In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Tuesday, 1 March 2016

Tenebrae (1982)

aka Tenebre

Dir. Argento addresses the claims of misogyny that had been directed at him by having his lead actor, bestselling crime fiction author Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa), explain why that isn't the case when accused of the same. It's followed by a series of well-timed misogynistic style murders of smoky-eyed, beautiful women in tidy surroundings. Is Dario deserving of praise for turning the focus outward but not actually changing the modus operandi very much or is it hypocrisy in action? Decide for yourself.
The actual film is also two-sided. As is often the case with giallos, it's a collection of excellent set pieces with stylish camerawork, cinematography and music (Goblin in all but name), but the script has problems. Tenebrae also suffers from some awful ADR syncing, accounted for in the scoring,

3½ novel killings out of 5

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