Watching a Dario Argento movie for the first time is “pure excitement, like the one experienced by a kid who discovers Coca-Cola… and wants more,” according to director Gaspar Noé. The Italian director’s filmography is a bewildering and beautiful monument to the dark side: bathed in sensuous neon lighting, haunting melodies, and masses of blood. Watch once and you’re snared by an insatiable craving for more.
Donning several monikers, including the “Master of Italian Horror” or the “Italian Hitchcock,” Argento is most appropriately known as the “godfather of giallo,” a subgenre of Italian horror characterised by its inclusion of a murder mystery. (The name, meaning “yellow” in Italian, is derived from the yellow covers of Italian pulp crime novels). Argento’s films have come to epitomise the genre: its seduction, its suspense, its full-blown, technicolour panic.
From his 1970 directorial debut The Bird with the Crystal Plumage to his widely panned 2022 film Dark Glasses, Argento is an auteur who toys with his audience’s paranoias and desires. If you’ve never delved into his work before – or have only seen Suspiria – here’s how to get into Dario Argento.
The entry point is… Deep Red (1975)
In Argento’s defining giallo masterpiece, David Hemmings stars as Marcus Daly, a British pianist who becomes ensnared in a terrifying web of mystery after he witnesses the gruesome murder of a psychic in Rome. The event thrusts him into the role of an amateur sleuth, where he unravels a labyrinthine conspiracy.
Deep Red is a slasher film with an unparalleled flair for the frenetic. As Daly pieces together the cryptic clues, Argento manipulates the cinematic space with his idiosyncratic camera work: dizzying close-ups, disorienting angles and a rich palette of crimsons that together paint a picture of imminent danger and bloodcurdling fear. The world of the film is increasingly sinuous, contradictory and infected by sublime nightmares – a blueprint for Argento’s entire filmography.
The one everyone has seen… Suspiria (1977)
The hypnotic interiors of Argento’s enigmatic Suspiria are enough to bewitch any audience. This 1977 classic meets at the intersection of supernatural horror and traditional giallo, following American ballet student Suzy Bannion, played by Jessica Harper, as she enrols at the prestigious Tanz Dance Academy in Germany. Mystified by the uncanny behaviour of its staff and students, Suzy discovers the school is a front for a sinister coven.
In Suspiria, Argento harnesses the sensory dimensions of both horror and giallo to create a masterpiece that blends beauty with butchery. He thrusts viewers into the innermost dread of its protagonist, lost in the school’s unfamiliar labyrinth – a disorienting effect further amplified by the haunting score, one of Argento’s many masterful collaborations with Goblin. Its intricate geometric designs, awash with blues, greens, and reds, were filmed using an outdated Disney technique called “Technicolor Three-Strip,” largely abandoned in the 1950s. This created the dreamlike, oversaturated lens that has cemented this film’s status as a cult classic.
Necessary viewing… Tenebrae (1982)
Not everyone loved Argento. In fact, Tenebrae was the director’s response to heightened admonishments by his denigrators. Critics of Argento’s works bombarded him with telephone calls, letters, and occasional death threats, blaming his films for causing damaging psychological effects. Argento’s riposte: a film in which a horror novelist is targeted by a stalker reenacting the killings in his books. This meta-textual movie curses his slanderers, while simultaneously managing to be both his most salacious and comedic. And despite its sterile white sets, costumes and designs, his voyeuristic lens helps the audience anticipate the splashes of blood destined to stain the screen.
The underappreciated gem… Inferno (1980)
A horror phenomenon in its own right, Inferno is the grossly undervalued thematic sequel to Argento’s magnum opus, Suspiria, and the daring second instalment in what would become known as the “Three Mothers” trilogy.
At first, Inferno revolves around a young poet in New York who uncovers an ancient book revealing the existence of these Three Mothers. Driven by an impulsive and foolish curiosity, typical of Argento’s giallo protagonists, the poet’s investigation draws her deeper into the eerie corridors of a New York City apartment building filled with secrets. Though stylistically on par with his other films, it’s a tough first-watch for those unacquainted with Argento’s work. His plot splinters and misdirects, the frenetic narrative allowing the director to play with his love of disorientation. The results are cryptic, mesmerising and soul-sucking.
Released in 1980, Inferno is often overshadowed by its iconic predecessor Suspiria and the critically acclaimed Tenebrae, which premiered two years later. Despite a limited theatrical run and lack of initial positive reception, it’s earnt a cult following of its own – this is one to namecheck to impress your peers this Halloween.
The deep cut is… The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)
After cutting his teeth as a screenwriter for Sergio Leone and Bernardo Bertolucci, Argento made his directorial debut with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. Based on Fredric Brown’s pulpy 1949 novel The Screaming Mimi, this debut functioned as a cocktail of high-octane tropes that would become hallmarks of Argento’s signature style.
It follows an American writer visiting Italy who witnesses the attempted murder of a woman in an art gallery. Unable to leave the country as a witness, he becomes obsessed with uncovering the identity of the assailant. The film tapped into the societal paranoia of the 70s by weaving it into the narrative fabric of a thriller; a move so successful that The Bird… more than doubled its $500,000 budget at the box office.
Though the film did not produce any sequels per se, it certainly set the tone for Argento’s inaugural series of giallo films. Films like The Cat o’ Nine Tails (1971) and Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971) followed a similar blueprint: creative protagonists who witness a murder and decide to investigate for themselves. That’s a common and regrettable mistake made by many of Argento’s later protagonists – who just can’t help but wander into those waking nightmares of the director’s making.
