A Japanese Take on Dario Argento's TENEBRAE

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.