Classic Horrors Club

Except perhaps for Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971), because I have yet to watch it, I’m quite fond of Dario Argento’s other gialli, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970), The Cat o’ Nine Tails (1971), and Deep Red (1975.) After a departure to make two supernatural films, Suspiria (1977) and Inferno (1980), the writer-director returned to blood-soaked mysteries with Tenebrae (1982.) It ranks right up there with its predecessors.

We know this one’s a giallo because the very first shot shows one of the genre’s common features: a pair of hands wearing leather gloves. Here, all they do is close a book and toss it in the fireplace., Later, they’ll perform more horrifying acts. For example, they grab a woman shoplifter from behind and stab her 40 times while stuffing pages of a book into her mouth.

What’s all this with books? Well, our hero Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) has just written another best seller, Tenebrae, and he arrives in Rome to promote it. We, and the characters, learn right away that the killings are inspired by the book and its content, which one woman calls “sexist,” because it treats “women as victims.” (By the way, that’s something of which Argento’s films have been accused.)

Neal establishes a relationship with Detective Germani (Giuliano Gemma) right away, but realizes it might be good for business if he conducted his own amateur investigation. After a couple more murders, Peter and Gianni (Christian Borromeo), a boy sent to assist him during his trip, go on a stakeout at the home of their number one suspect. While there, this person is killed in front of Gianni’s eyes. Back to square one.

One of the plot points I like in Tenebrae is that after this happens, there aren’t really any suspects left. Now, that’s not unusual for a giallo, but in this one, the killer turns out to be someone we have known all along, but never had any reason to suspect. It adds a little more heft, plus a nice twist, to a story that usually ends with us saying, “Oh, it’s that guy.”

The non-murderous drama is also plentiful and woven expertly into the story. When Peter arrives in Rome, someone has gotten into his bag and shredded its contents. It may have been his bitter ex, Jane McKerrow (Veronica Lario), who may also have followed him out of the United States. This paints Peter as a potential victim and Jane as a potential killer. Before you can say “red herring,” there’s another murder and the mystery grows deeper.

Tenebrae has two signature shots that have since been paid homage by the likes of Brian DePalma and Robert Zemeckis. The first is a two-and-a-half minute crane shot that begins outside one window, then moves over and around the building to stop at a window on the other side. Of course, the killer is traveling through the apartment in a more direct route.

The other happens near the end. I don’t know if there’s a word for it, but one character is standing behind another, totally obscured. We don’t know they’re there, but when the person in front bends down… jump! Not only does this stimulate a physical reaction, but also an emotional one. For reasons I will not disclose, we don’t expect it to be the person that it is.

Tenebrae isn’t perfect. It has the regular decoys and distractions of a giallo; however, fewer of them. In a way, it’s also more complex or has more layers to it. At the same time, it’s simple. My favorite visual is a bloody straight razor tapping a light bulb, causing it to shatter. All of this makes it one of the more satisfying, less head-scratching films of its kind. It was the end of the giallo boom, but finished it on a very high note.