My premier post on the legendary maestro dell'horror will deal with his legendary return to the Giallo genre in 1982. TENEBRAE may be considered as a paradicmatic Giallo flick, yet it shows some blatant differences to Argento's former work in the genre. As he has pointed out himself, the story is supposed to take place in a dystopian future. Although the movie's title promises murkiness, most of TENEBRAE's scenes are shot in daylight. The movie's overall sterile look has often been critisized, but to my mind, it matches perfectly with Argento's sujet of a merciless, antisocial future. He does not refrain from shooting the kills under the lurif flashlight of the murderer's camera, illuminating every detail of his "piece of art", to say it in Argento's words. Simonetti's technoid soundtrack also matches perfectly to this overall concept of sterileness. In a way, Argento thus anticipates a major trace of yuppie life in the 80ies. Even though he has stated that he detests the song, I consider Kim Wilde's poppy "Take me Tonight" as perfectly matching as an overall theme for the movie and its impression. Argento refrained from incorporating the song into the movie, which is somehow understandable. In the japanese trailer of TENEBRAE however, the song unfurls its very fascinating appeal.
The sophisticated cutting of various scenes is preluded and concluded by a haunting voice and neon colored kanji symbols, which are reminiscent of early arcade gaming. This recut of Argento's visually stunning scenes together with the exemplary, bitter-sweet 80ies pop song produces a mood absolutely worthy of Argento's intended impact, yet it arguably differs from the actual movie's own athmosphere and must be regarded as a composition that stands on its own. Especially the excellently captured empty staring of the female characters underline a certain liveless impression reminiscent of window mannequins. I guess the trailer's unique mood can be acknowledged best from our position, that is in retrospective.
Another unique japanese interpretation of Argento's work is the following artwork.
Again, the motive has no actual reference to the movie, where the painted scenery of a staking, faceless killer does not exactly happen the way it shown in the picture. But if we look closer we can see the allusion of a cut with the pictured phallic razorblade, that goes across the half of the painting and at the same time "cuts" through the neck of the victim.
I just returned from worshipping the allmighty THE DEVIL'S BLOOD, feeling amazing with all my expectations more than fulfilled. Unfortunately I arrived too late to watch Verdunkeln's set, who are part of the minitour package. First things first, TDB were swaying their audience into the right mood with lots of candles on stage, the beguiling smell of joss sticks, and the sterling soundtrack of hellraiser. Speaking of sound, the first 2 songs had a slightly awkward mixing, but this minor shortage was quickly redeemed. The improvising qualities and stage presence of each member could be described as simply sublime. Many of the songs - a pleasant mix of old and new material - were freely arranged and played in a truly convincing manner, which made every head circle and every feet stomp along. Although I was only sprinkled by a few drops as the notorious spilling of blood was about to happen, I can state that this was one of the top 3 shows in this year.
Hails to thee, vulpine visitor of my blog. It has taken some time to finally get it started, yet the flesh is willing, and hopefully the outcome will be rich and splendid. This thing will be dedicated to babbling about the finer things in life, which may be appreciated by connoisseurs of fine flicks, malevolent music, and other astonishing arts. So let the games begin!
