Writer/Director Dario Argento’s reputation sagged after his 70’s and 80’s heyday, but although it doesn’t have the same supernatural thematics as Suspiria, Tenebre brings an equally operatic sensibility to a serpentine thriller. American writer Peter O’Neal (Anthony Franciosa) arrives in Rome for a routine book-signing, but finds himself being stalked by a fan of his work, Argento never met a three minute crane shot he didn’t like, and there’s some vividly bloody set-pieces as O’Neals associates meet bloody deaths. Could the writer himself be the author of his own unhappiness? Tenebre deserves credit for put its post-modern ideas to the fore, and a nightmarish flashback scene set on a beach eventually informs the action to dynamic effect.
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