Argento Againo

 

 (imdb)

TENEBRAE-(UNSANE)-1982-Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) is the bestselling author of the horror novel “Tenebrae”. After a shoplifter is killed and pages of the novel are found in her mouth, police suspect the killer is emulating murders in the book. More murders occur and the killer takes photographs of the mutilated victims and sends Neal weird notes. There's a lot of mumbo-jumbo dialogue on the psychology of Neal's writing and if it exploits women (the actual film seems to). A prissy book reviewer (John Steiner) gets an ax in the head. Neal's assistant Anna (Daria Nicolodi) thinks it's Neal's ex-wife. One woman escaping the killer, runs right into his hideout. She finds a lot of evidence but is killed in a long chase scene. Neal, Anna and go-fer Gianni (Christian Borromeo) investigate. Neal's manager, Bullmer (John Saxon) seems a likely suspect but he's killed in broad daylight. After Gianni is killed, the killer's identity is revealed. The killer fakes his death and kills a police detective. He goes after Anna but is impaled. 

This is another interesting psychological “giallo” from writer/director Dario Argento though I thought the outcome was guessable.

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Argento

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE CAT O'NINE TAILS-1971-A blind ex-reporter Franco Arno (Karl Malden) who likes puzzles teams up with a local reporter Carlo Giordani (James Franciscus) to solve a series of brutal murders that seem connected to a “hush-hush” genetics corporation. There are a lot of suspects but most are killed. After Arno's niece is kidnapped and Carlo is stabbed and thrown off a roof he discovers the murderer who has a “weird chromosome” make up. The ending is way too abrupt and doesn't actually tell you the fate of the Carlo character. Catherine Spaak gives a pretty bad performance in a co-starring role (and has a terrible hair style) and the plot is very confused. Even the score by Ennio Morricone doesn't help.

 

 It's the second film directed by Dario Argento who of course went on to make more interesting and stylish (but sometimes just as confusing) “Giallos”.

 

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The Third Mother

MOTHER OF TEARS-THE THIRD MOTHER-2007-This very mean spirited movie from Dario Argento is the third part of his “3 Mothers” trilogy that started years ago with SUSPIRA and continued with INFERNO. This makes about as much sense as it predecessors but is ten times gorier.

One woman is disemboweled, strangled with her own intestines and then eaten. A creepy bald guy with a pet monkey tortures two lesbians in a very nasty scene.

When an ancient urn is opened at a Rome museum it unleashes Mater Larimore (The Third Mother) which unleashes a horde of murders, suicides, rapes and other violent acts. Asia Argento (not the best actress in the whole world but the director’s daughter) is the museum worker Sarah Mandy trying to figure it all out. Some weird women run around the city chasing her. Udo Keir (who was also in Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN remake the same year) plays a sickly priest with a courtyard full of exorcism cases who tries to explain things but suffers a bloody death. Daria Nicolodi (Asia’s real life mom and Dario’s wife) plays Sarah’s dead mother who tries to help from beyond the grave. It all has to do with the second coming of witches.

While the acting and dialogue are weak like the previous two entries it’s Argento’s directing style that really make the film. Too bad he went over the top with the violence and gore. Great soundtrack by Claudio Simonetti.

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5 For The Price of One!

FIVE MAN ARMY-1969-This is a Hollywood backed kind of spaghetti western inspired by THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN and THE DIRTY DOZEN. It was directed by American Don Taylor (who was working mostly in TV at the time) and written by Dario Argento (who directed his first movie the next year).

Peter Graves stars in between his gig on TV’s MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE. I guess being Mr. Phelps gave him the confidence to take on any project! As “Dutchman” he assembles the title group that includes James Daly, Bud Spencer and Tetsuro Tamba. Each has a special ability (like explosives expert) and they plan to steal gold from a train heading for The Mexican Army. While it lacks the atmosphere of Sergio Leone it does feature a great Ennio Marricone sound-track and a nice twist ending. American ex-patriot (at the time) Marc Lawrence (who died in 2005) has a small role as a carnival barker.



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