TENEBRAE
UNSANE
Italy 1982
Director: Dario Argento. Sc: Dario Argento, George
Kemp.
Music: Simonetti, Pignatelli, Norante. Cast: Anthony
Franciosa, Daria Nicolodi, John Saxon, Giuliano Gemma, Eva Robins/Roberto
Coatti, Mirella D'Angelo, John Steiner, Ania Pieroni, Lara Wendel.
Peter Neal
comes to Italy to promote his latest work, a violent thriller. He is criticized
for the violence in his novels and in fact, right before he arrived in Rome, a
woman was brutally murdered with pages from Neal's latest work, stuffed in her
mouth. The killer contacts Neal and tells him how much he admires his work. As
more killings occur, Neal and a police detective work together to try and
uncover who the killer might be. When the assassin begins to knock off those
closest to Neal, he decides to track down a fan whose obsessions with his books
troubles him. Sure enough he has located the killer but when he's is murdered
and the deaths continues, he and the police realize that there may be a second
murderer.
This is my
favorite Argento Giallo. It contains perfection in every element seen on the
screen: photography, music, acting, special effects, you name it. When you
consider that Lamberto Bava was the first assistant director and Michele Soavi
was the second assistant, it's no wonder the film is a s good as it is.
Franciosa is usually given to hamming it up, but here, he keeps it under
control and gains audience sympathy in the process. Steiner had gained a world
of experience playing psychos in crime films during the seventies, so his part
here is not much of a stretch, still you can't wait for him to bite the bullet
(or in this case, get an axe to the skull). With a strong narrative (for a
change) you're able to concentrate on the characters more and you have to
applaud Argento for concocting a storyline that admits, violent material could
possibly influence people to commit violence. Of course in this case, the
person was nuts to begin with, otherwise this would just be a piece of
Christian coalition propaganda. The film was butchered for its US release (a
typical reaction by distributors to Argento's early work) as UNSANE. Needless
to say, avoid that version like the plague.
