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How would you evaluate his horror filmography?

posted 4 months ago by [deleted]
5 replies | jump to latest

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is a great movie. Superb photography and OST. Interesting story and good acting. The kill scenes are maybe a bit lacking compared to later efforts.

Four Flies on Grey Velvet is very good. A bit uneven but once more the OST is superb.

The Cat o' Nine Tailes is good but I consider it to be possibly his weakest horror movie of his prime years (1970-1987).

Deep Red is a movie many consider to be his best work. I'm not one of them. A good movie for sure but I prefer a number of his others over this. I find this one a bit overrated.

Suspiria is amazing. A true feast for the eyes and ears. Such a stylish movie. One of my all time favorites.

Inferno is great. Another well done fantasy horror in the vein of Suspiria. This movie doesn't quite reach the heights of Suspiria but it's still a very fine movie.

Tenebrae is fantastic. One of my favorite movies of all time. Great OST, well shot, a fair amount of nudity and some great kill scenes.

Phenomena is bonkers. Such a whacky concept. A very interesting watch. Lovely photography of the Alps.

Opera is one of my favorites. Stylishly shot with great music and kill scenes. In truth it's maybe a bit uneven at times (some hate the metal music, which Argento started putting in his movies beginning with Phenomena).

Two Evil Eyes is just okay, to be fair Argento's portion was decent and it was Romero's which let the movie down.

Trauma is decent.

The Stendhal Syndrome is interesting and maybe my favorite of his post-Opera. The OST is wonderful. His daughter Asia was good as the lead in this.

Sleepless is decent.

Mother of Tears, Dracula 3D, Black Glasess... meh.

[–] [deleted] 4 months ago

For me Argento is probably the greatest of all time. His top five is superb and goes toe to toe with any other directors top five, and when you remove the top five and compare his lesser efforts against other directors lesser efforts I find that Argento comes out on top. He has the greatest quantity of good horror movies.

Argento ranked.

Great movies;
1. Tenebrae
2. Suspiria
3. Opera
4. Inferno
5. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
6. Phenomena

Very good movies;
7. Deep Red
8. Four Flies on Grey Velvet

Good movies;
9. The Cat o' Nine Tails
10. The Stendhal Syndrome
11. Trauma
12. Sleepless

Okay movies;
13. Two Evil Eyes

[–] Mrmojo4700 (21452) 4 months ago

It’s also worth mentioning his great use of musical score in his best films, by Claudio Simonetti / Goblin and even a couple done by the master Ennio Morricone. In fact, it’s hard for me to envision his films without also thinking of their fantastic soundtracks.

I’m with you on your thoughts of ranking as well. So many people place Deep Red at the top, although it’s a fine film, I easily place Phenomena, Suspiria and Tenebre far above it. I’m a David Hemings fan too, but those others are far superior in my opinion. I’m also agree with you about Stendhal Syndrome being his best late entry.

Speaking of Deep Red, there is a museum in Rome called Profondo Rosso Store owned by Luigi Cozzi, that is packed with gialli and horror memorabilia. My wife is visiting later this summer, and she’s bringing a DVD copy of Contamination (1981) to hopefully get it autographed. :)

Great topic and your right on in your rankings.

[–] [deleted] 4 months ago

Indeed. Morricone and later Goblin really helped elevate his movies (much like how John Carpenter's musical talents benefited himself greatly in his own career) hard to imagine some of these movies without their wonderful scores. I think Morricone did his best work early in his career, in his homeland of Italy. The spaghetti western scores and the giallo scores are my favorites of his.

I think people tend to adore Deep Red because it's a fairly straight laced and not too brutal (or sleazy, or weird) giallo. Perhaps his most polished work (alongside Bird with the Crystal Plumage). I prefer his slightly more bonkers efforts, they're more flavorsome and fun.

Yeah I've heard of that museum. Hopefully she's able to get you something nice from there.

[–] christomacin (4654) 4 months ago

Bird with the Crystal Plummage and Suspiria are the only ones I'd want to own on BluRay. Maybe Deep Red, also, but that's a bit of a rehash of Crystal Plummage, which itself was a bit of a rehash of Blow Up (crossed with Hitchcock), albeit a very good one. I find most of his films too loopy, tacky and violent to be particularly likeable.

[–] wickerman1271 (946) 4 months ago

1. Deep Red
2. Suspiria
3. Inferno

the rest is ok , some are good movies , some are bad