31 Years, 31 Screams: #28 - Tenebre
Posted by J.D. Dunn on 10.04.2004
Terror Beyond Belief.
Tenebrae (aka "Unsane") (1982)
D:Dario Argento W:Dario Argento Starring:Anthony Franciosa, Christian Borromeo, John Saxon and Daria Nicolodi. MPAA: [NR] Runtime: 101m.
The Film:
Unfortunately, one of the films I really wanted to do, Mario Bava's seminal slasher "Twitch of the Death Nerve" fell outside of the 31-year limit. Thankfully, Bava disciple Dario Argento has given us a number of films worthy of inclusion on the list.
For those of you unfamiliar with gaillo, it is a style of Italian horror film that combines Hitchcockian shot selection, American slasher sensibilities, and an operatic sensibility that provides an over-the-top energy not seen in most American films. It's most well-known practitioners are Mario and Lamberto Bava as well as Argento.
We open with author Peter Neal (Franciosa) arriving at the airport to catch his flight to Rome for a promotional tour for his new book. Upon arrival, he is paged to the desk. He drops his bag to take the call. It turns out to be from his ex-wife (Veronica Lario). Unbeknownst to him, his wife was actually calling him from a few yards away and while he was on the phone, her friend placed something in his bag.
Meanwhile, in Rome, a beautiful young girl (Ania Peroini) is shopping in a bookstore. She finds one of Peter's books and shoves it in her purse. The security guard catches her, but she bribes him with the promise of sexual favors so he lets her go.
On the way home, she is harassed by a homeless man. She runs into her house, still rattled. She was right to be rattled, though, because someone grabs her and shoves a few crumpled pages of Tenebre into her mouth. The killer slashes her throat with one swipe. The killer takes a picture of the body.
Peter's first stop on the tour doesn't go so well. His friend Tilde (Mirella D'Angelo) ambushes him with charges of misogyny in his books. His agent, Bullmer (Saxon) arranges a separate interview just to get her off his back. Peter wonders about a man standing silently in the corner. Bullmer informs him that the man is named Berti (John Steiner), a local TV host that they are scheduled to meet with.
Peter's secretary Anne (Nicolodi) and Bullmer's assistant (Borromeo) greet them at the airport. He says he has a present for Anne, but when he opens his bag he finds all of his clothes slashed and his present broken.
Arriving at his hotel, Peter is confronted by Detectives Giermani and Altieri (Giulani Gemma and Carola Stagnaro). They tell him about the girl being killed. Since the killer shoved pages from "Tenebre" in her mouth and because the killer used a similar straight-razor on his victim, they question Neal about it. Their interrogation is interrupted by the killer who promises to kill again. The detectives realize the killer is calling from a phone booth just across the street and chase after him. Unfortunately, he gets away.
A nightmare: a girl on a beach, flirting with some boys. One of them slaps her in the face. The others hold him down and she sticks the high heel of her shoe down his throat.
Tilde and her "friend" Marion (Mirella Banti) are at a local bar. Marion picks up a man over Tilde's objections. When Tilde arrives home, Marion brags about what a great lover he was. Tilde gets upset and throws a vase at her. We then get the most famous shot of the film as Tilde goes into her room and looks out the window. Argento tracks all the way from the first floor, up to the roof, and down to the other side of the building where the killer is cutting the shades open with bolt-cutters. It is this kind of artistry that separates Argento from his contemporaries.
The killer grabs Tilde and slashes her open through her white nightgown. Marion hears the sound of glass breaking over her loud music and goes down to investigate. She finds Tilde's body and tries to run away, but the killer slashes her throat. Again, the killer photographs the girls' bodies.
Back at the hotel, Peter's water-heater isn't working. The hotel owner's daughter, Maria (Lara Wendel) comes to his room to fix it and flirt with him. Anne arrives to break up the fun. The killer slips an envelope under Peter's door. It reads: "So passes the glory of lesbos."
During the interview, Berti presses Neal on how Tenebre is about perversion and the punishment of deviant behavior (including the killing of one homosexual). Peter argues the point, and they decide to keep the conversation on TV much lighter. Detectives Giermani and Altieri arrive to ask Peter some more questions. They say that the killer is using these killings as a tribute to Peter.
Later, at his hotel, Peter thinks he sees his ex-wife Jane driving down the street. He calls her apartment in New York but only gets her machine. Anne says that it was probably Jane who sliced up his clothes. Gianni says if they don't need him for the day he'll spend it with Maria.
The killer has selected another victim. He/she leaves the house, but accidentally leaves their key in the lock to the backdoor. When the killer realizes this, they lose their nerve.
Meanwhile, Gianni and Maria get into an argument and Gianni drops her off in the middle of a strange neighborhood. Maria gets attacked by a Doberman and seeks shelter in a large house…the killer's house. When she searches the house for help, she finds the photos that the killer has been developing. She shoves some of the photos into her pocket for evidence. She goes to the phone to call the police, but unfortunately for Maria, the killer comes home at just the wrong time. The killer chases her down and hacks Maria up with an ax.
The killer sends another note to Peter. This time talking about Maria being innocent, but how her death was necessary. The note also calls Peter "the corruptor" and says he will also be killed. Peter, Anne and Gianni sit around and try to think up suspects. Peter remembers the argument he had with Berti about Tenebre involving deviant behavior.
Anne leaves her apartment and thinks she sees Jane again. Jane returns and tries to call her, but Jane's still not home.
Gianni and Peter decide to do some Scooby-style investigating. They sneak over to Berti's house to spy on him through the windows. Gianni sneaks up for a closer look just in time to see Berti take an ax to the head. Gianni runs away and finds Peter lying unconscious on the lawn. Someone knocked him out with a rock. Gianni says he didn't get a good look at the killer, but thinks Berti knew him.
While washing up, Peter asks Anne to stay at his place. She agrees and they kiss.
More nightmare: The girl with the red shoes is talking with a young suitor. Someone is spying on her. The young man leaves her alone, enabling the killer to jump out and stab her in the stomach.
Peter goes to Bullmer and says he wants to leave Rome. Bullmer begs him to stay because they're close to a deal. Instead, Bullmer suggests Peter switch hotels. Peter agrees to call him later and leaves. We then get the startling revelation that Peter's ex-wife Jane is in Rome and she's having an affair with Bullmer!
Peter stops off at Berti's house. Giermani tells him that the killer used an ax this time, as he did with Maria. Giermani shows Peter evidence that Berti was obsessed with Peter's work. Peter quotes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Peter says that whatever is going on is something weird but possible. Peter tells Giermani that he's leaving town.
Jane arrives back at her apartment to find a box with a pair of red shoes inside. She thinks it's from Bullmer, so she wears them to her date with him. Bullmer arrives for their date a little early and sits around watching events unfold around him. (This, btw, is almost directly taken from Hitchcock's "North by Northwest.") Someone approaches him. He smiles when he sees them, but is shocked when they pull a huge knife and stab him in the stomach. Jane sees him lying there and runs off.
Gianni drops Peter off and goes back to Berti's house to see if it will jog his memory. Gianni stands there looking through the window and remembers that Berti said, "I killed them. I killed them all," just before he was killed. Gianni wonders who killed Berti if Berti killed the women. Gianni gets in his car to leave, but someone strangles him from the backseat.
Back at Peter's apartment, Anne is getting ready to leave when she receives a call from Jane. Jane says she feels like there are two people inside her making her do things she doesn't want to do. Anne takes this to mean the murders, not the affair with Bullmer.
Anne sits nervously next to the window with her gun. There is a violent thunderstorm outside, making her even more apprehensive. Suddenly, an ax SMASHES through the window and chops her arm off. Jane staggers through her living room, spraying blood all over the walls. The killer finishes her by chopping her repeatedly with the ax.
More dream sequence: The killer stabs the girl from the beach and steals her red shoes.
A woman arrives at Jane's apartment. Immediately on arriving, she gets hit with the ax. Argento pulls back to reveal the killer…Peter Neal? It turns out the woman was Detective Altieri. Det. Giermani and Anne arrive moments later to find Peter standing over her.
Giermani theories that Peter knew that Berti was the killer and that Jane was having an affair with Bullmer. He says Peter decided to kill all three and make it look like the work of some insane killer. Giermani tries to place Peter under arrest, but Peter slashes his own throat before he can be handcuffed.
Giermani takes Anne out to the police car and tells her about Peter's past. When Peter was a teenager, a girl he knew was brutally murdered. Peter was suspected, but never charged. Giermani says that Berti's murders brought back Peter's memories of her death (the dreams of the girl in the red shoes).
Giermani goes back to apartment, but Peter is gone. Giermani finds a trick razor laying on the floor. He picks it up and, suddenly, Peter is standing behind him. Peter strikes him with the ax, causing him to stagger and knock over a pointy sculpture right in front of the door.
Anne hears the commotion and gets out of the car to investigate. Peter stands by with the ax, ready to kill her too. Unfortunately for Peter, Anne knocks over the sculpture right as she opens the door. The sculpture impales Peter in the stomach. Anne screams as we…
ROLL CREDITS.
The 411: If one ever wanted to make a case about violence being glamorized, they need only look to "Tenebre." With the exceptions of Bava and Hitchcock, no one can make a murder seem more like a work of art than Argento. Lario's twirling spray of red is just one of the murders in the film that is blocked as if the director were painting a lavish portrait. There can be no doubt that Argento is the true star of the film. The writing is another matter entirely. To it's credit, the script does drop hints that there are two murderers and that one of them is Peter, but there are just too many contrivances that go unchecked. Maria just happens to seek refuge in the killer's house. Peter just happens to have a novelty razor on him at the time of his arrest. Check this one out for its beautiful camerawork and locations, but be sure to check your brain at the door. C+
