The mysterious cameos that Dario Argento frequently makes in his films
Italian filmmaker Dario Argento, often referred to as the Master of Horror, was a pioneering figure in the giallo subgenre. His films, such as Suspiria, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Deep Red and Inferno, have had a massive influence on the horror genre, noted for their bright use of colour and impeccable attention to stylistic detail.
Argento began his career as a film critic before co-writing Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West in 1968. By 1970 he had directed his debut, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, which was hugely popular in Italy. He followed the film up with The Cat o’ Nine Tails and Four Flies on Grey Velvet which formed the Animal Trilogy.
Although Argento had a brief stint making comedy dramas, he quickly returned to horror thrillers in 1975 with Deep Red, starring David Hemmings, arguably one of the best giallo ever made. In 1977 he began his next trilogy, ‘The Three Mothers’, kicking it off with Suspiria, his best-known film. With a haunting Goblin soundtrack, Argento’s film inspired Luca Guadagnino’s 2018 Suspiria, a loose remake.
The director’s influence is so significant that the world of horror would not look the same as it does today if Argento didn’t begin making films. Argento’s early works were one of the biggest influences on John Carpenter’s Halloween – a film that helped to pioneer the slasher genre. More recently, Malignant director James Wan has cited Argento’s work, specifically Trauma, Phenomena and Tenebrae, as influences on his filmmaking.
In most of Argento’s films, a mysterious killer torments his victims, committing gruesome crimes while we look on in both confusion and terror. A common trope in his films, as well as in the giallo genre, is the inclusion of a black-gloved killer. By shooting scenes of a mysterious hand committing crimes, the audience is blind to the killer’s identity and even gender.
A tight black leather glove adds a significant air of mystery to a scene but can also add a sense of eroticism. Argento was particularly a fan of letting the black-gloved killer run his hands across various objects before attacking a (usually female) body. The trope has been widely used outside of Italian horrors, such as in Brian De Palma’s (rather problematic) Dressed to Kill; even the popular teen thriller Pretty Little Liars shows Argento’s influence – a black-gloved killer’s hands can be seen at the end of every episode.
But a lesser-known fact about Argento’s use of the trope is that the hand inside the glove always belonged to him. The hands that murders and plots belong to the director, who chose to take on the anonymous role himself to have more control over how the scene played out. By doing so, he also cut costs – there was no need to pay an actor when Argento’s hands were right there.
Eagle-eyed viewers of Suspiria might also spot Argento making another cameo – you can see his face reflected in the glass of the taxi window that Suzy rides in at the film’s start. You can often hear his voice as an uncredited narrator in certain movies of his, such as Phenomena and Opera.
Recently, Argento gave his first proper acting performance in Gaspar Noe’s heartbreaking Vortex, starring as one-half of an elderly couple whose physical and mental health is rapidly declining.
