{"id":75465,"date":"2020-09-25T23:16:11","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T20:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/dario-argento-the-king-of-giallo\/"},"modified":"2020-09-25T23:16:11","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T20:16:11","slug":"dario-argento-the-king-of-giallo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/dario-argento-the-king-of-giallo\/","title":{"rendered":"#Dario Argento: The King of Giallo"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2738fb1d7d3\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2738fb1d7d3\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/dario-argento-the-king-of-giallo\/#6_Four_Flies_on_Grey_Velvet_1971\" >6. Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/dario-argento-the-king-of-giallo\/#5_The_Bird_with_the_Crystal_Plumage_1970\" >5. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/dario-argento-the-king-of-giallo\/#4_Deep_Red_1976\" >4. Deep Red (1976)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/dario-argento-the-king-of-giallo\/#2_Cat_O_Nine_Tails_1971\" >2. Cat O\u2019 Nine Tails (1971)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/dario-argento-the-king-of-giallo\/#2_Tenebrae_1982\" >2. Tenebrae (1982)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/dario-argento-the-king-of-giallo\/#1_Opera_1987\" >1. Opera (1987)<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#Dario Argento: The King of Giallo<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\">\n                <\/aside>\n<p><!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 3.7.7--><em>Welcome to Carnage Classified, a monthly column where we break down the historical and <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">social<\/a> influence of all things horror, then rank the films of each month\u2019s category accordingly. Franchises, movements, filmmakers, subgenres, etc. This entry is about Dario Argento\u2019s giallo films and includes a ranking of his six best from the subgenre!<\/em><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p>There\u2019s something savory about a good murder-mystery. Even more delicious is when it\u2019s delivered on a dramatic platter of theatrical intensity. So surely, <strong>Dario Argento<\/strong>\u2019s filmography is a ripe source of sustenance. Though Mario Bava is credited with directing the first <em>giallo<\/em> film, 1963\u2019s <em>The Girl Who Knew Too Much<\/em>, Argento is the man who took the deepest, furthest, and most popularized stab at it. <em>When<\/em> you hear the term <em>giallo<\/em>, you think Argento.<\/p>\n<p><em>Giallo<\/em>, meaning \u201cyellow\u201d in Italian, refers to the bright yellow book covers of Italian pulp fiction novels that centered their stories around elusive murders. It\u2019s through this knotted connection that \u201c<em>giallo<\/em>\u201d eventually became synonymous with mystery. Though rooted in the history of the novels, there\u2019s a number of core ingredients that comprise the foundation of making a <em>giallo<\/em> sensation on film.<\/p>\n<p>For the base, it\u2019s a murder mystery, so combine the killer, the killed, and those desperate to uncover the truth before they wind up on the wrong end of the blade. Mix in leather, bitchin\u2019 bouts of bloodshed, psychological warfare, an unseen killer, and a club-worthy synth score (shoutout to Goblin). Finally, to garnish, regularly give the audience the killer\u2019s POV, watch the body count rise, and relish in witnessing the over-the-top extravagance of the carnage unfold.<\/p>\n<p>So, we got the basics down, but what is it that makes Dario Argento the maestro? Objectively, it might be the fact that he\u2019s made more <em>giallo<\/em> films than any other director, rounding out with a lucky number of thirteen in total. More so, it\u2019s that he gave the genre its fundamental fashion and furnishings. His debut feature, <em>The Bird with the Crystal Plumage<\/em>, takes inspiration from Bava\u2019s format and adds extra flair and style. It was a hit, leading to the subgenre\u2019s popularity, and it laid the groundwork for the amalgamation of films Argento would produce throughout his career.<\/p>\n<p>Argento\u2019s films are sexy. From the expected yet never un<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>reciated Italian fashion to the cinematography, and all the way down to the gait and exaggerated expressions of characters, swagger and seduction bleed through his films with equal profoundness to the blood. The penchant for dominant but never overbearing soundtracks \u2014 much of which are a product of his long collaboration with Goblin \u2014 perfectly accompany the highly stylized atmosphere of Argento\u2019s baroque worldbuilding.<\/p>\n<p>With a photographer and director for parents, Argento seemingly showcases that his eye for visuals is nearly inherent. Equally, he is known for the narratives he concocts, and he cites the work of Edgar Allen Poe as an early and imperative influence. With Poe\u2019s hallucinatory and deeply cerebral horror, it more than manifests through Argento\u2019s own crafting of concurrent dreamlike quality and intensely psychological implications on screen.<\/p>\n<p>Taking his narratives from the happenings of his own nightmares, Argento bridges the gap between the fears of the public unconscious and the ultra-personal recesses of his own mind, making his films wholly and horrifyingly his own. His plots are wonderfully convoluted, constantly subjecting us to guess, and guess again until we finally accept that our minds are no match against Argento\u2019s, and our best guess is only his first twist.<\/p>\n<p>Argento\u2019s use of location is equally important to the happenings on screen, becoming essential in their symbolism as we investigate what they represent, what they permit, and how the openness of commonplace settings can be crippling. Argento\u2019s crafting of elaborately complex plots and magnificent final set-pieces disallow \u201cunimportant\u201d side characters and promote the examination of numerous facets of the darkest corners of the human condition: misogyny, hatred, vengeance, trauma, and exploitation.<\/p>\n<p>Dario Argento\u2019s claim to fame, and the heyday of his career, are the <em>giallos<\/em> he released in the 1970s and 1980s. So, for this entry, I\u2019ll be looking at the following six titles: <strong><em>The Bird with the Crystal Plumage<\/em><\/strong>, <strong><em>Four Flies on Grey Velvet<\/em><\/strong>, <strong><em>The Cat O\u2019 Nine Tails<\/em><\/strong>, <strong><em>Deep Red<\/em><\/strong>, <strong><em>Tenebrae<\/em><\/strong>, and <strong><em>Opera<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Onto the ranks! Spoilers ahead.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"6_Four_Flies_on_Grey_Velvet_1971\"><\/span>6. Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-357563\" src=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/four-flies-on-grey-velvet.jpg\" alt=\"Four Flies On Grey Velvet\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/four-flies-on-grey-velvet.jpg 800w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/four-flies-on-grey-velvet-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/four-flies-on-grey-velvet-160x120.jpg 160w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/four-flies-on-grey-velvet-320x240.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>On the rare occasion that we might be looking at our own mortality in the face, it\u2019s difficult to discern whether it\u2019ll be our actions or inactions that do us in. Equally enigmatic is whether our actions or inactions are what put us in the position in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>In <em>Four Flies on Grey Velvet<\/em>, Roberto (Michael Brandon), a rock musician, is being stalked by a mysterious man and receiving odd phone calls. One night he decides to pursue the pursuer, winding up in a struggle that ends with him stabbing the stalker. Still unknown, the mysterious man\u2019s impact doesn\u2019t die with him, and Roberto remains entangled in a dangerous web from which he hopes to escape alive.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s most horrifying in Roberto\u2019s dilemma is that there\u2019s absolutely nothing known about anything \u2014 there\u2019s no <i>why<\/i> to be found. The night that he accidentally murdered the stalker, someone captured photographs of the whole ordeal. They\u2019re blackmailing him, but not for money, just for the pleasure of his suffering. His tormentor attacks him in the dead of night, taunting that they could kill Roberto then and there but won\u2019t because they\u2019re \u201cnot finished with [him] yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As Roberto\u2019s friends and associates begin to die off one by one, he\u2019s the common thread and looks more suspicious each day. He has a recurring nightmare of being impaled with a stiletto and then beheaded. Each night the dream lasts longer, his anxiety pushing him further into its narrative as he feels the killer closing in. These circumstances are pressing enough to render the open world as claustrophobic, as Roberto is unable to escape the torment, even in his own home.<\/p>\n<p>Parallel to this claustrophobia, Argento presents flashbacks of the killer\u2019s past, where we see cycles of abuse and their imprisonment in a mental institution. We come to learn that this killer was committed in their youth for homicidal mania, but after the death of their father, they were inexplicably cured \u2014 indicative of who the perpetrator of their abuse must\u2019ve been.<\/p>\n<p>Answers come when we discover the killer is Roberto\u2019s wife, Nina (Mimsey Farmer). Her father never wanted a daughter and felt cheated when he got one. So, he opted to raise Nina as a boy, abusing her constantly for being \u201cweak.\u201d Her father died before she could kill him, so she vowed to obtain revenge in any way she could. She states that Roberto looks like her father, so she fostered their relationship until she could enact her murder fantasy vicariously through him.<\/p>\n<p>All the motives that existed in the shadows of <i>Four Flies on Grey Velvet<\/i> were thrust into the light by this discovery. The film, which began as a study of supposed bad luck turned to bad blood, then evolves into a survey of the persistence of suppressed trauma. Nina was \u201ccured\u201d by her father\u2019s death, as his abuse and physical stronghold were relieved by his demise. But it\u2019s the mental and emotional grip of his violence that persisted and plagued her.<\/p>\n<p><i>Four Flies on Grey Velvet <\/i>is searing in its implications. Roberto was an entirely innocent party. It was neither his action nor inaction that put him in Nina\u2019s sights; rather, he was a hapless occurrence of triggering familiarity. Even if he hadn\u2019t pursued the stalker that night and opted for passivity instead, he would\u2019ve been targeted regardless. Through Roberto, the film sinisterly professes that sometimes we may simply be helpless to the emotional demand of others, and these by-chance sequences of events could be the ones that plague us.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"5_The_Bird_with_the_Crystal_Plumage_1970\"><\/span>5. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-357562 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/bird-with-the-crystal-plumage.jpg\" alt=\"Dario Argento giallo Bird With The Crystal Plumage\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/bird-with-the-crystal-plumage.jpg 800w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/bird-with-the-crystal-plumage-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/bird-with-the-crystal-plumage-160x120.jpg 160w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/bird-with-the-crystal-plumage-320x240.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Engaging in murder-mysteries is fun in theory \u2014 <em>Clue<\/em> is an iconic board <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a>! However, it\u2019s absolutely depraved to treat death with the same sort of levity if it snakes itself into your actual reality. Exploiting death through means of either art, apathy, or personal self-interest is a behavior that reflects an attitude of its permittance, not its condemnation. Dario Argento\u2019s directorial debut and first <em>giallo<\/em>, <em>The Bird with the Crystal Plumage<\/em>\u00a0leers into the minds of individuals who host these attitudes, coming down on the topic with a bloody fist of consequence.<\/p>\n<p>Sam Dalmas (Tony Musante) is an American writer in Rome. One night he passes by an art gallery, and through its glass front, witnesses the attack of a young woman. Being the key witness to an attempted murder by a suspected serial killer at large, Sam gets roped into the investigation. As he becomes more invested, though, he develops an obsession defined by nonchalance, and he starts to treat it as a game of whodunnit more than a high stakes open case.<\/p>\n<p>The film\u2019s alignment with art teases fabrication and contrivance, a form of exploitation itself. It\u2019s discovered that one of the killer\u2019s victims worked at an antique shop, and the last piece she sold before her death was a painting that depicted a murder scarily similar to her own. Sam tracks down the artist to find that much of his catalog consists of numerous eerie depictions of brutal killings. Additionally, the site of the crime that Sam witnessed being an art gallery is equally poignant.<\/p>\n<p>We discover that the killer was the woman whom Sam had seen being \u201cattacked,\u201d Monica (Eva Renzi). In reality, she was the aggressor, trying to stab her husband to death. This setting of the art gallery adds to the exploitation of it all, with the windowed front inviting spectators and rendering the attack a performance. Monica was triggered by the sight of the painting, which reminded her of when she was the victim of an attack ten years prior. It drove her into a frenzy of madness, where in order to cope she identified with the attacker rather than the victim \u2014 her mind\u2019s own way to grasp at a semblance of control.<\/p>\n<p>Sam confronts Monica, trying to apprehend her himself as some sort of cop by proxy. Tracking her back to the art gallery, he ends up being pinned underneath a fallen statue \u2014 an ironic punishment as his own manipulative attitudes towards the investigation left him trapped under an art piece \u2014 before he is rescued by real cops that arrive on the scene.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Bird with the Crystal Plumage<\/em> uses the relationship between art and exploitation to investigate trauma, crime, and punishment. It muddles the boundaries between victim, perpetrator, and instigator by faulting every character involved in the narrative, showing that in all degrees of separation, permitting attitudes and exploitative behaviors regarding violence can end up promoting a cycle that also victimizes and creates its perpetrators.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"4_Deep_Red_1976\"><\/span>4. Deep Red (1976)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-357561\" src=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/deep-red.jpg\" alt=\"Deep Red\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/deep-red.jpg 800w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/deep-red-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/deep-red-160x120.jpg 160w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/deep-red-320x240.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>As previously discussed, the <em>giallo<\/em> subgenre has a characteristic set of traits. One of the largest criticisms of Argento, and the <em>giallo<\/em> subgenre as a whole, is that it\u2019s misogynistic. Women often fall at the pointed end of the blade with a particular intensity that we don\u2019t always see in the murders of men. Their sexuality is somehow always connected to their characterization, whether its promiscuity, sexual insecurity, or simply just the objectifying eye of the camera. <em>Deep Red<\/em> is a standout in Argento\u2019s filmography in the sense that it takes all of these tendencies and inverts them.<\/p>\n<p>After Marcus Daly (David Hemmings) witnesses the murder of a telepathic psychic (Macha M\u00e9ril), he is determined to discover who the culprit is. The only information he\u2019s armed with is the silhouette of a figure leaving the crime scene, donned in a leather coat and gloves, but this sight of the killer was fleeting. Teaming up with a spunky reporter, Gianna Brezzi (Daria Nicolodi), they rush to uncover the killer\u2019s identity before they close in.<\/p>\n<p>Our introduction to Gianna occurs when she interrupts the boy\u2019s club of the post-crime investigation and is met with annoyance from every man in the room. They find her unflinching confidence and career ambition an annoyance. When she and Marcus decide to team up, their dynamic is equally tense due to Marcus\u2019 fragile male ego. He is constantly cowering in comparison to her strong posture. It\u2019s only when she mentions that ambition is important for a woman that he shows any dominance. Popping his curved spine upright, he proclaims, \u201cIt is a fundamental fact: men are different from women. Women are\u2026weaker,\u201d a sentiment he clings to despite losing two rounds of arm wrestling.<\/p>\n<p><em>Deep Red<\/em> also inverts the damsel-in-distress and gallant-man relationship trope that has become commonplace across all narratives, but especially the <em>giallo<\/em>. Firstly, Marcus is not a knight-in-shining-armor in theory or in practice. He\u2019s awkward, insecure, and dependent. Not only is this trope subverted by the fact that Marcus is unable to save the psychic from her killer, but in a role-reversal, it is Gianna who drags him out of the burning building while he\u2019s unconscious.<\/p>\n<p>The film\u2019s opening scene is what sets the stage for both the tone and conclusion of <em>Deep Red<\/em>. Taking place within a house at Christmastime, two shadows engage in a struggle, resulting in the stabbing death of one. The knife falls at a child\u2019s feet. With frilly socks and heeled black shoes, our expectations tell us that the child is a young girl, but it\u2019s actually Marcus\u2019 friend, Carlo (Gabriele Lavia), instead. This flashback to Carlo\u2019s childhood shows the crime that the murderer is now killing again in order to cover up. The murderer is revealed to be Carlo\u2019s mother, Martha (Clara Calamai), supplementing the female-centric narrative of <em>Deep Red<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Deep Red<\/em> isn\u2019t the only <em>giallo<\/em>, or even Argento <em>giallo<\/em>, to center on a female killer, but it is a standout in the bunch of films that mostly center on strong, valiant, lustful men who punish the women in their lives, use them as tools to accomplish their goals, and endanger them for their own ambition.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s still far from a feminist film, as it settles into the romanticism of having Gianna and Marcus fall in love despite his sexist beliefs that bluntly misalign with her own attitudes. Still, though, it comes across as an intentional subversion of expectation that adds an additional layer to Argento\u2019s arguably most cherished film, even functioning as some semblance of a foil to his later film, <em>Tenebrae<\/em> \u2014 but more on that later.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_Cat_O_Nine_Tails_1971\"><\/span>2. Cat O\u2019 Nine Tails (1971)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-357560\" src=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/cat-o-nine-tails.jpg\" alt=\"Cat O Nine Tails\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/cat-o-nine-tails.jpg 800w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/cat-o-nine-tails-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/cat-o-nine-tails-160x120.jpg 160w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/cat-o-nine-tails-320x240.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The greatest mystery of humanity might be that we will never fully understand how our brains work. Consequently, we\u2019ll never precisely know the mechanics of empathy; it\u2019s the root of the nature-versus-nurture debate. But when we find out that someone has committed a horrible violent crime and justified it by claiming decreased relation to people or citing childhood trauma, we still don\u2019t accept it as a reason because they\u2019re not the only one. Plenty of people have minds like theirs or histories like theirs but don\u2019t go on to harm others. This debate of psychology has no end in sight, and it\u2019s what lays the foundation for <em>Cat O\u2019 Nine Tails.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>After a medical complex is robbed, a killer is on the loose. \u201cCookie\u201d (Karl Malden), a blind man and retired journalist, overhears discussion of blackmail and rushes to the scene. Teaming up with an investigative reporter, Carlo (James Franciscus), the duo rushes to uncover who the killer is and what secrets lie within the documentation he stole.<\/p>\n<p>The objective of the medical complex is left as a mystery for much of the movie. Everything is top-secret and all employees are hard-pressed to utter even a single hint towards what goal the scientists were working to discover, adding suspicion to why everything was so tightly under wraps. The only semblance of a clue is the \u201cGENETICS\u201d folder that we see in passing, but knowing the complex has a focus on fertility, genetics, and heredity, it still doesn\u2019t provide us with much.<\/p>\n<p>We come to find that the complex is investigating \u201ccriminal chromosomal patterns,\u201d positing that those possessing XYY have tendencies towards criminality. Parallel to this discovery, the scientists were working on a drug that could alter one\u2019s genes away from the pattern. One of the lead researchers, a medical prodigy, Dr. Casoni (Aldo Regianni), is revealed to be the thief and killer. After discovering he has the XYY pattern, he knew he\u2019d lose his entire career if found out. So, he stole the documentation of proof and murdered Dr. Calabresi (Carlo Alighiero), the individual threatening to blackmail him by exposing his test results.<\/p>\n<p>This operation all calls to mind the commodification of healthcare, and hyperbolically, in this case, emotions. In the case of blackmail, Dr. Calabresi was prioritizing his own financial gain over the benefit of the people, making him a figure of medical corruption. In an exaggerated manner, of course, this could come to represent medical discrimination against individuals with mental illness and pre-existing conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the fact that Dr. Casoni actually ended up acting criminally, in both theft and murder, it\u2019s unclear whether it was his genes that led him to it or the desperation for financial security that put him at threat by a larger institution\u2019s exploitation of his medical history. <em>Cat O\u2019 Nine Tails<\/em> is complex in its investigation of the origins of aberrant psychology. Showing that even when there\u2019s an explicit seed of corrupted nature to be found in the mind, the answer to our brain\u2019s mechanics will forever be an enigma to the inevitable influences of nurture.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_Tenebrae_1982\"><\/span>2. Tenebrae (1982)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-357559\" src=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/tenebrae.jpg\" alt=\"Tenebrae\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/tenebrae.jpg 800w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/tenebrae-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/tenebrae-160x120.jpg 160w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/tenebrae-320x240.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Murder is an industry. Hitmen and assassins are the more explicit businessmen, but horror films, murder-mystery novels, true crime podcasts, and the like are equal contributions to the corporation of carnage. In many ways it\u2019s exploitation. How does this constant absorption and oversaturation of brutal media seep into the everyday occurrences we may encounter? When and how can media become murder? <em>Tenebrae<\/em> examines this with a mix of narcissism, blood, and hypocrisy.<\/p>\n<p>Writer Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) is in Rome to promote his newest murder-mystery novel, also titled \u201c<em>Tenebrae<\/em>.\u201d Upon his arrival, he discovers that someone has begun a killing spree in honor of his book. As he, his assistant, Anne (Daria Nicolodi), and the police investigate the who and the why, they inch incredibly close to motivations with implications that reflect on more than just the killer.<\/p>\n<p>Given the meta nature of Peter\u2019s book being identical to the title of Argento\u2019s film, these two pieces of work are inseparable. The novel is self-described as being about \u201chuman perversion and its effects on society.\u201d Therefore, so is the film.<\/p>\n<p>Peter Neal is immediately posited as an icon, a dangerous symbol in the eyes of the unhinged. This intersection of morality and media is what drives the film forward: the killer feels justified by the pages in the book, and inversely, a critic calls the book \u201csexist\u201d for its brutal violence towards women. Tilde (Mirella D\u2019Angelo), the aforementioned critic, and her lover, Marion (Mirella Banti), are brutally murdered by the killer because of their \u201cperversion.\u201d The killer leaves a note stating, \u201cSo passes the glory of lesbos,\u201d an act of homophobic violence that seemingly only serves as proof of Tilde\u2019s criticism of the book\u2019s misogyny.<\/p>\n<p>Later on, Jane (Veronica Lario), Peter\u2019s fiance\u00e9, is revealed to be having a love affair with his friend, Bullmer (John Saxon). Her death is the most tortuous and violent of all. Although her killer is revealed to be an obsessed TV book reviewer, we come to realize that not only did Peter kill him but that Peter continued to kill in order to punish Jane and Bullmer and to make it appear that the killer was still at large. His own violence was rooted in his novel\u2019s promotion, keeping him at the center of everyone\u2019s radar, and incredibly hypocritical and misogynistic, given that he also was having an affair.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the film, there are peeks into the history of an unknown man \u2014 who is uncovered to be Peter himself \u2014 where we see flashbacks from his adolescence in which he murders a woman who had previously humiliated him. With this added knowledge, the metafiction of <em>Tenebrae<\/em> becomes abundantly clear. Within his novel, Peter implemented subconscious misogyny that he claimed was never there. With this implicit bias in the writing of the book \u201cTenebrae,\u201d the blatant bias of <em>Tenebrae<\/em> is unveiled. Yet the daunting question still remains in grey: if not for writing the book in the first place, is Peter now responsible for the murders he inspired simply because we know his stake in it all is close to home? Was the book \u201c<em>Tenebrae<\/em>\u201d a subconscious calling card to like-minded misogynistic maniacs, and by extension, what does that say, if anything at all, about the film <em>Tenebrae<\/em> and its creator?<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1_Opera_1987\"><\/span>1. Opera (1987)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-357558 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/opera.jpg\" alt=\"Dario Argento giallo Opera\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/opera.jpg 800w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/opera-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/opera-160x120.jpg 160w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/opera-320x240.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Performance is exalting and terrifying in its vulnerability. As a performer, your role is to serve the audience \u2014 to exist for their entertainment and judgment. In any production, it is both essential and inevitable that every person involved is being watched, and therefore, is simultaneously watching. It\u2019s this exchange of perception that rules <em>Opera<\/em>. The film is laden with imagery of eyes, lenses, and POV shots that profess the importance of vision and its implications.<\/p>\n<p><em>Opera<\/em> follows the story of a young understudy turned prima donna, Betty (Cristina Marsillach), who is being pursued by a stalker in a vicious cycle of catch-and-release as she is repeatedly bound and subject to a line of pins underneath her eyes that force her to watch him murder those around her. In her shows, the music is operatic; in the killer\u2019s act, the music is metal \u2014 each a juxtaposing genre of performance in their own right. This relationship results in a transference of exhibitionism: though where Betty was freely and openly a performer, she is now a forced voyeur to the horrific recital of her captor. It\u2019s not only an exchange of the watcher and the watched but a swap of power.<\/p>\n<p>Forbidden sights are viewed through bars: the line of pins beneath Betty\u2019s eyes and the grate of the air vent in her apartment as the child spies on her from within the duct. There\u2019s a reminder of the corruption and lack of consent, but powerlessness in knowing there isn\u2019t a way to stop it. Inversely, <em>Opera<\/em> also uses the robbery of sight as punishment. Betty\u2019s friend, Mira (Daria Nicolodi), has her vision, and life, taken when she\u2019s shot through a peephole, the bullet entering through her eye. She\u2019s murdered because she\u2019s seen as interference, obtrusive to the killer\u2019s fantasy. Later on, in an ironic spin, the stalker has his own eye gouged out by a raven, a vengeful form of poetic justice.<\/p>\n<p>Betty\u2019s sexuality runs through the narrative\u2019s subplot. We see her engage sexually, but she admits, \u201cShe\u2019s a disaster in bed.\u201d But she doesn\u2019t know why and claims only that sex \u201chas never worked\u201d for her. With her being a victim to the killer\u2019s overt sadomasochistic displays, she is constantly at the liberty of men\u2019s sexual wiles and objectifying eyes. It is only in her reclamation of the power of gaze that Betty overcomes.<\/p>\n<p>Amidst being at the center of sporadic endangerment, Betty only feels safe at the opera: the sole place in which she is willing and in control of how she is perceived. She eventually uses the opera, and her own performance, as a tool to capture her tormentor on her own terms, knowing the sight of her exhibitionism is irresistible to him. Through this, Betty obtains sexual control in the cyclical push and pull of sadomasochism spurred by her attacker. With this she also gained the confidence and agency she had struggled to obtain, removing herself from the chauvinistic male sight and claiming the power as her own.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p>The <em>giallo<\/em> subgenre, spearheaded by the master, Dario Argento, has had a massive influence on the horror genre at large. His elegant balance of extraordinary style that doesn\u2019t detract from the substance is what\u2019s laid his claim in the hearts of horror lovers. Within the industry itself, from masked killers, implicating POV shots, iconic musical accomp<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/anime-manga\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"6\" title=\"Anime || Manga\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">anime<\/a>nt, and inventive avenues of slaying the unsuspected, it\u2019s easy to eye the direct inspirations from his work in perhaps the most coveted era of horror: the late \u201970s-early \u201980s slashers.<\/p>\n<p>Yet Argento\u2019s work stands alone, embodying a subgenre of dramatically unique filmmaking with narratives and images that stubbornly stick in your skull. He dissects the darkness of past trauma, personal agency, and revenge with a delectable combination of sexiness and savagery, leaving a lasting impression long after the credits roll. It\u2019s why we watch his films, why we return to them, and why his name is forever synonymous with the image of <em>giallo<\/em>.\n<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/dario-argento-the-king-of-giallo\/#utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=dario-argento-the-king-of-giallo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Dario Argento: The King of Giallo&#8221; Welcome to Carnage Classified, a monthly column where we break down the historical and social influence of all things horror, then rank the films of each month\u2019s category accordingly. Franchises, movements, filmmakers, subgenres, etc. This entry is about Dario Argento\u2019s giallo films and includes a ranking of his six&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/tenebrae-argento.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[40504,32129,1406],"class_list":["post-75465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-carnage-classified","tag-dario-argento","tag-horror"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}