July's Horror Spotlight DVD is Tenebre, from master horror director Dario Argento. David from Bloody-Disgusting.com
has written a blog to share the story behind Tenebre, and why this Argento masterpiece is worthy of this month's horror pick. And check it out for yourself - the Tenebre DVD is 47% off during the month of July. -Lisanne
While in Los Angeles to pitch a horror story to MGM in 1980,
Dario Argento began
receiving phone calls from a stranger who wanted to discuss
Suspiria after it left a huge
impression on him. After talking to this “fan” for a few days, the phone calls
had become more and more intense until eventually Argento was receiving death
threats. Even after the police determined the calls to be nothing more than a
sick joke, the stranger continued to harass Argento, claiming to know the
police were getting close and swore that he would kill the maestro. Out of this
experience, Tenebre – Argento’s
return to the giallo after working in the supernatural realm of the Three
Mothers for the past five years – was born. Much like Argento’s deranged
admirer, the madness that runs rampant in Tenebre
is inspired by a work of fiction.
Tenebrae, the title of Peter Neal’s (Anthony Franciosa) book
in the film, is a Catholic service – which consists of lighting 15 candles and
extinguishing one after each preselected psalm is read aloud, followed by a
loud noise of sorts and the revealing of a final remaining flame that signifies
Christ’s resurrection after the earthquake – that is held the night before or
morning of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday; the three final days
of Holy Week. While some direct religious implications are made in the film (most
notably the conversation between Neal and television interviewer Christiano
Berti (John Steiner), it’s Tenebrae’s Latin definition – shadows or darkness –
that more directly explains a great deal about the film’s inner workings.
In Tenebre’s case,
the darkness or shadow is the evil that is enveloping the world; the darkness
that overtakes the soul and makes us do immoral things. Stealing and infidelity
are among the sins committed by the victims prior to their demise, which solidifies
the flashback sequences intercut throughout the film, highlighting a sexual
humiliation of sorts and a murder, as the killer’s true motivation. Truly, this
is why you shouldn’t pick on people. This line of thinking also brings up an
interesting contrast to the darkness of the human condition: the film, of which
most others in its genre take place at night, plays out almost entirely during
broad daylight.
Much of the trickery and setup in Tenebre plays out in a dream-like state; not in a Suspiria sort of way but more like a
literal blurring between fact and convincing fiction. Rome, where the story
takes place, is not based in modern day but rather an alternate Rome of the
future which, according to a Cinefantastique interview with Argento conducted
by Alan Jones, is “inhabited by fewer people with the results that the
remainder are wealthier and less crowded. Something has happened to make it
that way but no one remembers or wants to remember.” Indeed, the Rome in
Tenebre has no historical past, with landmarks like the Colosseum, churches or
even buildings with any Roman architecture conspicuously absent. The
flashbacks, which potentially tell the story of the killer’s past, are
presented with a foggy perspective. A speech Detective Giermani gives towards
the end, meant to put all the pieces of the puzzle together, is worded so that
there is a very slim possibility the flashbacks aren’t something from the
killer’s childhood but even so, it represents something that was maddening,
whether it be an actual occurrence, a nightmare or something from a book or
film.
Even with the bait and switch that occurs halfway through
the film (the most interesting part of a narrative that is probably Argento’s
most complex, considering the simplistic nature of most of his plots), the
strangest and most fascinating trick played on viewers deals with the young
woman (Eva Robbins) in the flashbacks. She represents a desire, one that
doesn’t come without a price, and her red high-heels are out of place on a
beach, which makes the imagery that much more fantastical. Since this is a
giallo, appearances can be quite deceiving and, in the young woman’s case, this
has never rung more true; Robbins grew up a man but developed female sexual
characteristics due to a disorder.
Although one could be tempted to label Tenebre as Argento’s attempt at a slasher film, it actually
resembles noir more closely than anything, which the giallo strongly resembles
in many aspects. The film stands as the most meticulously constructed Argento
efforts; one that not only challenges the viewer with its many themes and
intricacies but also retains the same look and feel as the maestro’s more
famous and widely celebrated films. Not only that, it also features one of the
best gore sequences ever put to celluloid which served as an inspiration for
Sofie Fatale’s arm amputation in Tarantino’s Kill
Bill: Vol. 1. - David Harley, Bloody-Disgusting.com
Listen to an interview with TV star Justin Kirk. He talks about filming the latest season of
