Tenebre (Dario Argento, 1982)

There is something in Dario Argento's movie universe that makes him distinguish as a filmmaker who drives his own lonely path. And I would say that this something is the marriage of the form with the context. The form of Dario Argento is always very artistic. He makes great use of color as he makes great use of lighting also. And the context is always evil, twisted, deranged. And that marriage of the beautiful with the ugly gives birth to a child that is memorably unique and gifted. Tenebre is a giallo movie, meaning the Italian way of slasher films. Tenebre might look simple in its story, but it features some of the most memorable murder scenes that we have seen in cinema and some great film music. Moreover Tenebre is an example of a movie where the spectator feels like a great and forbidden voyeur. The way that we are introduced to the killings has some deranged pleasant effect on us. We want to see the murder, we enjoy the murder, yet we feel guilty about it. That turn to a fetish game of the act of killing is a theme that you can see in every Dario Argento's movie. But in Tenebre that effect is getting bigger and wilder. You really feel an exhilarating emotion. You feel that you are in a place that no one can ever be. You feel that this experience is uniqely yours. And in that way Tenebre is a movie that really makes the spectator to be split in half. The one part is eager for the next murder and the other wants this torment of bloodbath to finally end. Tenebre is a film that is as excruciating as it is deeply satisfying. And that contradictory combination is something that you always find in Dario Argento's movies.