Review: Tenebrae

Anthony Franciosa is an author of violent novels currently touring Italy, where he is met with criticism from feminist and puritan critics alike (the latter played by John Steiner). And that’s before a woman’s throat gets slit, with pages from one of Franciosa’s books stuffed inside her mouth. More murders pop up imitating scenes from the books, and before long Franciosa is getting lurid phone calls too. John Saxon plays Franciosa’s agent, Daria Nicolodi (Mrs. Argento) plays Franciosa’s assistant.

 

A favourite Dario Argento (“Deep Red”, “Opera”, “Creepers”) film of many, however I think this 1982 murder-mystery giallo from Argento is intermittently excellent. Far too intermittently for me to ultimately give it a recommendation. Sorry, but for me “Suspiria” and “Inferno” are still top of the Argento pile for me, I was even a little bored at times here. It’s typically stylish, and the violence is rather harsh and uncompromising, whilst the synth-pop score is cool too (featuring three former members of Argento’s usual synth pop/rock collaborators Goblin). However, while some of the murder set pieces are stylish and fun, some are just long. One particular sequence is a combination of both - Did we really need the part with the dog chase/attack before getting to the goods? So I don’t think the atmosphere is sustained well enough, and I really dig atmospheric horror. I also didn’t much care for the mystery/plot, not one of Argento’s more interesting stories. A writer whose bloody novels seem to be inspiring a serial killer? Pretty sure we’ve been there hundreds of times, before and since. Argento seems more interested in playing around with real-life criticism of his works as misogynistic, as well as references to Argento’s real-life issues with stalkers. The conclusion is especially disappointing, even if you don’t pick the culprit it’s not especially interesting or well done.

 

The highlight here is an absolutely bloody marvellous axe attack, including a severed arm. Boy was that really something. Anthony Franciosa is pretty good in the lead, though John Saxon is largely wasted in a somewhat poorly-written support role. In fact the whole film could’ve stood to be a little more coherent.

 

Good-looking and sounding Argento, but a little of this went quite a long way for me. The chief pleasures are surface-level, and I just wasn’t gripped by the rather familiar plot/mystery. Many cite this as one of the director’s best though, so make up your own mind.

 

Rating: C+

 

 

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