, but what the hell? It's got Chevy Chase, whom I've always liked, and JC. I think I will check it out after all .