Dario Argento (1 Viewer)

[ArthurFlew]

I just recently watched Suspiria for the first time and really liked it. I bought today the Opera 2 disc set, and the inferno and phenomena dario argento vol 1 collection.

How are those DVDs, are there better releases?

And are there other movies of his that you would recommend, that have good DVD releases?

thanks in advance.

 

[Anthony*B]

the Anchor Bay releases are generally considered to be the definitive (so far0 releases of his films...Phenomena may have some issues I cant remember offhand) versions of his films, although an Italian company named Medusa (i think) are releasing some really nice (region 2) versions of his newer stuff (Nonhossonno is the one I have & it looks great on my Cyberhome 500)...Suspiria is far & away my fave though...oops, forgot Deep Red, that one may be tied w/ Suspiria for my fave

 

[Drew Reiber]

Any of the ones from Anchor Bay are worth checking out in terms of quality release, with a few bumps here and there, but you can't always get perfection.

I loved Tenebre, Deep Red and Phenomena. I haven't seen it yet, but Inferno is the sequel to Suspiria. The third and final film in the Witch trilogy will be his next feature project.

Anchor Bay will soon be releasing Trauma and The Card Player (his most recent film), but I've heard they're not very good and typically his best work is Opera and everything before it.

 

[Will*B]

Inferno is one of my favorites, along with Tenebre.

There's a new 2-disc version of Tenebre (under the title 'Unsane') available on German R2, but I hear the transfer is horrendous.

The Anchor Bay R1 versions of Deep Red and Inferno have absolutely stunning transfers. Pick these two up at least!

 

[Kevin M]

You also might want to check out his first feature film The Bird With The Crystal Plumage as IMO it is among his best work alongside Deep Red & Suspiria, a little raw but very well crafted for a first time director.

 

[Brook K]

Agree with Kevin, Bird is one of my favorites of his work as well.

The Stendahl Syndrome has some vintage Argento moments, but I'm really uncomfortable with him putting his own daughter in a rape scene.

 

[Vincent_P]

Regarding THE STENDHAL SYNDROME, originally it was set to star Bridget Fonda and be shot in America! When Fonda dropped out, Argento relocated the story to his home country and Asia stepped in to fill the role of Anna Manni. Since Argento wrote the film with the intention of Fonda starring as Manni, I don't find it particularily creepy that the rape scenes are so graphic, and think it would've been artistically the wrong choice to tone them down just because Fonda dropped out and Asia took the reigns.

Vincent

 

[Kevin M]

I've said this here at HTF before but I find the rape scenes in Stendahl to be perfectly appropriate as they (rare at the time) portray rape as it really is...violence. Too many hollywood films have a tendency of turning away from the hard fact about this hideous act, in fact some even seem to portray it as little more than rough sex..it isn't. Argento throws it in your face and forces you to see the reality...well, at least before the warped unreality of the characters in the film takes over.

 

[Arnie G]

I love all of his movies, especially Inferno and Suspiria

 

[Drew Reiber]

Isn't that the second time? I thought she got raped by the devil in The Church, which he produced.

 

[Vincent_P]

There's no sexual violence towards Asia Argento in THE CHURCH. You're thinking of Barbara Cupisti, the wife of Michele Soavi (THE CHURCH's director), who has sex with satan.

Vincent

 

[Justin_S]

Yep, Asia is still pretty young in The Church actually, so I think that'd be going a little far in some people's eyes. Cupisti's sex scene with Satan is pretty much a rip off of Rosemary's Baby, but I really don't mind, and think the film is very underrated. Satan is quite creepy in it too in that freaky goat form. Its a beautiful film, and while its all over the map, I think it is wonderfully so, and loads of fun.

As for Argento, he is truly a master, and I like every film he's done aside from Phantom of the Opera. Suspiria, Tenebre, and Phenomena are my absolute favorites, though I'd call almost all of his films huge favorites. The Stendhal Syndrome is very underrated, and is one of his top 5 best as far as I'm concerned. The Medusa DVD is the version of that film to get, but you have to be region free. Four Flies also resides in his top 5 IMO, and I am dying for a DVD release of it. Seriously, its beyond ridiculous that it hasn't been put out yet. Anyways, the bottom line is that you should check out every film he's done, minus Phantom of course. He's one of the most brilliant and original director's there is.

 

[Lyle_JP]

I personally loathed "Opera", but "Inferno" is one of my all time favorites from Argento, along with "Suspiria". It's worth tracking down the 3-disc edition of "Suspiria" for the documentary and Goblin soundtrack.

"Deep Red", "Tenebre", and "Phenomena" are also very enjoyable films, and I also got a kick out of "Two Evil Eyes".

In terms of disc quality, only "Phenomena" and "Tenebre" are let-downs, as they were done in the early days of Anchor Bay DVDs and are actually recycled laserdisc transfers from the Roan Group.

-Lyle J.P.

 

[Vincent_P]

The overall "quality" of some of the Anchor Bay DVDs depends on what you mean by quality- SUSPIRIA may look stunning, but the remixed soundtrack is severely compromised. The remixers left out a bunch of sound effects plus lines of dialogue, some music, and they changed the overall balance of the music track to the effects and dialogue track, and to top it all off, the Anchor Bay DVD doesn't offer the original 4.0 stereo sound mix from 1977 as a viewing option.

DEEP RED also looks great, but they altered the final shot of the film on that one.

TWO EVIL EYES, OPERA, INFERNO, and THE CAT O' NINE TAILS are all pretty damn flawless, though, although there's a very slight audio "hiccup" at the very beginning of INFERNO.

Vincent

 

[Todd Robertson]

and when you go region-free and become a huge hardcore Argento nutcase....make sure you pick up the superb Door Into Darkness.

 

[Kevin M]

Just for the record Two Evil Eyes isn't an Anchor Bay release, it's Blue Underground...which may help explain why is doesn't have as many screw-up's.

 

[Drew Reiber]

Not really, as the most important people behind the Anchor Bay/Argento DVD releases were also behind the formation of Blue Underground.

 

[Vincent_P]

Exactly Drew, I think it's more a matter of Bill Lustig learning from his past mistakes and not making them again.

Although, a friend did tell me there's a line or two of dialogue missing from the TWO EVIL EYES remix, but I'm not as familiar with that film as with some of the other Argento's so off-hand I can't recall what those lines are supposed to be.

Vincent

 

[Dorian Gray]

Any news about Four Flies on Grey Velvet ?
It's been rumored Blue Underground is working on a DVD release...

 

[Kevin M]

Yes..I know, that was my point.
The best that Anchor Bay was is the Blue Underground that is...hopefully with lessons learned and I truly believe they have learned because I have been very satisfied with BU's output so far.

You know, it's funny, when I was writing that post I knew I should drop in a line reassuring others that I was well aware of BU's connections with AB...I honestly didn't think I needed to though.:p)