‘Tenebrae’: the moment Dario Argento went meta
Italy is responsible for producing some of the finest horror directors in the history of cinema. During the 1960s and ‘70s, it was foreign and independent filmmakers who helped to develop the genre, with Italian filmmakers like Mario Bava and Dario Argento leading the way. Their giallo movies – specific proto-slashers that emphasised murder mystery and sometimes incorporated sexploitation elements – were revolutionary.
Argento’s first giallo came in 1970 with The Bird With the Crystal Plumage, which was closely followed by the rest of his ‘Animal’ trilogy, The Cat o’ Nine Tails and Four Flies on Grey Velvet. It was Deep Red and Suspiria (although the latter horror is not technically a giallo) that helped Argento’s work be appreciated by a wider audience, with these films finding significant acclaim due to their compelling storylines and stunning visuals.
By the ‘80s, however, Argento was at a tricky stage of his career. He was trying to move away from the classic giallo set-up but struggling to do so successfully. Inferno, a thematic sequel to Suspiria, was rather negatively reviewed, with people wishing that the filmmaker would go back to his giallo roots instead of continuing his exploration of supernatural horror. Thus, he gave in and made Tenebrae, which features many classic hallmarks of an Argento giallo.
A running theme within Argento’s work is the displacement and alienation of the lead character, who is typically American or English yet living or working in another country. In Tenebrae, an American murder mystery writer named Peter Neal is visiting Rome to promote his new novel, only for a woman to be killed after stealing a copy. He immediately plays detective, not dissimilar to how David Hemmings’ protagonist attempts to solve the murder that he witnesses in Deep Red.
The film might not be as visually striking as Suspiria, which is bathed in bright colours, but Tenebrae is still stunning nonetheless. There are close-ups of eyes, a common motif in Argento’s work, as well as shots of shadows, hallways and doorways. The filmmaker also utilises various voyeuristic shots, such as people looking out of windows or even events framed through windows. As always, Argento and his cinematographer, Luciano Tovoli, choose to meticulously frame every scene with a sense of urgency or surveillance, which pulls the audience closer to the film’s terrifying world.
The movie is also rather meta. From Scream to Funny Games, meta-horror films often work well since, at their core, most horror flicks follow somewhat unrealistic or unlikely plotlines. With Tenebrae, Argento seems to use Peter Neal as a stand-in for himself, commenting on the way that many people, especially film censors, criticise violent movies for inciting brutality and warping young or impressionable minds. Of course, this is a long and ongoing debate that will never be settled, but Tenebrae approaches the subject in a thought-provoking and self-aware way.
Tenebrae also explores sexuality, with many critics praising Argento’s nuanced approach to the topic. Still, the movie’s release didn’t go swimmingly; the film’s explicit depiction of sexuality and violence landed it on the ‘video nasty’ list in the United Kingdom. It has been banned and cut various times, although you can now thankfully find it fully uncut and readily available to watch.
