hyped garbage

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

I watched this movie based on its reviews on IMDb, and i have to say, its the most disappointed I've been in a movie in a long time. How anyone can take this movie seriously is beyond me. The acting is beyond belief bad, its up there with the worse acting I've EVER seen in ANY movie. Come on, who can really take this seriously. It was also so obvious from the beginning that the author was going to be the murderer, doesn't take holmes or dick van dyke to figure this one out. I also found the music very annoying and not fitting with what was actually going on, add to that the dodgy attempts at being artistic with the camera and this really is an awful movie. I wasn't sure if it was a kind of comedy/ thriller at first. The acting is that bad, i didn't know if the viewer was even supposed to be taking this serious, but apparently you are. I love 80s movies, but this one is really dated and really painful viewing. I even found the toxic avenger more realistic. The best part of the movie was getting to see the girls knickers while she was getting chased by the cleverest dog on the planet. I suppose they had to throw that in just to try and keep some people watching.

From the writer-director of Deep Red & Suspiria, Tenebre (also known as Tenebrae) marks Dario Argento's return to the very subgenre of horror he does better than anyone else and presents the filmmaker at the top of his game. Stylishly directed, dipped in blood-soaked violence and keeping its mystery alive until the very end, it remains one of the finest works of his filmmaking career.The story of Tenebre follows an American author who arrives in Rome to promote his latest murder mystery novel, only to find that his book may have inspired a serial killer to go on a killing spree. As the body count start going up with no suspect in sight, he provides full cooperation to the police to apprehend the killer at large but becomes far more embroiled in the case than he anticipated.Written & directed by Dario Argento, Tenebre is riveting from its opening moments and makes fab use of all his trademarks & visual flair. Goblin's score once again drives majority of the events that transpire in the film and expertly sets the mood as per the requirements of the scene. Argento's direction also exudes a high level of comfort, for giallo horrors have always been his playground.The overcast conditions & cold surroundings encapsulate the film with an eerie ambiance which is then all the more amplified by its vibrant camera-work, stark colour palette & Goblin's sinister score. Cinematography is a definite highlight, for the vivid manner in which its camera is utilised in many segments not only heightens the viewers' senses but also intensifies the desired impact of those moments.Rome has never looked as desolate as it looks in this picture, for all the city landmarks & crowded locations are stripped away from the final print. Editing is brilliantly carried out, the twists n turns keep surfacing at regular intervals, plus the plot manages to stay ahead of its viewers at all times. And despite its over-the-top violence & ketchup-laden make-up, it remains one of Argento's most violence flicks to date.Coming to the performances, the cast comprises of Anthony Franciosa, Daria Nicolodi, John Saxon & Giuliano Gemma, with Franciosa impressing the most. Carrying the entire film on his shoulders, Franciosa does enough to make his character likable, Nicolodi does well for the most part but she goes absolutely bonkers in the final moments, Gemma does well with what he's given while Saxon is the weak link here, surprisingly.On an overall scale, Tenebre is a skilfully crafted, cleverly narrated & unabashedly violent example of giallo horror that not only finishes as one of Dario Argento's best films to date but also ranks as one of the greatest works of giallo horror. Brimming with multitudes of themes, riddled with twists on every corner & jam-packed with brutal killings, each more savage than the last one, Tenebre is as thrilling as it is barbaric and features a finale that no one saw coming. Definitely worth a shot.

Tenebres, in my opinion, one of the best argento. The end really surprised me, I was not really expecting it and the last 10 minute are really captivating. The script is a bit complex to the first listening, but with few viewing, we finally know what argento wanted to show us.The mixture of camera angles with the music gives it a great atmosphere. Gore has a pretty important role in the movie even if I expecting has a bit more worse.Most murder scenes are quite original and the film suffers no length. The goblin soundtrack are just awesome. In short, a film to see for all fans of dario argento or to begin with the argento style

"Just torture and murder: No character, no plot—I think it's the future." - Videodrome Dario Argento's "Tenebrae" stars Anthony Franciosca as Peter Neal, an American writer of crime fiction. When he journeys to Rome, Neal is startled to discover that someone is committing crimes modelled on the murders Neal has himself staged in print. This killer deems his victims "corrupt perverts" who must be "wiped away".Several self-reflexive moments then occur, Argento mockingly aligning his own perversions with those seen on screen (it is Argento's hands we see committing the film's various crimes). "Why do you despise women so much?" one character then asks, referring to the accusations of sexism oft hurled at Argento. The film then reveals its big twist: it is a sanctimonious art critic who is responsible for the film's murders. This critic, who masks his own hate and bigotry with attacks on Neal's art, then becomes Argento's attack on those who disparage him: I'm not sexist or a homophone, Argento essentially says, you're projecting your own peculiarities onto me! If the film ended here, Argento's self-defence would be silly. But it doesn't, and the film goes on to reveal that there are in fact two murders, one an art critic and one Neal himself. The hate which spurs both killers, then, lies on both sides of the divide: critic and artist, spectator and artwork, screen and audience.The second half of the film then attempts to locate the "cause" of "Tenebrae's" murders. In the critic's case, the killings are spurred by a kind of hard-lined conservatism, mixed with a little influence from Neal's books (one of which is also called "Tenebrae"). In Neal's case, it is proximity to the critic's murders which awakens in Neal a dormant psychosis. But what initially caused this psychosis? Neal was once turned down by a young woman, an incident which pushed him into essentially becoming a sexist murderer (he would later kill his adulterous wife). The film then ends with Neal literally being killed by a "work of art", an incident which complicates arguments made by characters at the start of the film; art is not only something passive, but something capable of influence. It has the power to murder, either by design, or, as Argento's final killing shows, by sheer accident.This "accidental" aspect is stressed by the film. It is sheer arbitrariness which makes someone a victim or killer, regardless of irresponsibility on the part of the spectator or artist. The critic is bigoted regardless of whether or not he appropriates Neal's art, and Neal's art is sexist because he is sexist, he's not sexist because of his art. Other scenes, which show men dying to high heeled shoes, and portray men lusting after and then being assaulted by transsexuals (Roberto Coatti), blur the lines between gender, sexual privilege and sexually based hate. In "Tenebre", everyone is simultaneously suspect, victim and murderer, and everyone holds the potential to be either killer or victim. Indeed, most of the film's killings are preceded by a scene in which another character could have theoretically committed the crime were it allowed to. The end result is a film in which Argento concedes that his critics are absolutely right, but also one which functions as an apologia or rebuttal.Aesthetically, "Tenebrae" is one of Argento's weaker films. Its bravura sequences are few and far between, only one sequence is architecturally interesting, and the film's killings dip too far into blood-porn. "Tenebrae" ends with a shot which would be stolen by Brian De Palma's "Raising Caine", and contains a razor-blade killing borrowed from De Palma's "Dressed to Kill", released two years earlier.7/10 - Worth two viewings.