Tenebrae (1982)

Dario Argento did not invent the giallo, but it could be argued he perfected it.  He made these types of movies at the same time as all the other famous directors of the genre did, abandoning it after his first three movies and moving on to horror after a failed attempt at comedy.  In 1982, after the genre had died down a bit and many others had tried to copy his style, Argento decided to return with Tenebrae, arguably one of the best movies of his career. 

Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) is a writer of detective novels.  His literary agent Bullmer (John Saxon) has arranged for him to come to Rome to promote his latest book, Tenebrae, and try to negotiate movie rights.  Problem is, right before he lands, a woman (Mirella Banti) is murdered in a way similar to that of a passage in Neal's book, with pages from it stuffed in her mouth.  The killer takes pictures of the scene and leaves a cryptic note slipped under the door of Neal's Rome apartment.

This leads to Neal being greeted upon his arrival by Captain Germani (Giuliano Gemma) and Detective Altieri (Carola Stagnaro) to question him about the murder.  The events pique Neal's curiosity and soon he, his secretary Anne (Daria Nicolodi) and Bullmer's assistant Gianni (Christian Borromeo) are doing some detective work themselves to find out who the killer is.  Things are complicated even more as it appears that Neal's fiancé Jane (Veronica Lario) has arrived in Rome and is trying hard not to be noticed.  As the killings continue, and it appears Neal himself may be in danger, Germani encourages him to leave the country for his own good.

One of the things I like about Tenebrae is that, despite a complicated plot and finale, it all wraps up in the end.  I have said often that I enjoy gialli but find it hard to reconcile the endings as it seems the writers have to stretch things to make them make sense, and they often do not.  Here everything makes perfect sense once it is worked out and it culminates in an ending so good that Brian De Palma stole part of it for his movie Raising Cain.  

In a rarity for Italian productions the movie was filmed in English and later dubbed in Italian for domestic release.  That means for American audiences it isn't as distracting, although Daria Nicolodi's voice was dubbed by actress Theresa Russell since she plays an American in the film.  This allows the performances to stand out a bit more because in many cases we are seeing the actors actually act.  Anthony Franciosa was reportedly difficult on the set but his performance as Peter Neal is quite memorable.  

This also has a larger budget than many of Argento's previous films resulting in better effects on the kills.  As always the movie does go off on tangents, but one - visions of a woman on a beach (Eva Robins) - helps provide clues and motivations for the killer.  The other two, involving a young girl (Ania Pieroni) being pursued by a Doberman Pinscher and a two-minute crane shot of an apartment building prior to a kill, are some of the best sequences from the film.  

There is little chance that this late in the game Argento will return to making movies of this quality.  It is a reminder, like all of his movies prior to Trauma, of just how good he was when he cared about what he was doing.  It is also the rare suspense movie that is entertaining and manages to keep the mystery going until the end.  

Tenebrae (1982)

Time: 101 minutes

Starring: Anthony Franciosa, Daria Nicolodi, Giuliano Gemma, Christian Borromeo, John Saxon

Director: Dario Argento