Tenebrae

Released by: Synapse Films
Released on: September 13th, 2016.
Director: Dario Argento
Cast: Anthony Franciosa, John Steiner, John Saxon, Daria Nicolodi, Giuliano Gemma
Year: 1982
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The Movie:

Widely regarded as one of Argento's finest giallo offerings, Tenebrae was released theatrically in North America originally under the alternate title of Unsane. The film follows the exploits of an American mystery novel writer named Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa). He travels to Rome at the behest of his agent, Mr. Bullmer (John Saxon), to promote his latest novel titled 'Tenebrae.' Accompanying him on this trip is his personal assistant, Anne (Daria Nicolodi), who has long harbored a secret crush for her employer. What Neal doesn't know is that his ex-wife, Jane (Veronica Lario), has also tagged along on this little trip.

Just before Neal arrives, a young woman accused of shoplifting a copy of the book is killed by a black-gloved killer brandishing a straight razor, her throat viciously slashed open by the unseen maniac. Neal later receives a letter from the killer who credits his writing as the inspiration for the murderous rampage that he has only just begun. Neal, of course, winds up talking to the police who send Detective Giermani (Guiliano Gemma) and his partner Alteri (Carola Stagnaro) to investigate. As the detectives try to figure out who the killer is, the bodies start to pile up around them - first a pair of lesbian lovers are murdered, then the daughter of the man Neal rents his apartment from is killed with an axe. All of the victims have a tie to the author, who soon starts to fear for his life. He and his other assistant, Gianni (Christiano Borromeo), begin an investigation of their own… but the killer has a few tricks up his sleeve and won't stop until his obsessions with Neal and his work are silenced.

A gleefully gory whodunit, Tenebrae holds up well years after it was made. Famous for its bloody kill scenes as well as for one particularly remarkable shot (where a camera tracks up a building, through the window and around the house without any edits), this is a wonderfully composed film with some remarkable cinematography. The film also benefits immensely from a great score courtesy of regular Argento co-conspirators Claudio Simonetti and the rest of Goblin. The suspense mounts nicely as the picture progresses and there's a great air of tension throughout the film that keeps audiences on their toes while the body count grows. The way that the storyline weave elements from Neal's book into the plot is an interesting device, and one that Argento uses quite well here to keep us guessing.

The performances, while not particularly mesmerizing, are a lot of fun. John Saxon seems to be obviously enjoying himself as Neal's money hungry agent (watch out for an amusing scene early in the film where he shows off his new hat!). The late Anthony Franciosa (who has popped up in everything from TV work to Zombie Death House to Death Wish II) makes for a likeable enough lead. He suits the part quite well and has enough of a sophisticated and intelligent vibe about him that we have no trouble buying him as a successful author. Supporting performances from Argento's ex-wife, Daria Nicolodi, and Euro-cult regular Giuliano Gemma are also enjoyable.

If the film isn't as colorful or otherworldly as some of the director's efforts like Suspiria or Inferno, but it remains a high point in Argento's filmography. The twists towards the end of the film are well played and the technical merits are pretty much perfect.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Synapse Films released Tenebrae a few months ago as a limited edition steelbook that also included a DVD version of the movie and a soundtrack CD. This scaled down release omits the DVD and CD and places the Blu-ray disc in a standard Blu-ray case rather than a steelbook. The steelbook version also included an insert booklet that is not included with this reissue.

Synapse brings Tenebrae to Blu-ray in an “all-new Synapse Films supervised color correction and restoration of a 1080p scan from the original camera negative, presented in the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1.” So basically what's happened here is that Synapse took the already very nice looking transfer that was done for the (second) Arrow Blu-ray release in the UK and done additional clean up and color correction work on it, making for an improved edition of an already strong picture. Colors look great here, especially the reds (the final scene in the kitchen with all that arterial spray looks amazing!) while skin tones are nice and natural looking. Black levels are strong and deep but at the same time the image is free of crush or compression artifacts, even in the darker scenes. Detail is strong throughout, and there's good depth and texture to the image.

DTS-HD 2.0 Mono options are provided in English and Italian languages with subtitles provided for each track (the dialogue does differ between the two dub jobs). The Italian track sounds like it has a bit more power behind it but otherwise, both tracks sound great. Dialogue is clean, clear and nicely balanced and there are no problems with any hiss or distortion. The score in particular gets a really nice bump in quality here, it sounds fantastic.

Extras start off with a commentary from “film critic and Argento scholar, Maitland McDonagh” - the author of Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams Of Dario Argento. This is a solid track, a good mix of scene specific insight offered up as the movie plays out and critical analysis mixed with McDonagh's own observations and what not. She does a nice job of covering a lot of ground here, making some interesting notations about the use of architecture in the film, and the way that Rome is, in this particular film, portrayed as a very open, empty space and not the busy city it's so typically seen as. She also talks about how Argento films can be tough from a marketing standpoint as they're typically too arty for the mainstream horror crowd and too horrific for the typical arthouse viewer. McDonagh also talks about the logic gaps that many who find fault with Argento's films tend to use as ammo in their arguments and, without spoiling the whole commentary or simply repeating everything she says, makes an interesting counterargument to those critics. She shares some anecdotes about her own experiences talking to Argento and interviewing the man, and provides some thoughts on the different characters in the film and the performers who played them. It's pretty interesting stuff, there's a fair bit more to this than just the typical discussion of who did what on the set.

The disc also contains a ninety minute documentary entitled Yellow Fever: The Rise And Fall Of The Giallo by High Rising Productions. This is a solid overview of the giallo genre that starts by exploring its literary roots and explaining the influence of authors like Agatha Christie and Edgar Wallace. From there we learn about the early cinematic takes and then head straight into the genre's glory days in the sixties and seventies, eventually closing out with a look at some later period entries. Along the way we get interviews with the likes of filmmakers like Umberto Lenzi, Luigi Cozzi, Ruggero Deodato, Richard Stanley and Argento himself, screenwriters Dardano Sacchetti and Jace Anderson, critics like McDonagh, Kim Newman, Michael Koven, Alan Jones and a few others. There's a lot more emphasis here on Argento's films than any of his compatriots, but given that this is an Argento release there's no harm in that. It won't necessarily reveal anything new to those who eat, sleep and drink these films but it is a very good primer for newcomers and an entertaining and interesting broad sort of look at what makes giallo cinema interesting - oh, and Barbara Bouchet pops up here too, a highlight of the piece for sure!

Synapse also provides a seamless branching option that allows you to watch the English language insert shots put into the movie in full HD (this is a very welcome addition to the release). The inserted footage is also presented in HD and in pretty nice shape, but it's slightly below the quality of the Italian version. Regardless, it's great to have this option included. Rounding out the extras on the disc are the original Unsane end credits sequence, an alternate opening credits sequence, international and Japanese theatrical trailers, animated menus and chapter selection.

Note that the extras that were included on the older Anchor Bay DVD release have not been ported over to this release.

The Final Word:

Tenebrae remains one of Dario Argento's finest films, a tense and bloody thriller shot with loads of style and with a keen eye for startling compositions. On top of that we get a great cast, a fantastic score and some of the most memorable murder set pieces of the director's entire filmography. Synapse's Blu-ray release presents the film in excellent shape, with really strong audio and with a great selection of extra features as well. All in all, a pretty fantastic edition of one of the best giallo films of the eighties!

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!