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NOT A "DEATH SCENE" VIDEO! WARNING: FOR THOSE
WHO WISH TO AVOID IT, THIS CLIP CONTAINS A
FEW SCENES OF EXTREME VIOLENCE AND GORE. YOU
HAVE FOUR MINUTES TO STOP THIS VIDEO OR LEAVE
THIS PAGE IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO SEE IT (OR
SHOULD NOT BE VIEWING IT). ALSO, IT SHOULD BE
NOTED THAT IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN ANY OF
DARIO'S FILMS THIS MONTAGE CONTAINS SOME
MAJOR SPOILERS. I was approached by Producer
Robert Marcucci to create a presentation DVD
representing famed Italian director Dario
Argento's films as part of a budget proposal
for Dario's new film (a planned sequel to
SUSPIRIA and INFERNO). I worked alone over
many dark nights, to create a montage from
supplied DVDs and Soundtracks of Argento's
films that would demonstrate Dario's
incredible cinematic style for potential
investors. Unfortunately, the project did not
find a champion, and our effort to galvanize
support for Dario's new movie died a slow
death. In my opinion, Dario, at his best, in
my particular favorites "Deep Red" and
"Suspiria" (or in other genuine startlers
such as "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage"
or "Opera") creates a beautiful, wholly
unique and dreamlike yet nightmarish world
that is unparalleled in the realm of cinema.
Often imitated, never duplicated. I can only
hope my montage did him some degree of
justice. At least the legendary Claudio
Argento (who also produced one of my all time
favorites "Santa Sangre") himself said he
really liked it. The standard (or rather,
MTV-addled) editorial approach for this
challenge would have been to lay a bunch of
quick cuts over a techno-horror sound byte
for approximately two minutes. But for me, a
far more effective way to demonstrate for the
uninitiated (or remind those who may have
forgotten) what makes Dario's films unique
was to allow his hypnotic trance to take
hold, as he does through the cinematography,
art direction and choreography in his films,
before allowing the nightmare to invade and
shed blood. And to just focus on the gore in
Dario's films, I think, would do his
particular style of film making a disservice.
Argentophiles may note the curious absence of
some of Dario's most famous scenes and
images, this is because the presentation DVD
also included uncut scenes from several of
his films and I did not want anything to be
repeated in my montage (I wanted my "love
letter" to have maximum impact on the
investors). Deluxe Argentophiles will notice
that in a number of long video extracts (such
as the "Opera" shootout and the handkerchief
discovery bit from "Tenebre") I have retained
the original editing of that sequence. And
also that I have reversed the video for the
steam sequence at the very end from "Deep
Red," while running the audio of the
"Suspiria" bells in reverse. Here's hoping
Dario's new addition to The Three Mothers
trilogy is green-lighted soon! ***** UPDATE"
Thanks to the wonder of youtube I can see for
myself that this film did finally find
funding and is now due for release - I had no
idea until I saw it here. Great news! *******
(all video and sound used for this montage
came from the finest elements available and
were supplied by producer Robert Marcucci and
used with the permission of director Dario
Argento - all films are shown in their
original aspect ratios - AVOID "full frame"
and cut versions of any of these films at all
costs)
Tags : horror dario argento gore cult movies suspiria giallo deep red three mothers extreme violence Al Batross digital shark |
