Line #50 Creator/DarioArgento


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dario_Argento_at_the_Brussels_International_Fantastic_Film_Festival_in_2007.jpg]]
2	->''"Horror is like a serpent; always shedding its skin, always changing. And it will always come back. It can't be hidden away like the guilty secrets we try to keep in our subconscious."''
3
4	Dario Argento (born 7 September 1940) is an Italian horror director, producer, and screenwriter best known for his unique visual style and seminal work in the {{giallo}} SubGenre. Though never particularly coherent or well-written, his films remain quite frightening and ''very'' cool to look at when he's at the top of his game. Widely considered to be at his peak during TheSeventies and TheEighties, with ''Deep Red'' (aka ''Profondo Rosso'') and ''Suspiria'' usually cited as his best work, and ''Trauma'' as the last really watchable film he made (though ''The Stendhal Syndrome'' is slowly becoming [[VindicatedByHistory appreciated]]).
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6	He also wrote or co-wrote a number of scripts, most notably ''Film/OnceUponATimeInTheWest'' (alongside Sergio Leone and Bernardo Bertolucci).
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8	His daughter Creator/AsiaArgento has appeared in many of his films.
9
10	!! His filmography includes:
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12	[[index]]
13	* ''Film/TodayWeKillTomorrowWeDie'' (1968) (writer only)
14	* ''Film/TheBirdWithTheCrystalPlumage'' (1970)
15	* ''Film/TheCatONineTails'' (1971)
16	* ''Film/FourFliesOnGreyVelvet'' (1971)
17	* ''Film/DeepRed'' (1975)
18	* ''Film/{{Suspiria\|1977}}'' (1977)
19	* ''Film/{{Inferno\|1980}}'' (1980)
20	* ''Film/{{Tenebre}}'' (1982)
21	* ''Film/{{Phenomena}}'' (1985)
22	* ''Film/{{Opera\|1987}}'' (1987)
23	* ''[[Film/TheChurch1989 TheChurch]]'' (1989; Writer and Producer)
24	* ''Two Evil Eyes'' (1990; the "Black Cat" segment.)
25	* ''Film/{{Trauma}}'' (1993)
26	* ''The Stendhal Syndrome'' (1996)
27	* ''[[Film/ThePhantomOfTheOpera1998 The Phantom of the Opera]]'' (1998; widely regarded as the worst version made)
28	* ''Sleepless'' (2001)
29	* ''The Card Player'' (2004)
30	* ''Do You Like Hitchcock?'' (2005)
31	* ''Film/MotherOfTears'' (2007)
32	* ''Giallo'' (2009)
33	* ''Film/Dracula3D'' (2012)
34	* ''Vortex'' (2021) - which he acted in a leading role.
35	* ''Dark Glasses'' (2022)
36	[[/index]]
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38	He also directed two episodes for the TV series ''Series/MastersOfHorror:'' "[[Recap/MastersOfHorrorS1E4Jenifer Jenifer]]" in season one, and "[[Recap/MastersOfHorrorS2E6Pelts Pelts]]" in season two.
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40	----
41	!! Tropes commonly associated with this director include:
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43	* AcquittedTooLate: ''The Bird with the Crystal Plumage,'' ''Deep Red,'' ''Tenebre.''
44	* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: Argento's films might best be described as a series of set pieces designed to spotlight strange architecture and colors, a trait he shares with Creator/AlfredHitchcock.
45	* BoardingSchoolOfHorrors: ''Film/Suspiria1977'' and ''Film/{{Phenomena}}.''
46	* BodyHorror: Even aside from all the mutilations, there are a number of disfigured or otherwise weird looking people in these movies.
47	%%* BuryYourGays: If there is a gay character in his film, expect them to be killed off. --ZCE
48	* ColorMotif / ColorWash: Red and [[UnnaturallyBlueLighting blue]], as you can see in ''Film/Suspiria1977.'' ''Film/DeepRed'' is also a good example.
49	* CreatorCameo: Several of Argento's films feature an opening narration. In the original Italian, the narrator is Argento himself. See also HandOfDeath below.
50	* CreatorKiller: ''Dracula 3D'''s BoxOfficeBomb is the main reason why Argento hasn't directed anything for a long time, with ''Dark Glasses'' being his first film in a decade.
51	* DarkerAndEdgier: His films were already pretty dark to begin with, but in ''Film/{{Tenebre}}'' and ''Film/{{Opera\|1987}},'' he diverged from his colorful signature style in favor of a bleaker, harsher approach. ''The Stendahl Syndrome'' is particularly harsh.
52	* DiabolusExMachina: This is what governs his universe. Characters in his films often die for seemingly no reason.
53	* DullSurprise: Someone in just about every movie, though the protagonist of ''Opera'' may be the worst offender.
54	-->'''Betty''': I should never have taken that part. Why why did I do it.
55	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: His debut ''Film/TheBirdWithTheCrystalPlumage'' in 1970, is the only one of his films that features a [[spoiler: lighthearted]] epilogue for all important characters that explains all that transpired compared to all his other works that end abruptly after (an often just as abrupt) climax with the survivors often left staring at their enemies demise and leave viewers wondering WhatHappenedToTheMouse?
56	** Likewise its the only Dario movie where [[spoiler: the killer doesn't die at the end of the film and instead is arrested]]
57	* ExecutiveMeddling:
58	** Argento's reputation as the most censored man in films; the bulk of his films have been heavily cut for US release, most notably ''Suspiria'' (most of the major murder scenes are hacked up to remove just about all of the gore) and Tenebre (released as Unsane) not only lost about ten minutes of key scenes (including the film's two big set piece scenes and the series of flashbacks that explain the killer's motives) but also tact on a disco song over the end credits...
59	** Similarly, ''Inferno'' was sat on for nearly six years before being dumped onto the US market via a video release, ''Opera'' was denied a theatrical release when Argento refused to cut an epilogue scene / gratuitous ShoutOut to "The Sound of Music," and Paramount ruthlessly kept "Four Flies on Grey Velvet" from ever seeing the light of day on home video or DVD, and was considered by many to be his only "lost" film until it was finally made available on an official DVD release for the first time, uncut, by MYA Communication Company... In 2009, almost 40 years after after its original release.
60	** Some footage was actually missing in the MYA DVD release (to their credit, it wasn't censorship, but print damage) and, once again, where thought to be definitely lost for good. Known amongst Argento fans as the legendary "missing forty seconds," in 2012 Shameless Screen Entertainment announced their DVD and Blu-Ray release (in order to celebrate the film's 40th anniversary) will have this missing forty seconds.
61	%%* GainaxEnding
62	* {{Gorn}}: A good chunk of his movies are definitely not meant for people with weak stomachs, with ''Film/{{Suspiria\|1977}}'' and ''Film/{{Tenebre}}'' infamously notable for their gory violence.
63	* HandOfDeath: The creepy (to some people, at least) thing is that Argento used to do all his "black gloves" shots as {{Insert Cameo}}s, standing in for the killer.
64	%%* KensingtonGore
65	* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: One trademark of the giallo genre, especially Argento's pictures; the characters -- and the audience too -- only get a brief glimpse of something that they don't realize was important until later, and are stuck trying to remember it for the rest of the film.
66	* PlayingAgainstType: In the Creator/GasparNoe film ''Vortex'', Argento acts rather than directs, and far from playing a horror villain instead portrays a well-meaning if distant old man who has to deal with his wife's dementia and the subsequent deterioration of both their health and their relationship. And he speaks in accented French.
67	* PoliceAreUseless: Pretty much universal.
68	* ProductionPosse: Frequently works with Daria Nicoldi, his daughter Creator/AsiaArgento, and the Italian prog-rock band Music/{{Goblin}}.
69	* RuleOfScary: This, as opposed to logic, is what dictates the course of an Argento plot.
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Context Creator / DarioArgento