History Film / Tenebre

* DaylightHorror: Argento and cinematographer Luciano Tovoli shot most of the film in bright or brightly lit locations, even at night. White is the predominating color, which makes for an IronicEpisodeTitle, because "Tenebre" is literally Italian for "darkness".
-->'''Dario Argento:''' ''Film/{{Suspiria|1977}}'' was a great explosion of lights and colors, but here I wanted to do a very cold kind of film, like ice.\\
'''Luciano Tovoli:''' There's no shadow in which to hide, not even for the viewer... If I could have done it, I'd have lit the theater too.

%%* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler:Tilde and Marion.]]%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample

* AnAxeToGrind: Primary tool for murder during the latter part of the film.

* AccidentalMurder: In the end, [[spoiler:Anne accidentally kills Neal when she pushes a statue and a sharp piece falls off, transfixing his chest and pinning him to the wall, a death that is as accidental as it is a merciful stroke of luck as it prevents him from stabbing her too.]]
* TheAlibi: Deliberately invoked by [[spoiler:one of the killers. Neal uses Berti's killings, which happened before Neal came to Italy, to throw suspicion off himself as he plans the murders of Berti, his agent, his wife, and his secretary. He advises the police that, in his opinion, all of these killings are being committed by the same person -- and since he wasn't in the country yet, that rules ''him'' out, right?]]

* AnyoneCanDie:[[spoiler: By the end of the movie everyone except Anne is dead]]
* AxCrazy: [[spoiler:Both Cristiano Berti who felt inspired by Peter Neal's books into acting into his maniacal homophobic desires and then Neal himself who felt inspired by Berti's getting inspired by his books.]]
* BigBad: [[spoiler:Subverted with the reporter [[DiscOneFinalBoss Cristiano Berti]], who indeed kills the first few victims but is killed by Peter Neal who then takes over as the BigBad]].

* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler:Tilde and Marion.]]
* DaylightHorror: Argento and cinematographer Luciano Tovoli shot most of the film in bright or brightly lit locations, even at night. White is the predominating color.
--> '''Dario Argento:''' ''Film/{{Suspiria|1977}}'' was a great explosion of lights and colors, but here I wanted to do a very cold kind of film, like ice.\\

** Which makes for an IronicEpisodeTitle, because "Tenebre" is literally Italian for "darkness".
* DecoyProtagonist: [[spoiler: For initially most of the movie, the film follows Peter Neal, however, after Neal takes over as the BigBad, the climax follows [[FinalGirl Anne]] instead.]]

* DownerEnding:[[spoiler: Peter is revealed to be the killer and after killing the inspector among others, he lastly attempts to kill Anne only to get impaled to the wall. While Anne survives, she is the ONLY survivor, and the last shot of the movie is of her in a violent screaming fit of hysterics, sealing the fact that she is going to be traumatised for the rest of her life at the very least.]]

* FinalGirl: Anne.
* {{Gorn}}: It's Creator/DarioArgento. What do you expect?

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Happens to the killer in the climax.
* [[spoiler:TheKillerInMe: Peter Neal has always had repressed feelings of misogyny and violence. He attempts to exorcise them in his books. But once somebody starts killing due to his books, he loses any control he had, kills the actual killer and embarks on a spree of his own.]]

* RedHerring: All [[spoiler:male]] characters but particularly [[spoiler:John Saxon who plays a sleazy agent]]. Subverted with [[spoiler: Berti -- he ''is'' the killer in the first few murders we see or hear about, but gets killed by Neal halfway through the film.]]

* SlashedThroat: How the first victim dies.
* TwistEnding

* VengeanceFeelsEmpty: [[spoiler: It didn't take much time for Neal to stab the girl who sexually humiliated him to death. It also evidently didn't provide him with any solace either, as many, many years later his obsessive hatred remained as strong as ever, festering in the depths of his soul and resurfacing during the most opportune moment.]]

* [[spoiler: VillainProtagonist: Peter Neal turns out to be a misogynistic murderer whose bloodlust remained dormant for many years, which made him both appear and believe himself to be gentle. Until it comes back with a vengeance...]]
* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: A variation. Berti asks Neal, with an excited voice, if he agrees with the view of the killer in the novel that homosexuals are disgusting and disposable perverts. A visibly disturbed Neal comments that the novel's main character is a psychopath. Considering Berti is AmbiguouslyGay, it adds a subtext and motivation, too.

* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler:Due to the revelation that Peter Neal was the killer for the later act and that his literary work (which in turn inspired FirstDiscFinalBoss Berti to go on a murder spree) stems from his DarkAndTroubledPast as a teenager who killed a girl out of revenge for the humiliation he suffered, Neal acts as this for Berti in the first half of the film.]]

* TheSociopath:
** [[spoiler:Christiano Berti]], who is inspired by Neal's lurid horror novels to go on a killing spree of anybody he deems a degenerate.
** [[spoiler:Peter Neal himself]], who murdered a girl in his youth to vent his sexual frustrations, and starts killing again when the new murders awaken his bloodthirst.

* IronicEpisodeTitle: The title is Italian for "Darkness", when the film is (deliberately) very brightly-lit.

* AllThereInTheManual: [[WordOfGod According to Argento]], the film is set 20MinutesInTheFuture, after an unspecified disaster has wiped out a large portion of the population, which is why everyone lives in spacious, futuristic-looking houses. None of this is alluded to or even hinted at in the film proper.

A 1982 Italian Horror film from master horror film maker Creator/DarioArgento. It stars Anthony Franciosa, Veronica Lario, Creator/JohnSaxon, and Daria Nicolodi.

The film was released in Italy and through most of Europe without any reported censorship problems, but was classified and banned as a {{Video Nast|ies}}y in the United Kingdom. Its theatrical distribution in the United States was delayed until 1984, when it was released in a heavily censored version under the title ''Unsane''.

Franciosa stars as Peter Neal, a American writer of violent mystery novels. In Italy to promote his latest work, he is accompanied by his literary agent Bullmer (Saxon) and his assistant Anne (Nicolodi). He is unaware that he is also being followed by his embittered ex-wife Jane (Veronica Lario).

Prior to Neal's arrival in Rome, a young woman is brutally slashed to death by an unseen killer. The murderer sends Neal a letter informing him that his books have inspired him to go on a killing spree. Neal is soon contacted by the police, who put Detective Giermani (Giuliano Gemma) in charge of the investigation.

A 1982 Italian Horror film from master horror film maker Creator/DarioArgento. It stars Anthony Franciosa, Veronica Lario, John Saxon, and Daria Nicolodi.

* BiTheWay: Marion, one of the earlier victims, has a live-in girlfriend and hooks up with men on the side.

* RealitySubtext: A feminist reporter lambastes Neal for his novels' focus on brutal violence against women, a criticism often leveled at Argento specifically and the giallo genre in general.

The film was released in Italy and through most of Europe without any reported censorship problems, but was classified and banned as a VideoNasty in the United Kingdom. Its theatrical distribution in the United States was delayed until 1984, when it was released in a heavily censored version under the title ''Unsane''.

* VideoNasty

* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler:Christiano Berti is the killer at first, but is killed by protagonist Peter Neal about halfway through. Neal takes over as the killer afterwards.]]
* DownerEnding:[[spoiler: Peter is revealed to be the killer and after killing the inspector, he attempts to kill Anne only to get impaled to the wall. While Anne survives, she is the ONLY survivor, and the last shot of the movie is of her in a violent screaming fit of hysterics.]]

* AccidentalMurder: In the end, [[spoiler:Anne accidentally kills Neal when she pushes a statue and a sharp piece falls off, transfixing his chest and pinning him to the wall.]]

* AxCrazy: [[spoiler:Both Cristiano Berti and Peter Neal.]]

* [[spoiler: VillainProtagonist: Peter Neal.]]

--> '''Dario Argento:''' ''Film/{{Suspiria}}'' was a great explosion of lights and colors, but here I wanted to do a very cold kind of film, like ice.\\

* Establishing Character Moment: Peter Neal's rather cavalier attitude toward his own success is revealed at our first sight of him. He owns a Rolls and pays a chauffeur, but instead of being driven to the airport he ''bicycles'' behind his car all the way; he retrieves his luggage from the car boot, puts his bike in it, and is next seen hurriedly changing from his tracksuit into a business suit in the airport men's room. All this seems to suggest it's not the lure of money and fame that keeps him writing; he has other concerns. [[spoiler:Like the opportunity to exorcise his own personal demons.]]

* BigBad: [[spoiler:Subverted with the reporter [[FirstDiscFinalBoss Cristiano Berti]], who indeed kills the first few victims but is killed by Peter Neal who then takes over as the BigBad]].

* TheAlibi: Deliberately invoked by [[spoiler:one of the killers. Neal uses Berti's killings, which happened before Neal came to Italy, to throw suspicion off himself as he plans the murders of Berti, his agent, his wife, and his secretary. He advises the police that, in his opinion, all of these killings are being committed by the same person -- and since he wasn't in the country yet, that rules ''him'' out, right?]]

* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: A variation. Berti asks Neal, with an excited voice, if he agrees with the view of the killer in the novel that homosexuals are disgusting and disposable perverts. A visibly disturbed Neal comments that the novel's main character is a psychopath.

While the killings continue, Neal notices that TV interviewer Christiano Berti (John Steiner) appears to have an unusually intense interest in the novelist's work.

--> '''Dario Argento:''' ''Film/{{Suspiria}}'' was a great explosion of lights and colors, but here I wanted to do a very cold kind of film, like ice.