The Bird with the Crystal Plumage |Released:1970| The oldest of his movies that I’ve seen, and the most basic. A simple Giallo (a genre of Italian Pulp murder mystery movies) but a thoroughly enjoyable one. Probably the movie I have the least to say about here, as it doesn’t have a lot of the bizarre and surreal qualities of his later movies that I really love, but it’s an interesting watch as a point of reference as to what came before, and it’s also just a pretty enjoyable little movie.
Deep Red |Released:1975| This is the film where you definitely start to see Argento’s style really blossom into something distinctly memorable.
Instantly notable is the soundtrack by Goblin, a band which Argento will use many times in the future. The movie is just brimming with incredibly upbeat catchy tunes, often accompanying someone getting brutally murdered. A very jarring choice, but a distinct and memorable choice.
First person shots from the perspective of the black gloved killer are a bit of a staple of this genre of films, but this is where Argento starts to really get creative with it and introduce more surreal imagery in general. It's an engaging mystery that marks the start of Argento’s delve into more deliberately distinct and gruesome visual imagery.
Suspiria |Released:1977| The first Dario Argento movie I watched, and probably still my favorite. Suspiria's plot is a dirt simple murder mystery, with almost none of the red herrings or twists and turns of his other films.
I would definitely say this movie is very intentionally style over substance, and I mean that in the best way possible. It focuses on dream and nightmare like stylish visuals over any sense of realism or an intricate plot, which is a very intentional choice that works in the films favor. It’s insane locations and dramatic colored lighting come together to create some wonderfully imaginative visuals are truly something to behold. I consider this Argento’s masterpiece, and a must watch.
Tenebre |Released:1982| Tenebre feels much more like a traditional Giallo film. It’s a fairly down to earth, albeit interesting enough murder mystery, featuring the distinct visual style and great music typical of Argento’s films post Deep Red.
One of the most charming elements of the movie is its meta commentary about Argento’s own works and how he’s perceived by the media. His choice to make this a more straight forward Giallo film definitely suites this meta narrative better, but it does mean it’s not as interesting to me as some of his other works. While definitely not the craziest work of Argento’s, I still found Tenebre to be quite enjoyable.
Phenomena |Released:1985| A complete 180 from Tenebre, in Phenomena the murdery mystery is more so just set dressing than the main focus. The real meat of the movie is our protagonist trying to find a way out of this place and navigate the many bizarre happenings unscathed.
Phenomena easily rivals Suspiria for how weird it is. Unlike Suspiria however, the actual presentation isn't all that crazy. No weird colored lighting and otherworldly sets, but what’s actually happening is far more than strange. It has far more straight up supernatural elements than his other movies, and its pretty up front about it, but it all comes together really nicely, and still feels very cohesive. Phenomena is strange in ways different from his other movies, and I think its an experiment that worked.
Opera |Released:1987| Opera is probably the weakest of Argento’s films that I’ve seen. There were just too many stretches where nothing meaningful was happening. A lot of it felt more nonsensical (in an unintentional way), and a lot of the writing stuck out to me as sloppy. The movie looks higher budget and bigger in scale, and it does look nice, but not as consistently and distinctly stylized as his other movies.
This feels like 2 different styles clashing most the time, which you can especially see in the "action" scenes. The movie has a much more subdued traditional movie soundtrack, which is fine, but then when the "action" scenes occur, it blares 80s rock music. Argento’s previous movies also featured similar music, but it was used more appropriately and much more sparingly, and fit alongside those movies’ eccentric soundtrack, while here it sticks out in a bad way. It’s also the exact same song every time, which gets tiresome quick. I don’t mind having a theme for murders, the previous movies had it, and it worked because it was an original piece that fit the tone, but here it felt very out of place.
All of this kind of sums up my feelings towards the movie as a whole. These individual pieces don’t come together in a nice coherent way like his other films, and I feel it lacks a strong singular vision. Still some interesting visuals and good ideas, but most fall very flat, and the ending is just awful.
