DC's

* (restored)

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So it’s official, I’m obsessed, as if that hasn’t happened with other directors before…. But with Dario it’s different. The worlds that he creates are creatively intense and otherworldly filled with screaming women, scissors plunging into a heart over and over, childish characters, silly dialogue, and heads smashing through windows.

I would like if I may to take you on a journey through some of Dario’s movies (and some inside Dario info!) and convince you that you absolutely need to see every single one of these films. Right now. This instant.

xxfrank

 

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Suspiria (1979)

Considered the de-facto Argento film, Suspiria revels in it’s theatrics, both visually and musically. I could go on and on about facts and trivia about Suspiria, so I’ll try to hit most of the big ones and move on! The first in the Three Mothers trilogy (followed by Inferno in 1980 and then later The Mother of Tears in 2007), Suspiria follows the character of Suzy Bannion, a ballet dancer who enrolls at the world famous academy of dance in Freiburg, Germany. As she attends her classes (or rather, faints in her classes) she begins to understand that something is quite wrong at her school. Classmates and piano teachers are horribly murdered and the teachers act as if nothing is wrong. Suzy soon discovers that the school might be a front for a coven of witches!

Now that we’ve got the simple plot out of the way, let’s talk about why this movie is considered the best Italian horror film of all time. The musical score by Goblin (with contributions by Dario Argento) and it’s Technicolor 3-Strip Process (deep saturated colors like The Wizard of Oz) made even more colorful from the lighting design by cinematographer Luciano Tovoli are the 2 main technical reasons why this movie is delightful. The soundtrack is loud, harsh, and filled with chills and electronic delights.

The visuals can speak for themselves; it’s tacky, bright, and candy colored world sparks the violence that inhabits this film’s corridors and sidewalks.

All of these elements combined with a guest cameo by Udo Kier and a gloriously cheesy English dub make Suspiria the best Italian horror film around.

Suspiria is highly recommended as a first foray into any italian horror, regardless of director.

Trailer

The opening

The Technicolor Nightmares of Suspiria

Dario Argento Suspiria making of

You can watch the film here

 

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Inside Dario: Daria Nicolodi – Daria is one of Dario’s most frequent collaborators besides Claudio Simonetti and Goblin. A lot of the relationship between Dario and Daria is shrouded in mystery, but what we do know is that they did have a romantic connection at one point in time (1974-1985), and of course that Daria gave birth to Dario’s daughter, the now well known (and kick-ass) Asia Argento.

 

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Phenomena (1985)

After Dario had a brief period of continuing with his Giallo style of movies (which we’ll talk about later on) he made a return to the more supernatural side of his style with Phenomena. Using some star power with Jennifer Connely and Donald Pleasence, Dario created a bizarre story with an even more bizarre soundtrack by various artists including his now go-to band, Goblin.

Phenomena takes place in the Swiss countryside where Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connely), the daughter of a famous movie star (“Isn’t he so dreamy??” one of Jennifer’s schoolmates says of her dad) is away at a Swiss Academy for Girls. Meanwhile Forensic Entomologist John McGregor (Donald Pleasence) is investigating a series of murders by studying how the body is decomposing and what bugs are being attracted to the bodies. Jennifer, we find out, happens to be telepathically linked with insects and one night while having a sleepwalking/vision/trippy nightmare where she sees the killer murdering a girl to the musical harmonies of Iron Maiden she manages to stumble into a large chimpanzee who is the companion of the entomologist who takes her to John where they become friends (whoa that was a lot of info!)…. The rest is history as they say with John enlisting Jennifer to help him find the killer using a fly (as her magic wand!). With hilarious dialog, “That sound that you can hear is a mating call…you’re exciting him, and he’s doing his best to excite you!” “And to think we only just met!” crazy random soundtrack moments where hard rock blasts when you expect quiet creepy moments, and chimpanzees holding razor blades a la Edgar Allan Poe, Phenomena is a phenomenon in it of itself. Enjoy!

Trailer

Wonder kid from Phenomena

murder scene

Watch ‘B roll: Behind the scenes footage of ‘Phenomena’ here

 

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Inside Dario: Goblin – Goblin was initially named Cherry Five and started their work with Dario on the film Deep Red. The five member band had many changes in their lineup and eventually around the time of Tenebre (1982) Dario had to convince them to get back together to do the score for his film (even then they decided to take credit as separate individuals). Claudio Simonetti is the most well known of the band members because of his continued support of all of the work Dario Argento does. Goblin, besides doing many Dario Argento soundtracks also did a lot of the soundtrack for George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead.

GOBLIN “PROFONDO ROSSO” (DEEP RED) on Italian tv

Goblin “Suspiria” [Live in 1977]

Dario Argento y Goblin en Stracultsat Giallo & Horror Segments

 

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Tenebrae [Tenebre] (1982)

Alright let’s move on to something that Dario Argento is very well known for, Giallo. Wikipedia defines Giallo as a genre that emerged from the Giallo-style novels and began in the 1960s adapting said novels, but soon took on new cinematic techniques and merged horror and psychological thriller genres into a new genre. The masters of this Genre are Dario Argento, Sergio Martino, Lucio Fulci, and Mario Bava.

Tenebrae was Dario’s return to Giallo after the success of Suspiria and Inferno. In the US, audiences wanted more supernatural movies from Dario, but apparently in Italy, the public wanted his return to Giallo, and, much to Daria Nicolodi’s frustration at not finishing the Three Mothers trilogy, Dario relented.

Starring Anthony Franciosa, John Saxon, and Daria Nicolodi, Tenebrae concerns a series of murders that happen after a mystery murder novel called “Tenebrae” is released in Rome. American novelist Peter Neal (Franciosa) travels to Rome to garner publicity for his new novel, but soon realizes a stalker is taking his fictuous antagonist’s morals and applying it to real life. Peter takes it upon himself to find out who the murderer is and become even more famous.

Tenebrae once again features music by Goblin and features gory killings and dark themes throughout. Lesbians! Prostitutes! Teen Whores! Lord of the Flies type childhood! Tenebrae has it all!

Trailer

HOUSE CRAWL

The Making of ‘Tenebrae’

VERONICA LARIO…TAGLIATA!

You can watch the film here

 

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Opera (1987)

Whoa talk about a crazy ass film, Opera or “Terror at the Opera” as it was called in US Distribution follows a young up and coming singer who gets her chance to shine as the current diva gets into a car accident (sound familiar at all?). A famous American movie director decides to come the opera to direct a more blockbuster-ish version of Verdi’s Macbeth. Macbeth is known for having many tragic accidents Betty notes before she agrees to star in it. But of course murders start to happen and Betty (with her eyes forced to stay open by the threat of sharp pins taped to her eyelids) has to watch each one! Featuring crows, silly characters, a Bjork style ending, and Daria Nicolodi, Opera is one of Dario’s silliest and funnest movies ever.

Trailer

Giulia’s Death

Eye shot

Full film

 

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Inside Dario: Dubbing – A brief background on Italian films and dubbing. Most italian films you’ll see in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and some in the 90s did not use sync sound like most other films did around this time. This wasn’t just cheap horror films either, we’re talking Pasolini, Fellini, etc. There are many things that contributed to this, but mostly it was because of Italy’s desire to not only bring in famous actors from around the world without much hassle, but also the ability to easily sell their film to many different regions. Most of Dario’s films use American actors and to make it easier on themselves they just have the actors say their lines in their own language. That’s why even Italian tracks on Italian movies isn’t really the “original” language.

 

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Deep Red (1975)

Deep Red is considered Dario’s best Giallo style movie in his repertoire and I’d be hard pressed not to agree. Deep Red follows music teacher Marcus Daly (David Hemmings) who witnesses the murder of a Psychic who had previously read the mind of the murderer at a Pschic Convention. Marcus proceeds to investigate the murder with the help of (guess! Come on! You should know this by now!) Daria Nicolodi who plays an uber-flirtatious reporter. Deep Red features creepy kids, a creepy childhood song that the killer plays right before they kill someone, very effeminate gay dudes, and a score by Goblin.

Trailer

Tallow doll

Ending Scene

You can watch the film here

 

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Inferno (1980)

The 2nd in the Three Mothers Trilogy, Inferno stars Irene Miracle, Leigh McCloskey, Eleonora Giorgi, Daria Nicolodi, and Alida Valli. Inferno is almost entirely different from Suspiria in many ways. Gone is the Goblin soundtrack (replaced with a score by Keith Emmerson) and gone are the many colored lights and crazy cinematography. Where Suspiria dealt with magic, Dario wanted to explore the concept of alchemy with the sequel. Also Inferno doesn’t really have a main character, it keeps switching locations and characters until it finally settles on the character of Mark, who is trying to find out what happened to his sister in her apartment in New York City. Inferno is filled with interesting murders, cool special effects, and some really cheesy dialogue! But Inferno really works even with it’s abandonment of “magic”.

Trailer

All of the deaths

Final scene

Full film

 

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Inside Dario: Blond Boys – Dario tends to put semi-cute blond boys into many of his movies. I’m not really too sure why this is, but I’m glad he did it!

 

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The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)

I can’t leave this post without discussing Dario’s first film. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is very good and you can really see the beginnings of many of Dario’s now infamous signature touches. The story follows an american writer living in Rome who witnesses a murder taking place, saving the girl by drawing attention to the situation he becomes obsessed over finding out who the murderer is. With a really cool score by Ennio Morricone, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is a must see Dario film after you’ve seen most of his other ones.

Trailer

Intro

Window scene

You can watch the film here

 

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Demons (1985)

Ok, so I can’t leave without talking about the Dario Argento produced and co-written movie Demons. Directed by Lamberto Bava, this movie is basically the Italian version of Evil Dead. A bunch of people are in a movie theatre and while a plot is unfolding on the screen about a group of teens that find the tomb of Nostradamus and turn into demons because one of them put on a mask, that same thing is happening in the movie theatre! Just absolutely gory, shocking, and downright hilarious, Demons is what happens when directors let loose and just have fun. WIth a kick ass score by Claudio Simonetti of Goblin and other metal bands, Demons is one of the funnest movies I’ve seen in a long time!

“I can’t read it, it’s in Latin… Oh wait, yes I can!”

Trailer

Legendary scene

Interview with Bettina Ciampolini (Nina) from “Demons”

Full film
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p.s. Hey. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi. Thanks for the link, I’ll go listen. I wondered if you might like Shawescape Renegade. His playing off of the 90s Detroit minimal techno sound really pleased me, at least. ** Tosh Berman, Okay, a strong thumbs up for ‘Digger’. More incentive. Thanks, Tosh. It just seems curiouser and curiouser. ** ⋆˚꩜｡darbbzz⋆˚꩜｡, Awesome, thanks! Will do about the post’s build once I see it. Vangelis does seem like a solid unwinder. Thanks for the ‘Closer’ revisit, duh. Kerouac readers are philosophical deep thinking meditators? I always wondered. I got my mind slightly wet in him and then returned to the shore. Yay, more external confirmation of the real you! It was bound to happen. xo. ** Adem Berbic, Foreign mechanics, yum. The whole autofiction boom has kind of hit the first person with bug spray for me. Maybe the ‘RT’ home haunt will be some kind of way in, but remember that it’s well-meaning and kind of crappy. Tuesday just kind of snuck by a bit noisily. ** Steve, I met Jean Rollin when I first moved here. He and I share the same French publisher. He was unexpectedly suave and not unexpectedly pretty witty. Happy that some things yesterday found a home in you. No, that ‘Saw’ haunt is definitely not official. I think because home haunts are mostly free of charge, the studios turn a blind eye. Danny Thompson was an excellent bassist, for sure. That whole British folk-prog period in the early 70s was so nice: Pentangle, Fairport Convention, ISB, Strawbs, Dr. Strangely Strange, early T. Rex, etc. ** Carsten, No, there’s no funds to bring us to Magaluf, and we can’t afford the trip right now. Okay, and now a huge thumbs down on ‘Digger’. More intrigue. The Roy Andersson comparison did make me curious, of course. Ultimately, its adventurousness is enough to get me to check it out. These days that’s enough to tickle my taste buds. I suspect I’ll think it’s admirable but doesn’t work. We’ll see..  ** laura w., Hi. Not even the third Buzzcocks album? I like trying to find ways to make the first person uncomfortably distant, but, like I said somewhere above, the autofiction takeover of contemporary. lit. is making me a little allergic. The third person’s charisma is eternal. No worries. We’re just in a period of lionising the spilling of one’s guts. Social media has a lot to answer for. I’m way too impatient to knit. Unless typing is like knitting, which I suppose it kind of is? ** HaRpEr //, The kind of advancement in the new Um, Jennifer? EP is exciting for sure. In a different era or whatever, I think ‘Bury’ would have been a total hit. I like the new Durutti Column, it’s beautiful. But I’ve always liked Vini Reilly’s stuff. Claire Rousay, nice, she’s great. And Klara Lewis! Zac and I hung out with her when we showed ‘RT’ in Stockholm. She’s terrific. And I love her collaborative work with Nik Colk Void. I saw them live a couple of years ago, and they were incredible. Yes, I saw that Bradford has returned. I haven’t heard the new stuff he played at that festival yet. But, yes, great news! ** Bill, Hi, Bill. Condolences about the extension. Hang more than in there, man. ** Okay. It being Halloween, I thought I would restore this old guest-post made for the blog years ago by Frank Jaffe, nowadays best known as the honcho behind the great film distribution company Altered Innocence. Here’s hoping his passion is contagious. See you tomorrow.

 

Laura Cannell
Cities Aviv
Um, Jennifer?
Faith Coloccia + Tashi Dorji
Shawescape Renegade
Luke Haines
The Breedling
Godflesh
The Durutti Column
Rip Van Winkle
Black Meteoric Star
Six Sex

 

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Laura Cannell  The Village Beneath the Waves
‘The music is inspired by East Anglian places which have disappeared throughout the centuries but once held people and sound. Sometimes all that remains is the metal, leather and timber of past communities, the echoes of ghost buildings and the stories of circle dancing around the stones to keep the witches out. Crumbling towers remain and memories are embedded in the flints or washed beneath the waves.’ — LC

 

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Cities Aviv Concrete Masks
‘For over a decade, Cities Aviv has twisted hip-hop conventions into the most skewed and splayed forms, layering and lacerating twitching loops, extreme production techniques and his mercurial vocal stylings into hermetic décollage.’ — Black Truffle

 

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Um, Jennifer? Bury
‘Vicious is the word that comes to mind when describing Brooklyn’s “trans-slut rock” duo Um, Jennifer? who are back with their second EP, Dirty Twice, which is out now on Final Girl Records. Don’t mistake their name for a punchline though, because their music definitely is not. It’s their most feral yet. At its heart, this EP wields desire as a weapon and violence gets rewritten as seduction. What sets this project apart as well is the way it doesn’t soothe over into something tidy, but lean into the messiness of these emotions.’ — Ones to Watch

 

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Faith Coloccia + Tashi Dorji Invisible Lines Between Imaginary Lands
‘The depths of connection to land, connection lost (and recovered), land itself lost (and so often never recovered); land partitioned, annexed, privatized, made allegedly secure –– Faith Coloccia and Tashi Dorji’s collaborative record And Their Power Was Alive haunts the edges of these concepts and antagonizes the possibility of tidy resolutions around them. It aims to yield in order to achieve its ends; a tumbling passion, higher solutions.’ — ROVR

 

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Shawescape Renegade Ignition One [Tresor]
‘Jeremiah Shaw. Detroit based artist Jeremiah Shaw, known as Shawescape Renegade, J Shaw Electro or SpaceDrifter3000, has been an up and coming artist influenced by some 80s, 90s and early 2000s Detroit Electro. He first signed with international band AnTiZeRo in 2008 and is still with the collective. He later went to release on Militant Science Records in 2010. As a child in the late 90s, he was influenced by early music of Aux88, Detrechno, Drexciya, Dopplereffekt and other Detroit Artist, hearing them on back then was known as 96.3FM. He began to learn to compose music in 2001, but heightened his focus in recent years, dedicating his time to find his own style within the blueprint of his influences. Humble and kind, his purpose, in his own right, is influencing methods of Escapism, in times of stress or hardships, to recoup ones sanity.’ — Exoframe

 

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Luke Haines Death Card For The Kids
‘One of the sharpest and most prolific British songwriters of his generation, Luke Haines — who began modestly enough in a string of obscure ’80s bands, including — helmed the glam noir of , the broken funk of , and the (mostly) downbeat pop of , in addition to releasing material under his own name. During the last seven years of the ’90s, Haines issued six albums that ranged from fine to spectacular, from the Mercury Prize-nominated New Wave (1993) to the sleek, bleak How I Learned to Love the Bootboys (1999).’ — leboulon

 

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The Breedling Stalker
‘The Breedling is the musical pseudonym of Norfolk-based artist Chris Spalton. Spalton works in the storytelling tradition, focusing on local folklore, communicating old tales in new ways using illustration, film and sound. Sometimes the communication is direct and linear, sometimes abstract and uncanny.’ — Wrong Speed Records

 

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Godflesh Feral Colony
‘The end of a band that helped shape your ears can feel strangely like the loss of an organ. Those two eccentric punk kids from the late 80s, with their council estate upbringing amid the factories of Birmingham, somehow concocted a dizzying cocktail from elements as disparate as Killing Joke, Eric B. & Rakim and The Stranglers, as if summoned for a peculiar calling: befriending wires and circuits and mimicking the roar of assembly lines in order to ward off the horrors of the machine. In stripping away the ego, they left behind an eclectic and wildly creative arsenal of experimental sonic artillery.’ — Aydin Khalili

 

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The Durutti Column Liars
‘The Durutti Column are a “band” the same way that Nine Inch Nails are a band. Most fans of the group know that The Durutti Column is essentially a solo project, spearheaded by the incomparable Vini Reilly. A few words come to mind in attempting to describe Reilly – ‘elusive’ being the primary one. He’s not a man that we know a great deal about, and is notoriously a bit of a recluse. Very much in the vein of many other 80s front-men, say, a Paul Buchanan or a Paddy McAloon. Musically, his output in the 80s veered slightly left-of-field from his post-punk contemporaries (which is saying something, for the genre). Late-stage careers are typically where artists find fertile ground to truly make the music they’ve “always wanted to”. Yet for Reilly, this feels like less of a late-career self-indulgence, and more of a second – if not a third – wind.’ — Jacob Manieson

 

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Rip Van Winkle Prose Kaiser
‘The latest curveball from Robert Pollard’s ever-expanding universe, this time under the banner of Rip Van Winkle. While Pollard is best known as the prolific frontman of Guided By Voices, this side project gives him a playground to push his more eccentric, conceptual ideas without restraint. It’s weird, wild, and fully immersive—less a collection of songs and more like a hazy, offbeat performance art piece.’ — Thomas Wilde

 

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Black Meteoric Star Dominatron
‘Black Meteoric Star is a project Rayna started in 2006 when she was living in Berlin that brought together her life long love of dance music culture with spiritual themes, drag, and her formative experiences of S/M culture. Electronic music and leather/SM are both ways that queer people have historically built community, created and shared knowledge, and kept each other safe.’ — Ransom Note Records

 

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Six Sex Ultra Terrorific Fantasy x Not Ur Mom
‘The song ‘Not ur mom’ by Six Sex conveys a message of defiance and independence, rejecting the idea of being controlled or defined by others. The lyrics use provocative imagery like ‘chupaste las tetas’ (sucked my breasts) metaphorically to symbolize boundaries being crossed and the singer asserting their individuality and autonomy.’ — musixmatch

 

 

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p.s. Hey. ** Dominik, Hi!!! I’ve been to ‘Cats and Bats’, ‘Hellizondo’, and ‘Beware the Dark Realm’, and the rest are all new to me. May ‘Wellness’ continue to please you. So, is it about wellness? I mean about the popular health thing that goes under that name? Love’s doubling effect gift is very much appreciated in theory, god knows. Oh, have a great week with your mom! Love making my favorite pair of jeans stop fraying, G. ** _Black_Acrylic, The people who are putting on the ‘Carrie’ haunt are known for over-hyping their haunts, but that one looks like it’d work on some level. Same for me. If I didn’t have this blog to share and be shared with, I’d be like late period Howard Hughes without the wealth. ** Adem Berbic, No clue about Williamson, obviously. It’s hard for me to imagine ‘Eden’ being re-translated. Pity to whoever takes on that gig. My friend the writer Bruce Henderson signed on to translate ‘Prostitution’, but it was so difficult to impossible that he gave up after one chapter, which fortunately did get published at least. Whenever I use the third person, which I instinctively don’t, at least to start with, I’m always like ‘wow, whole new world going on here’. I think the Cats and Bats thing is a Ripper-themed thing, yes. Great little haunt, that one. Its proprietor works at Trader Joe’s, and the whole haunt is made out of materials she finds in the Trader Joe’s trashcans. ** Carsten, The ones I listed are just a drop in the bucket. LA has hundreds of Halloween haunts. It’s Oz, it’s Mecca. I’ve been reading more about ‘Digger’, and now I really want to see it. We’ll be attending the Brussels screening, but it’s not until late November, which is good because we need a break. Oh, and there’s a screening in Spain finally. On the 16th, but it’s in Magaluf, which I think is very far from you? ** scunnard, The one time I read a part of a novel-in-progress (‘God Jr.’) at an event, the response was so confusing that I stopped working on it for a year. Oh, yeah, that Laibach show sounds very early Laibach. I have the impression them seeing them nowadays is basically just like seeing a slightly weirder Tool or Metallica or something. ** laura w., That is strange about ‘Red Light’. Such a great song, yes. It’s sad that the people who’ve heard of them tend to only know them from ‘Mexican Radio’. Nothing against that song though. The first Stan Ridgway album is pretty good. There’s still some ‘Voodoo’ in there. I remember the subsequent ones losing the mojo, but I should retry them. ‘Blue of Noon’ is wunderbar. ‘L’Abbé C’ is very good too, among his fiction works. ** HaRpEr //, It’s agony to me that I’m missing those haunts. The majority of them usually only last for one year/season. They’re so much work. The vibe I got off of Catherine’s remark was that because Pinget was gay, he and the R-Gs didn’t have much in common. Which seems like a strange thing to say given how closeted he was. If I see her again, I’m going to press her, which is difficult because she pretends that she can’t speak English even though she speaks perfect English. She’s an odd one. My memory is that Pinget thought the homoeroticism is what went too far, not the prose. He did eventually come around to being proud of it. ** P, Hi! Welcome! I only know the name RC Horsch because a few people have asked me if I’d seen his films, which I haven’t. I just googled him and saw about the serial killer thing, which is news to me. Wow, very interesting. I’m going to investigate that further. What do you think? Thanks! ** Thom, Hey. Yeah, I think the whole Christian thing is what lost my interest, and I’m not hugely interested in religion/mysticism in general. I’m putting together a Haunts post focused on the larger USA, and I’ll see if I can find one near you. I obviously extremely highly recommend them as experience and as art. Thanks, pal, have a solid Tuesday. ** Right. I made a rather eclectic gig out of some stuff that’s been floating my ears’ boats recently. Hope something clicks on your ends. See you tomorrow.