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    There's no doubt that by 1982 director Dario Argento was pretty much proclaimed the king of the giallo film.  With movies like "Deep Red" (Profondo Rosso), "Cat o Nine Tails", and "A Bird with the Crystal Plumage" already out there it was time for Argento to return to the subgenre that he helped make once again with "Tenebre".  When Argento was releasing the other gialli of his career up until this point he was a trailblazer in the field.  But at this point the giallo trend had went to the states and appeared in mutated fashion of the slasher film.  The ideas were different but generally the point was the same, even if the giallo films are much more stylized than any slasher you are likely to see.  Tenebre however was the first Argento giallo to be released once the slasher trend was in full swing.

 

    "Tenebre" is the story of Peter Neal an American novel writer who travels to Rome for a promotional tour for his new book with the same title as the film.  Once there however he finds that a psychopathic maniac is running around using his newest writing as inspiration for knocking people off in violent fashion.  When dead bodies keep coming up the police investigation is turned up a few notches even though the killing doesn't stop.  Everything continues to implicate Peter himself in the murders, but will they find out who is killing everyone before he becomes the next victim, or does he know more about the murders than he's letting on in the first place?

 

    One of the things that I enjoyed so much about "Tenebre" is the fact that the Argento style is sleekly on display in this one.  Great kills sequenced on screen with flashy camera work and great music are just a staple of what you come to expect from an Argento giallo and this one is no exception to that.  The camera work here is masterful and is exactly what I like to see when I watch this type of movie from Argento.  The kills are violent as usual and there's even a nice touch as the killer jams pages from Peter Neal's books into the victims' mouths after they are slice and diced. 

 

    The acting in the film is standard and we even get a smaller role from one of my personal favorite actors, John Saxon.  That's right folks in case you weren't aware Saxon worked with Argento too and he has a pretty interesting character in the film too.  There's even a great scene with him that involves the killer (I can't give up too much here!) that's funny, impressive, and confusing all at the same time.  Sure it's not perfect, but it's something you'll definitely remember from this movie well after seeing it.

 

    The plot here is also pretty decent with Argento taking a more conventional approach to this one.  The story flows and is actually pretty surprising when you finally get to the end. Personally as a big fan of giallo movies I've come to realize that they can really live or die by the way the film ends.  This one lives with it as I not only found the ending suitable but it was actually a bit of surprise to me considering the amount of well used red herrings in the story.

 

    Overall "Tenebre" has to be considered one of Argento's best film works and certainly one of his better giallo films.  It's not his best giallo film, as I would reserve that for "Deep Red" and "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage" but it's still better than the majority of the giallo that's been released from other directors.  It's a solid flick with decent kills and manages to deliver in every area that it's expected to perform.  RECOMMENDED.

 

Rating - ***

 

-Ed Demko