Shudder Saturday: Dario Argento: Panico (2023)

Although I like to watch them, I am never eager to review documentaries. It's rare to have much to say about them, especially when they often use very similar ways to convey information to viewers. Summarising a documentary is often just summarising the subject itself, but sometimes that subject is worth making others aware of. I'm not sure that can be said of Dario Argento.

Don't get me wrong. Argento remains a big name in the horror genre, a man responsible for some past glories that stand up as outright classics, but even some of his more generous fans would have to admit that it's been at least two decades since he showed anything like the kind of directorial talent and flair that made his reputation. Some argue that Dark Glasses showed some promise, a minor return to form, but I strongly disagree.

That's what puzzles me about this documentary. Who will get the most out of it, and why now? Argento isn't on some major upswing, which takes the documentary itself to an inevitably downbeat and depressing final act, and the fact that he keeps trying (the tenacity is admirable, to be fair) means that there's no definitive end point that can be used to bookend his film career. He may yet make another movie, or he may not, but nothing is known at this time, which gives the documentary a hugely anti-climactic feeling.

Director Simone Scafidi obviously thinks that this story is worth telling, and there's plenty of time dedicated to the complex relationship that Argento has with women (both offscreen and on), including some of the frank and raw speech you would expect from his daughter, Asia, but it doesn't get close enough to the bottom of a very murky pool. And then, after touching on topics that you know are interesting enough to require some more exploration, Scafidi and co. pull back, returning to the relative safety of Gaspar Noé, Nicolas Winding Refn, and Guillermo del Toro offering up their praise to someone they revere.

Although it may not seem like it from my words here, I am a huge fan of Argento, up to a certain point. He deserves a LOT of love and respect for the contributions he has made to giallo, and to the horror genre overall. At least two of his films are gold-plated classics. Which is why I was all the more frustrated by this documentary. I don't think it worked as intended, with the unimaginative construction and soundbites coalescing into something that rarely reminds you of the greatness of Argento's talent. You could make one feature alone by simply juxtaposing moments from Suspiria with many films and scenes it has influenced, but even that atmospheric classic feels as if it is given relatively short shrift here.

There is potential for a great documentary to be made about the life and works of Argento. This doesn't come close. Those present keep serving as a reminder of the many people not included, the film clips are assembled with very little thought or care (in my eyes anyway), and the end result is a huge wasted opportunity.

3/10

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Paganini Horror (1989)

The kind of bonkers Italian horror movie from the eighties that we fans seem to automatically love, Paganini Horror is a film I long intended to mark off my own watchlist, and others who knew me told me that I should enjoy it.

It’s all to do with a cursed piece of music written by Paganini, which connects seemingly random events, from a small girl killing her mother to a rock band having a nightmare of a time in an isolated house as they film a music video. Logic is, of course, thrown out of the window early on, so viewers can quickly decide whether or not they're willing to go along with the general lunacy of it all.

Directed by Luigi Cozzi, who also co-wrote the movie with star Daria Nicolodi, this is the kind of film you need to watch with your brain in a certain mode (maybe not switched off, but certainly just idling over without being moved into any gear). It’s not actually a good film, but it is enjoyably silly, especially in the grand finale.

The script is hilarious, with those moments you often get in these films that have characters discussing the most ridiculous ideas with complete earnestness, and the acting is . . . well, it is on par with other films of this ilk.

Aside from Nicolodi, you get a fun role for Donald Pleasence, playing someone offering a kind of Faustian pact for those seeking a better life, and Jasmine Maimone (Kate), Maria Cristina Mastrangeli (Lavinia), Michel Klippstein (Elena), and Pascal Persiano (Daniel) make up the rest of the main cast. Pietro Genuardi is just fine as Mark Singer, and you get someone creeping about as a murderous spirit of Paganini. 

Sadly, I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I hoped I would. The gore is uneven, in terms of both the pacing of the kills and the quality of the effects, and it feels too padded out, despite not exactly having an epic runtime. There’s still fun to be had though, but connoisseurs of Italian horror from this decade may enjoy it a lot more than I did.

5/10

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Contamination (1980)

Luigi Cozzi, who wrote and directed this movie (billed as Lewis Coates), must have thought he'd struck gold when it was banned during the infamous "video nasty" debacle of the 1980s because it's yet another movie on the list that doesn't deserve any of the attention it gets from fans (with myself being guilty as charged) looking to seek out the forbidden fruits of the past.

The story is all about alien eggs being smuggled in to New York and the three people who may be able to stop some sneaky plan to enslave America or somesuch nonsense. The three involved include someone who survived a mission that found the first substantial stash of eggs being imported(Marino Masé), a female Colonel (Louise Marleau) and an ex-astronaut who mentioned the same eggs when he returned from Mars and was subsequently mocked and regarded as slightly mad (Ian McCulloch). Oh, when the eggs get to a certain temperature they can explode and make people who get sprayed with the . . .  albumen (????) explode too. Chests burst open much like they did in that far superior little movie known as Alien.

Trying to mix horror with some kind of intriguing detective thriller movie, this film fails to satisfy fans of either type. The main attempt, at about the halfway point, to draw out one main set-piece into something nail-bitingly tense is just undermined by the ludicrousness of it all, and the audio work that seems designed to work against, rather than complement, the visuals.

Cozzi doesn't do too bad when it comes to working with whatever budget he managed to scrape together though. He's certainly better in the directorial role than he is with the writing duties, shared with Erich Tomek (who did much better work just one year later with the very enjoyable Bloody Moon).

The acting is a bit shoddy, to be honest, although it's often entertaining enough. McCulloch is fun to watch, as he was in a number of other movies during this period (and I have heard horror fans speak highly of his way of discussing them with good grace and humour), so it is a shame that nobody else is really reading from the same sheet, as it were. The action and plot is really rather dull in between moments of gut-busting carnage, most of the second half feels like it has been excised from the very weakest Bond movie you could imagine, and even the gore gets dull pretty quickly when it's clearly the same "gag" being used over and over again.

Things do get a bit better in the last 15 minutes or so, and there's a good practical creation that gets some star billing in the opening credits so, added to the fun of the characterisations and the frequent exploding goons, it's not all bad. There will always be others who like it a lot more than I did. For me, it just never rises above average.

5/10

You can buy the movie here.

Four Flies On Grey Velvet (1971)

Fans of Steve Martin, Woody Allen and Dario Argento all have one thing in common. They seem to spend a lot of their time wondering just when their favourites will return to the top form of their earlier efforts. Steve Martin has occasionally almost made audiences forget about the awful Bringing Down The House (okay, okay, I quite enjoyed that one, so sue me), Woody Allen has received apparently well-deserved praise for Midnight In Paris (which I have queued up and ready to watch at some point in the next few weeks) and Dario Argento has . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . well, let's be honest now, he's not really offered his loyal fans anything promising for quite some time. Or am I forgetting something major? If you could enjoy The Card Player, but not love it, then you're on a par with myself. I think his last excellent movie, from the few recent efforts I have seen, was Sleepless but even that one didn't please all of his fans. Not by a long shot.

Despite what some will tell you, not every earlier Argento movie was/is a bona fide classic. He certainly did his best work before the change of the century but giallo fans who have more than a passing knowledge of the subgenre will be able to provide you with a list of names of directors they feel have created a body of work superior to the Argento selection. That's not to take anything away from the man, it's just that perspective is needed when viewing and reviewing his work. I still love many of his movies and I still feel that his better films - Deep Red, Suspiria, Tenebrae, Opera etc - rank up there with the best that the genre has to offer. But that still doesn't mean that there aren't people who can do better.

Four Flies On Grey Velvet is a perfect example of the best of Argento mixed in with a few negatives.

The story, with a screenplay by Argento based on the story that he wrote with Luigi Cozzi and Mario Foglietti,  is twisted and interesting enough - a young man (Roberto, played by Michael Brandon) confronts someone that he believes has been stalking him for a few days, a scuffle ensues and then the "stalker" is accidentally killed. This whole incident has been photographed and the photographer now blackmails Roberto and becomes more and more menacing, also causing some more deaths. Things build to a tense and revelatory finale.

The direction showcases fluid and stylish camerawork that would become, arguably, Argento's main trademark throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s with some amusing camera shots from such strange positions as the inside of a guitar, etc. There are also some enjoyable set-pieces, though nothing really on a par with his best work (with the exception of the very last moments of the film).

The acting is okay. Brandon does what is required, as do the likes of Mimsy Farmer, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Bud Spencer and the other cast members. But okay isn't good enough when the movie is full of too many moments that highlight the weaknesses in between the strengths. The script isn't all that great and a bit of editing could have really helped this whole film become a much more enjoyable, more streamlined thriller/horror. Just when you think things are getting better something comes along to undermine the tension, be it poor character choices or just banal dialogue exchanges.

I recommend this movie, especially to fans of Argento (of course), but it's not the best example of a movie of this type. It's not even in the top 5 Argento movies of this type, in my opinion. Nonetheless, this is a good film with an abundance of style and ingenuity. And some musical input from Ennio Morricone.

7/10.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Four-Flies-Velvet-Uncut-remastered/dp/B005PM6M50/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1332972873&sr=1-2