TENEBRAE

Tenebrae: the Latin word meaning "darkness." The service of Tenebrae as practiced in most Protestant Churches is an adaptation of medieval Roman Catholic practices for each of the days of Holy Week dating back to the ninth century. For Protestants, this single service is typically held at night on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday. After each segment of the story is read, a candle is extinguished. After the fifteenth reading, which confirms that Jesus had died on the cross, the last of the 15 lit candles is extinguished or taken away, and a loud sound (called strepitus in Latin) is made to convey the sense of total loss of God’s presence and the effect of the death of Jesus on the universe.

Argento said that Tenebrae was directly influenced by two distressing incidents that occurred in 1980. On a break from filmmaking after Suspiria's surprise success, Argento was spending time in Los Angeles, where an obsessed fan telephoned him repeatedly, to talk about Suspiria's influence on him. According to Argento, the calls began pleasantly enough but before long became more insistent, eventually menacing. The fan claimed that he wanted "to harm Argento in a way that reflected how much the director's work had affected him", and that because the director had "ruined his life", he in turn wanted to ruin Argento's.

That's on hell of an inspiration for a good horror movie

The successful American writer from Rhode Island Peter Neal travels from New York to Rome to promote his new best-seller Tenebre. He is received by his agent Bullmer that schedules an interview in a talk show. As soon as Peter arrives, there is the murder of a shoplifter and Detective Germani is assigned to the case. He meets Peter and tells that the killer was inspired by his novel to commit the crime. Peter receives a letter from the murderer and sooner two lesbians are murdered. The killer writes that perverts must be eliminated and Peter suspects of the host of his show.

Within the first 10 minutes, i found myself really enjoying this movie. There is a damn good reason Argento is the first thing i think of when i think Giallo, and its beautiful movies like this one that make the genre one of my favorites. like al the best Giallo's, the dialogue is over dubbed, there's a cop plot aided by a civilian tag a long, Its horny as fuck, a fuck ton of characters get introduced really fast, gruesome kills with fire engine red blood, and a large scoop of what the fuck is happening here. I'm actually a massive fan of the confusion, since it only adds to this movies mystery. and speaking of confusing mystery...

In an interview that appeared in Cinefantastique, Argento noted that the film was intended as near-science fiction, taking place "about five or more years in the future... Tenebrae occurs in a world inhabited by fewer people with the result that the remainder are wealthier and less crowded. Something has happened to make it that way but no one remembers, or wants to remember ... It isn't exactly my Blade Runner, of course, but nevertheless a step into the world of tomorrow." this movie never acknowledges that idea what's so ever, and its a good tell just how much of Dario's vision for this movie is often invisible.

This shit slaps, nothing else to really say about it

6/10