Dario Argento and others thrillers/horror movies directors

[Master Ray]

... and even as I posted that last message, I remembered I'd missed 'Two Evil Eyes'... to be honest, that's because I saw it once, in the 90's on VHS, and I have utterly no memory of it.  Another one to catch up with...

[Master Ray]

OK, another answer (seeing as I'm picking random things from multiple previous messages)... David Cronenberg.  Just superb.

You want a horror director who just throws a ton of blood and guts around the place with a few 'jump-scares'?  There are hundreds of them.  Doesn't mean shit.

You want a horror director who throws stuff into your eyes and ears that properly gets into your head and worries you for a while?  Cronenberg is your man.

My first Mr C experience (I'm going to call him Mr C from this point on because I can't be bothered to keep retyping 'Cronenberg'...    ) was on a trailer that I watched on some VHS release or other.  A double bill of 'Night Of The Living Dead' and 'Shivers'.  Check it out here!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GceL1E9-DHI

Damn, that trailer freaked me out!  I saw NOTLD a couple of years later, but it took me a few more years to have the courage to watch 'Shivers'.

I think, like so many people, that 'Scanners' was my first Mr C movie.  'Hey, someone's head blows up in it' said my fellow VHS chums!  And what an exploding head it was, best ever!  Pretty good movie as well!

And, this might be a bit shameful for us horror fans, but I don't think I watched another Mr C film until 'The Fly'.  Which I think is superb.  His commercial highpoint and that rare thing that is a horror film but sort of a romantic comedy as well..    You might disagree but Goldbum and Davies had some chemistry, there were some funny moments and the ending with the claw putting the gun up to his head... always puts a little lump in my throat!

Bear in mind that in the 80's / VHS era, those early Mr C films weren't widely available.  Once they were, I got hold of them as soon as I could.  Shivers, Rabid, The Brood... all creepy as heck....

Oh, I missed out 'The Dead zone'... a film I like very much but not NEARLY as good as the book... sorry.   

So, we're now in the 90's and we've got Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch and Crash....  totally and utterly disturbing flicks that make an exploding head or two look like absolutely nothing.  Crash, in particular, disturbs the hell out of me, I've never had the courage to watch it a second time.

As to the stuff he did in the 21st Century.. A History of Violence, Eastern Promises and A Dangerous Method just show how far he's come as a director, no more sex zombies or telekenetic psychos, just a fine director with the ability to disturb.  I admit, I've never seen Map Of The Stars or Cosmopolis.

So, yeah, that's my opinion of Mr C.  Hope you guys were interested.

... long pause....

Oh, BOLLOCKS, I never mentioned the awesome Videodrome!   

[Guillaume]

Master Ray, you and i forgot to rank "Le cinque giornate"/"The five days of Milan"! Argento's only non horror/thriller movie!
In fact an interesting historical comedy/drama but i have to watch it again in italian with french subtitles for a better opinion about it. 

Guillaume, you asked about ranking Mr Argento's films, so let's see what you make if this little lot... I'm sure I've missed something out here... 


Never seen...

Giallo (I did have it lined up on Netflix, but they deleted it before I got around to watching it...)
Masters of Horror (TV Series) (2 episodes)
Do You Like Hitchcock? (TV Movie)

"Giallo"...a modest thriller, i like a few parts (opening, flash back scenes, ending) and Adrien Brody but it's minor Argento especially against his most inspired stuff from the 70's and 80's.
Try to see his Masters of Horror episodes "Jenifer" and "Pelts", they are pretty good
Also i quite like "Do you like Hitchcock?"...it's a tv movie so don't expect the heights of Argento's best thrillers but it has its charms, a bit the same vibe than the "Animal Trilogy" from the beginning: pretty city, architecture and ladies, fun characters, etc. It's a kind of light, enjoyable "summer movie". 

[Master Ray]

OK, to post something about another question asked... Alexandre Aja.  LOVED 'High Tension'.  Also rather fond of the 'Hills Have Eyes' remake... I was never much of a fan of the original (despite the awesome Michael Berryman) and I was really blown away / rather shocked by how gruesome the remake was.  A proper full-on hardcore experience like you rarely see in US movies.  Yeah, I know the US makes loads of bloody movies, but this one really went the extra mile, a proper disturbing experience.  Some fine acting can go a long way to making a film stronger...

I watched 'Mirrors' just the once and can barely remember anything about it, so I'll decline to comment, but that 'Piranha' film was, of all things, a total comedy, it genuinely surprised me how light-hearted it was.  I laughed throughout and I'm sure that it was the directors intention.  The gore scenes were just so silly!

One nobody's mentioned yet is 'Horns' from a great book by Joe Hill (Stephen King's son) and a pretty decent flick... heck Mr Aja got a decent performance out of bloody Harry Potter!  Very under-rated.  Trailer here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8s_1UcdoNI

So... there.  Look forward to Mr Aja's subsequent work.  Now I gotta figure out a post about John Carpenter (one of my favourite directors ever) so this one might be an epic and might take a day or two.   

[cthulhu]

totally my words, if i could express myself as well as you, about ajas movies. and i will consider to watch horns sometime.

about the one you call c: i also agree on what you wrote about "the fly". the horror comes from the truthfulness of the characters and the human aspects of the relationship. that's the brilliance of mr. c. and i highly recommend maps to the stars. i could be just me, but when i watched this movie, it was one of the cruelest, ugliest and disgusting ones i've seen. it's almost if all the evil is just an inch away and all these chararcters are so disturbingly ..i don't know. it's about the dark side of hollywood industry, if even ther is a light side. great story, brilliant cast, disturbing beautiful disturbing. and cosmopolitan is the last one i've seen, and what can i say, it's superb.

but back to topic (or maybe we should call this thread "the abnormal love of the sinister and creepy dark funny movies") which is about the italian meastro argento. four flies has arrived!! but i will watch it later this week, tonight i got a visitor and so it's going to be demon knight.

looking forward to read master rays "lobhudelei" of carpenter and more in detail knowledge of guillaume, which enflamed my passion for argento once again...

[Master Ray]

Well, 'Map To The Stars' just went onto my must-watch list!  Thanks, Cthulhu, I will check it out out at the nearest available opportunity!

[cthulhu]

now i've managed to watch four flies, and i didn't expect what i've seen.

a brilliant opening sequence with fantastic music, cool editing and shots. but then there came so much comic and funny parts, i've never seen in a argento movie and though it is a giallo and has some cruel and thriller parts, i would call this a dark, tenseful comedy.
or not?
the part of the detective, a funny overacting of a gender stereotype, the dumb postman like a running gag, some interaction between the protagonist and his wife just felt like a real comedy. and i think this was intentional.

i liked the movie, it had some aging effects for me, when i thought this doesn't work nowadays as good as in the old days maybe, but overall a very nice italian comedy-giallo.
now on for sleepless..

[Guillaume]

now i've managed to watch four flies, and i didn't expect what i've seen.

a brilliant opening sequence with fantastic music, cool editing and shots. but then there came so much comic and funny parts, i've never seen in a argento movie and though it is a giallo and has some cruel and thriller parts, i would call this a dark, tenseful comedy.
or not?
the part of the detective, a funny overacting of a gender stereotype, the dumb postman like a running gag, some interaction between the protagonist and his wife just felt like a real comedy. and i think this was intentional.

i liked the movie, it had some aging effects for me, when i thought this doesn't work nowadays as good as in the old days maybe, but overall a very nice italian comedy-giallo.

This film has a bit grown on me through the years...you're right when you"re talking about a "dark, tenseful comedy"...it is the Argento movie made in his early days that has the more comedy bits, with all these fun characters (Arrosio the gay private detective, the postman, Michael Brandon's "detectives"...)...i like the overall casting of the movie too. Argento once said that his early movies all had funny parts and that from "Suspiria" to "The Stendhal syndrome" included he somewhat missed the light mood of his early thrillers, so "Phantom of the opera" was for him a welcome return to the comedy genre (despite the film being a mixed bag, but that's another story)

There's also this very personal tone at the core of "4 flies on grey velvet", because Argento like he is explaining in his book autobiography, was in difficult times with his ex wife, so the film's mystery and lead actor were mostly Argento and his life at the time, even if he wasn't really conscious about all of this when he was directing the movie.

The opening of "4 flies" is indeed superb, as the tragic, darkly poetic finale is, too.   

a brilliant opening sequence with fantastic music

If i remember well Argento wanted Deep Purple to compose the soundtrack, and Pink Floyd for a later movie ("Deep red"? "Opera"?)

[cthulhu]

i don't think goblin was involved in this soundtrack!? the credits said ennio morricone and i didn't concentrate, if somwhere simonetti or eles were mentioned?

[Guillaume]

i don't think goblin was involved in this soundtrack!? the credits said ennio morricone and i didn't concentrate, if somwhere simonetti or eles were mentioned?

It's only Morricone, i don't remember what Argento is writing about Goblin in his book but if i am right he met them for the first time in 1973/1974, before the making of "Deep red".

Morricone's soundtrack is quite beautiful, i especially like the opening and the WONDERFUL ending track, over the slow motion scene...:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uyZy1moD_Q

Morricone's score for "The Stendhal syndrome" is also fantastic.

[Guillaume]

For my money, the first 13 minutes of Suspiria is the best scene Argento ever did.  Cinematic genius.

"Big John" Carpenter once said in a french interview that his favourite Argento scenes the famous opening scenes of "Suspiria" and the underwater scene of "Inferno"  , he also added that "Phenomena" made him totally ill at ease, disturbed when watching it, and so for that reason it was a movie he "would never show to his children"!

George Romero (R.I.P  ) said that his favourite Argento scene was the crows flying over the audience at the end of "Opera"...and i can understand him...this scene is totally unbelievable and thrilling...especially on the big screen!!

Shit, forgot 'Casualties Of War'!  I even picked up a cheap DVD of it a few months back and haven't gotten around to watching it yet!  I'll get back to you on that one.

Brian De Palma had a tribute for his career in Paris, last June, at la Cinémathèque, and the movie he picked for his "Master Class" was "Casualties of war"...it's obviously a very personal, deep movie for him because when he talked about the Morricone soundtrack and horror of the story, he broke briefly in tears!!, finding the music and (real) story, events of the movie so sad ...that was an unexpected and moving bit of his "master class".

[cthulhu]

it is beautiful and if you'd have to choose between goblin and morricone you cannot do anything wrong. morricone is such a master of scoring movies as is goblins sound.
btw, you have a wonderful blog, i just took a look, too much french for me;-), but you are a real expert and you did a fantastic job on the blog, guillaume!

and i bet you know and love also jaques tati, am i right?

[Guillaume]

it is beautiful and if you'd have to choose between goblin and morricone you cannot do anything wrong. morricone is such a master of scoring movies as is goblins sound.
btw, you have a wonderful blog, i just took a look, too much french for me;-), but you are a real expert and you did a fantastic job on the blog, guillaume!

and i bet you know and love also jaques tati, am i right?

Thanks for the kind words Cthulhu ...i haven't updated my Argento blog in yearrrs, i'm a bit lazy and Argento's career isn't very busy these last years, i must say!

Tati i know him but i've seen very very few of his movies, maybe only "Les vacances de Mr Hulot", years ago. 
He is a very famous director here in France, genius of comedy and use of locations/architecture, according to his fans.

[cthulhu]

oh, you should definately see his works! i would recommend playtime, such a masterpiece, one of my alltime favourites and if you have an eye, as i know you do, for framing, set pieces and planned sequences, this is a must! also traffic (trafique?) is a very good one and both are very different from the vacances de hulot. they are more crtitical to the modern world, playtime is such wonderful scream against the soulless modern world. a true cineastic masterpiece.

[Master Ray]

Some nice posts here!  I'm afraid I am completely ignorant to the works of Tati, never seen a single one... well, that's something to add to the endless list of 'something i must watch one day...' 

Must add 'Four Flies'... to that same list, liked the opinons of it, my single viewing was a long long time and it sounds like something I might appreciate more in my 'vintage' years!

And, yes, I promised my big overview of John Carpenters career, but his works cover so many of my favourite movies, it's something i keep trying to write and get too caught up in... it will come, one day, I promise!