From: PETERC@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu (Peter Correnty)
Subject: Re: DARIO ARGENTO
Organization: Yale University
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 92 09:20:08 EDT

In article <1992Aug20.084931.15178@athena.mit.edu>
wildman@athena.mit.edu (Ed             ) writes:
 
>
>In article <168487F14.PETERC@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu>
>PETERC@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu (Peter Correnty) writes:
>
>>[...]
>>THE DEVIL'S DAUGHTER  (1990) - weird modern-day demon tale.
>
>Hey!  That's one I haven't heard of.  Any references?  (Like, where
>could I read about, get it on video, will it be released theatrically
>in the US, etc.)
>
>>BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE was cut by 30 seconds.
>>DEEP RED was chopped down from 121 minutes to 99 miuntes removing
>>much of the violence/gore and some essential plot elements!!
>>SUSPIRIA was reduced to 92 minutes from 97, INFERNO from 107 mins.
>>to 83!!!!, TENEBRAE from 110 to 91!!!! and PHENOMENA from 120 mins
>>to 80!!!  No wonder many of the critics find Argento's films
>>incoherent.  I remember when I first saw SUSPIRIA in the theaters,
>>it was the uncut version.  Two years later, SUSPIRIA showed up on
>>cable in its butchered state.  Five minutes didn't destroy the plot,
>>but films like DEEP RED and INFERNO made little sense when I saw
>>them for the first time in truncated form.  Fortunately, video
>>companies have released Argento's films completely uncut!
>
>Has Video Watchdog or something ever done an Argento issue??  You
>realize that most of these numbers differ from those given in _Broken
>Mirrors/Broken Minds_ *and* from those given by Leonard Maltin or by
>the _Video Movie Guide_...  What's your source, Pete?
>
>(eg, you say Suspiria was 97m, cut to 92m.  THe Video Movie Guide says
>it's 97m -- the US video release.  McDonagh's filmography says it is
>100m.  But on the laserdisc one of the trailers says something like
>"The only thing scarier than the last 12 minutes of Suspiria are the
>first 92" which would make 104m!)  Which brings me to...
>
>>Argento is working on (completed?) a sequel to THE CHURCH which is
>>due out later this year.
>
>Did he direct it?  Or just produce it?  Do you mean "out" like out in
>(US and/or Italian?) theaters?  Or video?
>
>>Pete.
>
Sorry, I left out the sources.  There are actually very many.  The
Video Watchdog has done a piece on Argento, but not in his magazine.
He used to write for Gorezone.  Also, Phil Hardy's Horror Reference
Book was also a source.  Fangoria, Mike Weldon of Psychotronic Video,
Argento interviews in many magazines like European Trash Cinema,
Dario Argento's World of Horrors documentary, Screen World are most of
the sources I used.  Remember, too, that the running times of uncut
versions vary by country.  For example, when SUSPIRIA "came" to the US,
it's running time (not sped up) was 97 minutes.  Once it reached the
censors, they did their thing and cut it to 92 mins.  That's not
saying that SUSPIRIA did not run for 100 minutes in Italy, for example.
The ads for SUSPIRIA here in the US claimed "The only thing more
terrifying than the first 80 mintues are the last 12!"  There was
probably an ad the claimed 90 minutes, as well.
 
I know that the US release of DEEP RED was 99 minutes, and that
according to Argento in his interviews, the actual running time is
121.  US censors eliminated 22 mintues for various reasons ...
violence, to cut the running time for the theaters, AND THEY
THOUGHT THAT US VIEWERS' ATTENTION SPAN COULD NOT COPE WITH A 2
HOUR RUNNING TIME!!!  What do you expect from the same people who
thought that A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET was too intellectual for
US horror filmgoers and would never be a financial success?
 
 
Just an aside ... Leonard Maltin's source for these movies is
usually Video Vault in Washington DC, who, in turn, sometimes use
me as a source.
 
-----------------------
 
Re: THE DEVIL'S DAUGHTER, it is already on video.  I think you
should be able to find it pretty easily.  He directed it ... I'm
almost positive.
 
-----------------------
 
I believe the title of the sequel to THE CHURCH is THE SECT.  Last
I read, it was completed and due for distribution here in the US.
My guess is that it won't be widely released, as usual, and I'll
have a better chance of finding it on video in a few months.
 
------------------------------
 
Re: Addresses for Domovideo and Eccentri-Cinema...
I bought uncut Argento films from Domovideo 2 or 3 years ago.  I
found their address in one of the Gorezone issues.  I remember they
were in New York (not New York City) and the videos were $29.95,
COD.  I will investigate for you.
 
Eccentri-Cinema is in Connecticut.  I will get the address for you.
Their catalog is excellent.  They carry nearly impossible to find
titles like Italy's AMUCK!, THE TOUCH OF SATAN (weird 70s witch
tale), PANIC IN YEAR ZERO with Ray Milland, all of Barbara Steele's
horror films, Chinese rarities, uncut Argento and Mario Bava, etc.
 
Pete.
Newsgroups: alt.cult-movies