dario argento

DARK GLASSES: AMC’s Shudder Lands Dario Argento’s Latest Giallo Thriller

On the eve of a special screening in Berlin where Wild Bunch is repping international sales, horror auteur Dario Argento’s latest return with revenge thriller, Dark Glasses, scored a trailer premiere this week via the trades, and is now officially on par for multi-territorial premieres via AMC’s premium horror streamer, Shudder, beginning this Fall. Starring Ilenia Pastorelli, Andrea Zhang and Asia Argento, Dark Glasses marks the first new film in a decade from the 81-year old director best known for hits such as Suspira, Tenebrae, Phenomena, The Cat O’ Nine Tails, and our own Vance Ang’s horror fave, Deep Red. The acquisition was firstly reported by Screendaily’s Melanie Goodfellow on Friday. In DARK GLASSES, an eclipse blackens the skies on a hot summer day in Rome — a harbinger of the darkness that will envelop Diana (Pastorelli) when a serial killer chooses her as prey. Fleeing her predator, the young escort […]

“ITALIAN HORROR IN ULTRA HIGH DEFINITION” – UHD Release of DEEP RED In North America And The UK This October!

Vance Ang

In time for the spooky season is this stunning release of the seminal classic ‘DEEP RED’ aka Profondo Rosso, by the legendary Dario Argento – in UHD format. A seemingly simple murder mystery, ‘DEEP RED’ transcends these tropes and elevates itself into a unique cat-and-mouse escapade, complete with an unremarkable but curious protagonist played by David Hemming. Being somewhat of a blank slate, Argento’s story weaves the audience into the mystery, thus becoming part of the piece – with such investment leading to abject terror. Despite the carnage and sinister subtext ‘DEEP RED’ is beautifully disturbing and for this journalist, rates as the Italian Maestro’s best film; which is hard to assert given that his movie catalogue is unforgettable. Although Argento’s works are stylised and intricate in design, his name is more known within the cult cinema goers rather than in the mainstream and that in itself is sacrilege. The […]

‘THE SEDUCTION OF SADISM, BEAUTY IN BLOODSHED: Retrospective of Dario Argento’s DEEP RED’

Vance Ang

In recent years the horror genre has expanded beyond the confines of its original formulaic construct. There are so many well established tropes now, ranging from the very common found footage style (with too many examples to now cite) to the more satirical genre bending narrative of something like ‘THE CABIN IN THE WOODS’ or even ‘THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT’ – the latter of which is a more recent offering that eluded many cinema pundits. Evidently, a good horror film seeks to subvert clear expectations to shock and surprise the audience. Whilst truly exceptional horror succeeds in getting-under-your-skin – provoking that unsettled and lasting fear. Though in recent years countries like the United Kingdom and Japan have managed to achieve the latter, the case could be made for the Italians having achieved this as far back as the mid-late 70s and early 80s. In this writer’s opinion, Italian horror […]