 After completing Inferno (1980), the second in his planned Three Mothers trilogy of supernatural horror films, Argento was expected to move straight into production of its concluding chapter. The first in the trilogy, Suspiria (1977), had turned the director into what Alan Jones called "a horror superstar", but Inferno had proven a difficult follow-up. Argento had become unwell while writing the film, and his ill health continued into filming. In addition, Argento's relationship with Inferno's co-producer 20th Century Fox had soured the director on "Hollywood politics", so when Inferno was not well-received upon release, Argento put the Three Mothers trilogy on hold. Inferno also flopped commercially. According to James Gracey, Argento – under pressure and feeling "the need to once again defy expectations" – returned to the giallo genre and began work on Tenebrae. Argento later stated that he wanted to "put on film a gory roller-coaster ride packed with fast and furious murders" and that he "shouldn 't resist what [his] hardcore audience wanted". He added that he had also become irritated that in the years since his last giallo so many other directors had made films derivative of – and inferior to – his own genre-defining works.
