Before we get too deep into this review of Dario Argento’s Tenebrae, a few readers might want to have a clue what Tenebrae is. In the days before Easter, a Roman Catholic mass is held where the candles in the church are exhausted until the last part of the service is in complete darkness. That’s Tenebrae. Dario Argento’s Tenebrae goes to a level of darkness with a murder roaming Rome and killing people like the violent scenes in a bestselling book named Tenebrae.
When Tenebrae came out in 1982, Dario Argento upset quite a few folks with the graphic violence and other elements. It ended up on Video Nasty lists. The movie finally arrived in the USA in 1984 and distributor Bedford Entertainment hacked away 10 minutes of film that eliminated the graphic violence and more. They retitled the movie Unsane and put it in theaters. The butchered film bombed with critics and moviegoers. Fans thought Argento had lost his edge. The attitude on the film didn’t turn around until the turn of the century when DVDs arrived with the Tenebrae name restored along with the violent moments. This wasn’t a filmmaker in descent, but another great Argento nightmare.
Peter Neal (Across 110th Street‘s Anthony Franciosa) flies to Rome to promote his latest horror book Tenebrae. Before he gets off the plane, his book has received notoriety. A woman has been killed and had pages from Tenebrae shoved in her mouth. His press agent Bullmer (Enter the Dragon‘s John Saxon) and assistant Anne (Deep Red‘s Daria Nicolodi) assure him that things are OK. But things get worse when a fan letter from the killer arrives. The homicidal lunatic praises Neal’s novels for inspiring his killing spree. There are more killings based on his books. Detective Germani (A Pistol For Ringo‘s Giuliano Gemma) suspects the killer being a TV interviewer (Yor, the Hunter from the Future‘s John Steiner) except that turns into a dead end very quickly. Even with his prime suspect eliminated, the detective senses there might be more than one killer except his investigation also comes to an abrupt end. Who is going to be left to unmask the mystery?
Tenebrae is the kind of murder mystery where you’re not sure who is the killer and who will actually survive to the end. Dario Argento mixes the suspense with the gruesome death scenes. The part with a victim losing their arm and painting a blank canvas with blood is nightmare inducing. John Saxon’s appearance is great since Saxon was in Mario Bava’s The Evil Eye and The Girl Who Knew Too Much back in 1963. Saxon was in Giallo before the genre erupted with Argento’s Bird With the Crystal Plumage. Many consider this the last great Giallo so Saxon ends what he started. Daria Nicolodi delivers the goods with her character that’s dealing with all the madness around her. All the victims look shocked and scared when the killer arrives.
There are two versions of the film on the 4K UHD disc. The Italian Version (101:03) features not only the Italian dialogue track, but pages from the novel in Italian. The English Version (101:01) has the close up of the pages in English (101:01). Although you’ll notice the medium shot with the gloved hand turning the pages has the novel in Italian. I have no idea why there’s a two second difference. All three commentary tracks are attached to the English Version. There isn’t a version of the Unsane edit in the boxset which is great for all of us to not even be tempted to endure.
Tenebrae lets Dario Argento do when he did best during this era: keep up extreme tension between characters and come up with visually stunning ways to kill those same characters. Because Tenebrae is such a brightly lit film, Argento doesn’t hide the tension in the shadows. Now in 4K UHD, you’ll see even more detail when the straight razor wielding killer strikes.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The 4K UHD transfer brings out the brightness of the scenes that turn into murder locations without the usual shadows. The audio is DTS-HD MA Mono on both the Italian and English soundtrack.
Audio Commentary with Alan Jones and Kim Newman gets into whether Tenebrae is his last great film. Newman says this is his Argento’s most ’80s films. They reflect on how a film named about a level of darkness is the most well-lit of Dario’s films.
Audio Commentary with Maitland McDonagh goes into elements of Argento’s film such as how the fireplace scene plays out in the end of the film. She gets into the strangeness of Peter Neal riding a bike from Manhattan to JFK airport. “Sane people don’t do that,” she declares. She gets enamored at the bright orange phone at the airport. McDonagh is a fun listen as she mixes her academic examination of certain scenes with talking about her the odd items on the set.
Audio Commentary with Thomas Rostock has him focus on the visual and audio qualities of the movie. This is one of his favorite films. He points out that the narrator in the Italian version reading the book is Dario Argento.
Yellow Fever: The Reise and Fall of the Giallo (89:24) features interviews with Dario Argento, Umberto Lenzi, Luigi Cozzi, actors and movie historians. Suspense is the key to the genre. The characters can never feel safe since they don’t know who the real killer is. They chart how Giallo started as novels with yellow covers in Italy. They talk of Hitchcock’s influence and how the genre took off after the success of Dario Argento’s Bird With the Crystal Plumage.
Being the Villian (16:22) interviews John Steiner about his career that started with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He ended up in Marat/Sade on Broadway. He ended up designing men’s clothing for Montgomery-Ward while adapting the play for a film. He ended up in Italy when he fell in love with a fashion designer from Rome. He became a fixture in Italian cinema. He has a great story about making a Spaghetti Western with Orson Welles. He enjoyed being a supporting actor. He talks of working with all the great Italian directors before getting into Dario Argento. He describes the director as intense and focused on the actors. He also talks about the end of the film industry. He gets into meeting Sage Stallone and discovering people loved his films from that era. Steiner passed away in the summer of 2022. Someone needs to have a film festival dedicated to John’s movies or a day on Turner Classic Movie’s August Under the Stars.
Alternate Opening Credit sequence (2:14) has the book being tossed in a fireplace. The credits are in English.
Unsane End Credits Sequence (1:51) uses the Kim Wilde song “Take Me Tonight.”
Voices of the Unsane (17:16) has Dario Argento, Daria Nicolodi, Eva Robins, Luciano Tovili, composer Claudio Simonetti and AD Lamberto Bava talk about the movie. Dario talks about how he locked himself up for three months to focus on the script. Daria wanted to complete the Three Mothers. Inferno wasn’t a big hit so they wanted a return to Giallo. Daria talks about dying in movies.
Out of the Shadows (12:20) is a talk with Maitland McDonagh, author of Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento. She gets into how Tenebrae changed up Dario’s approach to Giallo.
Introduction by Daria Nicolodi (0:13) has her wish you well watching the film. I miss Daria, who passed away in 2020. She used to answer my odd questions on Twitter.
Screaming Queen (16:05) is a longer interview with Daria Nicolodi about making Tenebrae. She says the character wasn’t like her. She did enjoy playing the role, but wanted to play the lady in the red heels. She gets into her screaming scene.
The Unsane World of Tenebrae (15:14) is an interview with Dario Argento focused on the film and projects from around that time. He gets into his return to giallo. He does mention how the film had elements of the fantastic in the murders. He points out the lack of crowds in his shots.
A Composition for Carnage (10:05) gets the score from composer Claudio Simonetti. He was the keyboardist in Goblin. I saw him perform the theme song live with his band a few years back. He talks about returning to work with Dario after he had hired Keith Emerson (of Emerson Lake & Palmer) to score Inferno. Claudio explains why this wasn’t a Goblin score. He gets into the disco elements they infused into the music.
Trailer Gallery includes International Theatrical Trailer (3:14) and Japanese Trailer (2:09). The Japanese trailer as a message from Dario Argento to the audience. They have a pop song playing with the bloody images. There’s a warning to not take your eyes of the screen for the final 10 minutes.
Promotional Material is provided from Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan and the US. These include posters, lobby cards, newspaper ads, press photos, press kits and the cover of the Kim Wilde 45. In Japan the film was called Shadow.
Synapse Films present Tenebrae. Directed by Dario Argento. Screenplay by Dario Argento. Starring Anthony Franciosa, John Saxon, Daria Nicolodi, Giuliano Gemma, Carola Stagnaro, John Steiner, Veronica Lario & Mirella D’Angelo. Boxset content: 1 4K UHD disc and 1 Blu-ray disc. Running Time: 101 minutes. Rated: Unrated. Release Date: September 26, 2023.
