Dario Argento | Wildside Cinema

Mother of Tears: The Third Mother (DVD – 2007)

B. Harris, Dario Argento, Fantasy, Horror No Responses »

Sep 162008

DVD Release

Rome explodes in violence and destruction after a mysterious urn is opened and an ancient is unleashed. Museum worker Sarah Mandy finds herself caught in the murderous crosshairs of hundreds of witches that have descended upon Rome to usher in a new age of terror and welcome the last remaining Mother, Mater Lachrymarum. Can Sarah gain control of the powers she inherited from her white witch mother and stop Mater Lachrymarum before it’s too late?

Damn, how many writers did it take to write this mess? Why was Daria Nicolodi not involved in the writing process on this film? Not to take anything away from the Continue reading »

The Cat O’ Nine Tails (1971)

Crime, Dario Argento, Drama, Gialli, Thriller No Responses »

Aug 262008

DVD Release

A break-in occurs at a genetic research company, followed by several murders. An old blind man, Franco Arno, who lives near the company with his young niece, thinks he overheard a conversation relevant to these crimes, and links up with a reporter, Carlo Giordani, to investigate further. The killer, suffering from a genetic tendency to violence that the company had been researching, threatens the lives of the investigators as they get closer to the truth.

The second film of horror/thriller specialist Dario Argento relies much more on plot than his other works. For me that’s not really a virtue, as I tend to prefer his later supernatural fantasies like Suspiria, where Argento lets his imagination run Continue reading »

The Card Player (Il cartaio – 2004)

Crime, Dario Argento, Gialli, Italy, Thriller No Responses »

Aug 152008

DVD Artwork

A serial killer is kidnapping women and challenging police to online poker games, with the abductees’ lives as the stakes. One detective, Anna, investigates the case with John, an Irish forensics expert from the British embassy. They must follow up on what the psychological profile of the killer suggests: s/he gets off on taking risks. Their investigations lead them into the Roman underworld of illegal video poker bars, where they find an expert poker player willing to help them save the women’s lives.

Some Dario Argento fans may find the absence of the director’s usual extravagant stylization in The Card Player a disappointment. I would disagree, in that it’s good not to repeat yourself all the time, and that the contemporary hi-tech Continue reading »

Mother of Tears (La Terza Madre – Theatrical – 2007)

Dario Argento, Fantasy, Horror, P. Escott No Responses »

Jan 172008

Theatrical Poster

The final installment of Dario Argento’s ‘Three Mothers trilogy’ was always going to be a major event in every horror fans calendar. Thirty years after the release of the first installment, Suspiria, and twenty-seven years after its follow up, Inferno; the third and final chapter is upon us. The hype surrounding the film has been building strength for nigh on twenty-five years. How do you deliver on that much buzz? Few people in the world could manage such a feat, has Dario pulled it off?

Well, yes and no really, the film is a success – just. Anyone who knows me will testify that I have a dog-like loyalty to Mr. Argento, but I’m here to give you good people an ‘honest’ review of his latest movie. For the fans out there like myself, they will not Continue reading »

Film Review: Opera (1987)

Dario Argento, Drama, Gialli, Horror, J. Felton, Slasher Films, Thriller No Responses »

Sep 182007

DVD Artwork

Let’s face it Dario Argento’s movies aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. Me? I’m a big tea drinker, however I will admit that he has made some real duffers in his time. When he is on fire though great things appear on the screen. I can excuse his plot inconsistencies because more often than not his movies are a visual treat with everything played over the top.

It also never pays to be a female in his movies, as they more often than not come in for a very hard time. Opera is no exception to this rule.

Opera is set around the performance of Macbeth, so already you’ll be thinking nothing good can come of this. For those of you that don’t Continue reading »

Do You Like Hitchcock?

B. Harris, Crime, Dario Argento, Drama, Gialli, Horror, Thriller No Responses »

Aug 142006

U.S. DVD Release

Remember when you first laid eyes on Suspiria? The colors swirled before your eyes and the otherworldly tale of witches and murder got your heart racing. It was magic. You didn’t think you’d ever see something as cool as Suspiria until Argento slapped a healthy dose of Tenebre on your ass! All you could think about was, “This man is a genius.”

Well, the genius is back. Unfortunately, the artistic eye of The Maestro of The Macabre is gone, now replaced by the eye of uneventful cinema. Gone are the psychedelic colors, unbearable tension and inspired camera angles. “Do You Like Hitchcock?” is no Suspiria, Bird with the Crystal Plumage or Four Flies on Grey Velvet…hell Continue reading »

Film Review: Argento’s ‘Trauma’ (1993) Misses The Gialli Mark with Bloody Inaccuracy

Dario Argento, Gialli, Horror, Italy, Thriller No Responses »

Jul 242006

DVD Artwork

Being a Dario Argento fan is a lot like being a Chicago Cubs fan. When he’s at the top of his form, whee doggies! You can’t beat the man. But sometimes, even when he has great players aboard, you have to sit and watch him commit stupid errors and lose the whole ballgame. Trauma is a good game until about the sixth inning, when Argento reaches too far back into the bullpen and pulls out Shoeless Joe Jackson. I know. Wrong team. I hate sports analogies anyway.

It’s a rainy night in an unspecified American town. A lovely chiropractor is meeting her last patient of the evening. Handing Continue reading »

Phenomena (1985)

B. Harris, Dario Argento, Horror, Thriller No Responses »

Jun 062006

Anchor Bay Release

Readers, I hate bugs, no joke. Bugs disgust me in a major way. I won’t even go into spiders. I can tell you this though, a spider can send me kicking and screaming through a room filled with frosty mugs filled with ice cold Sam Adams without stopping for a sip. Yeah…it’s like that. You can imagine my disgust then while watching Phenomena, which is filled with creepy crawlers! Fact is, the original U.S. release for this film was actually called, Creepers! Gross!

Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connelly) is the teenage daughter of movie star, Paul Corvino. She’s relatively normal aside from a few minor “issues”, sleepwalking and a strange Continue reading »

Film Review: Argento’s ‘Tenebre’ (1982) is a Bloody Classic with a Razor-Sharp Cast

Dario Argento, Gialli, Italy, Thriller No Responses »

May 222006

DVD Artwork

Hardcore fans already recognize director Dario Argento as one of the absolute masters of Italian horror. Even if you aren’t a major horror maven, you should still drop to your knees and praise his name to the stars for being the father of Asia Argento. That is one screamingly hot woman. If you watch Tenebre, you won’t see Asia Argento. I know. Points off already. But you will see her mother, Daria Nicolodi, a skinny little hottie in her own right, and you will see an example of Dario Argento at the top of his form. This movie, in a word, is kick-ass.

Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa), a horror writer with world-wide popularity, has arrived in Rome to pimp his new book Continue reading »