From: donnell@squid.micro.umn.edu (Your Heinous)
Newsgroups: alt.cult-movies
Subject: Re: DARIO ARGENTO
Date: 19 Aug 92 17:22:13 GMT
Organization: none

In article <1992Aug19.061828.9240@athena.mit.edu> eprice@sql.sybase.com writes:
>(Note: I widened distribution to world, from na, for the benefit of
>Argento fans everywhere, and who knows, maybe some Italian readers can
>provide some help here??)
>
>In article <1992Aug18.042944.3820@oswego.Oswego.EDU>
>jprisco@oswego.Oswego.edu () writes:
>
>>Does anyone have any information on director Dario Argento?  I recently
>>saw SUSPIRIA, and found it to be one of the most visually stunning films
>>I have ever seen, horror or otherwise.  A friend also lent me OPERA,
>>but I haven't watched it yet.
>
>I'm no expert, but I recently obtained a book called _Broken
>Mirrors/Broken Minds: The dark dreams of Dario Argento_ (by Maitland
>McDonagh, ISBN 0 9517012 0 7) which means I can pretend to be an
>expert...
>
>But first I would like to relate a small anecdote:
>
>
>There is a documentary on Argento called "Dario Argento's World of
>Horror" (1985), written and directed by Michele Soavi.  It's available
>on video (at least I've seen it at Kim's in NYC).
>
>Argento has also produced DEMONS (1985) and DEMONS 2 (1986) by
>Lamberto Bava (son of Mario Bava), and THE CHURCH (1988) and THE SECT
>(1990) by Michele Soavi, as well as another series of Italian TV
>programs called "Giallo" (this means "yellow", but refers to the
>thriller/mystery genre).  He also did music (with the Goblins) and
>helped write DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978, George Romero).  His brother
>Claudio Argento co-produced it.  Speaking of Argento's family, he has
>collaborated with his ex-not-quite-wife Daria Nicolodi, and his
>daughters Asia and Fiore have been in some films, his father Salvatore
>produced some of Dario's ealier films, and now his brother seems to
>have gotten into the act.  (Apologies for the lame quick-and-dirty
>summary.)  I think in the book it mentions that Dario's mother was a
>Brazilian fashion photographer.
>
>BTW, SUSPIRIA is the first part, and INFERNO is the second part of an
>unfinished trilogy, based on "Suspiria de Profundis" [Sighs from the
>Depths] by Thomas de Quincy (best known for "Confessions of an English
>Opium Eater"), which describes the "Three Mothers" -- the origin of
>all sorrow and pain -- Mater Lachrymarum [Mother of Tears], Mater
>Suspiriorum [Mother of Sighs], and Mater Tenebrarum [Mother of
>Darkness].  No, TENEBRE is not part of the triology despite its title.
>Read the book for more info.
>
>Fun fact: Apparently Argento played some of the Goblins' music at high
>volume on the set of SUSPIRIA to scare the actors.
>
>Fun fact #2: Argento himself often stands in for the hands of the
>killers in his films.
>
>Video: Besides the fact that these films are far more effective on the
>Big Screen, the US video releases are often severely cut (and they
>give them inane titles, like CREEPERS), sometimes by as much as twenty
>minutes or more.  Is this true in the UK?  (Gary?  I seem to remember
>you "rambling" about Argento a while back...)  According to Peter
>Correnty, DEEP RED is available uncut from places called (if I
>remember correctly) Domovideo and Eccentri-cinema.  [And Peter, if
>you're listening, could you post or email the addresses, phone
>numbers, or even just city & state of these places?  Or anyone else
>that knows them, of course!]  Video Search of Miami (email me for the
>address and phone number) has PHENOMENA in what they claim is uncut
>form; but many people have reservations about the qualityof their
>videos.
>
>And finally, I'd like to mention one thing I find amusing.  Obviously
>I'm a big fan of Argento now, and also more recently of the Hong Kong
>director John Woo (who is to action films what Argento is to horror,
>one might say).  Believe it or not, there is a commonality!  After
>excesssive viewings of both of the directors' work, I started noticing
>that they both love shots of people's heads going through glass
>windows, often in slow motion, and often with the camera on the other
>side of the glass (ie, the head comes through the glass towards you).
>Everytime I see one of these, I always enthusiastically remark "THANK
>YOU, DARIO!"  or "THANK YOU, JOHN!"  Has anyone else noticed this??  I
>think it's great!  Does anyone else dream of a collaboration? Yikes...
>
><CCRRRAAAAAAAAAASSSSHHHHHHHH!!> (Thank You, Dario!!)
><CCRRRAAAAAAAAAASSSSHHHHHHHH!!> (Thank You, John!!)
>
>Ciao,
>
>-Ed Price             (not Tim Worsely) "Bad luck isn't caused by broken
>eprice@sql.sybase.com (not wildman@...)  mirrors, but by broken minds."

Domovideo has a longer version of "Deep Red", in the original Italian, but
Argento has said in Interviews that it is still cut from his original version.
<I believe that Soavi's documentary contains some of the deleted footage>

"Four Flies On Grey Velvet" and "Cat Of Nine Tails" are hard to find, but worth
it! I do not believe that they have been legitimately released yet, but copies 
have shown up on the uhhhh "private collectors trading circuit"...heh  
I saw "Cat O' Nine Tails", uncut from the american theatrical release, late-
night on a local TV station. 

Somebody loaned you "Opera" and you haven't watched it yet! Wow! It could be\
 Argento's best work! The Louma crane/Steadicam shots in the Opera house are
astounding!
Somebody made a short film called "Operae" when Dario was shooting Opera.
It stars Dario as a mad killer <suprise suprise> and features some behind the
scenes stuff on Opera.

Two Evil Eyes is an anthology film. George Romero directed the first story,
and Dario did the 2nd. Reveiwers seem to prefer Argentos segment. Both 
stories are loosely based on Poe.

Goblin has no albums out in the US, but I have seen 2 different Suspiria albums,
and they have about 6 albums, all soundtracks, on CD in Japan. They have
done music for other italian horror films. Only one I can think of is 
"Night Of The Zombies"...

				--Judex--
Newsgroups: alt.cult-movies