I Just Saw

One of director Dario Argento’s most renowned giallo films, 1982’s Tenebrae (Italian for “darkness”) is a murder mystery set in Rome and following an American suspense novelist called Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) as he’s stalked by a serial killer whose crimes appear to be inspired by Neal’s latest book, titled Tenebrae. Argento’s frequent collaborator Daria Nicolodi plays Anne, Neal’s assistant, while Giuliano Gemma shows up as Detective Germani.

The movie is exceptionally well filmed with a particularly excellent crane shot as a lesbian couple is stalked about their home. There’s also an extended scene of a young woman fleeing a dog before winding up in the killer’s clutches that, while contrived and often silly (the dog is clearly just playing, for one thing), is still gut-churningly suspenseful. This is in large part due to the music, a pounding synth-rock beat that seems to vibe with the psychotic thought processes of the killer.

At this point in Argento’s career, he was still capable of turning out a well-plotted mystery with psychological elements, and Tenebrae features a pretty great double-bluff surprise that’s like something out of Agatha Christie. The gore meanwhile is over the top and surrealistic in the best giallo style. A lot of home invasion scenes make up this movie, making it all the scarier.

On the downside, with any Argento film you have to accept a certain amount of ridiculous stilted dialogue, as if a robot was tasked with mimicking human banter, and that’s especially the case here. This is a script that he has sole credit for, and it kind of shows in its shallow and unsympathetic characters. To my mind his best films are Deep Red (1975) and Suspiria (1977), on both of which he had co-writers (Nicolodi for the latter).

There is an argument to be made that Argento’s lack of depth in how he draws his many female victims is misogynistic. In an odd sense, though, he’s illustrating the bullshit that women had to put up with back then. Early on there’s a female shoplifter who’s grabbed and attacked by a crazed homeless man who won’t leave her alone, not long after she just managed to barter sexual favours for her freedom with an ageing store detective. It would be too easy to shoot the messenger and say that Argento is sexist; this is merely how women were often viewed, as objects to be groped.

It should also be said that Argento does have a playful sense of humour that comes through, he’s just not one for compassionate characterisation, and he does make his people do bloody stupid things. One murder in this film is jaw-dropping in how needless it is, the victim returning to the scene of a crime that they witnessed and all but showing their belly to the killer.

The climax too is the type of “don’t go in there, girl!” slasher cliche that’s been parodied since the genre was first codified. Pro tip: if all that stands between you and survival is turning the key in the ignition and driving away, for the love of God do that. But for all its flaws, I’d still recommend Tenebrae for its fun slasher plotting and gore.