Rish Outfield's reviews
Also known as Unsane, a title I much prefer, this was the first Argento film I had the choice of seeing in English or Italian (the DVD was nice enough to provide both). In the end, it all worked better in English, as it was clearly intended to be seen that way. This was also an international version with eighteen minutes more footage than the domestic cut (it seems that all Argento's films have been cut when released here). The plot, though at times a little obscure, was easier to follow than some of his previous works: A famous American novelist is visiting Rome and finds there is a killer using parts of his novel as inspiration to kill. Almost immediately, he becomes the subject of death threats by this same killer. Both he and the police are anxious to solve the mystery before it's too late. The lead actor is Anthony Franciosa who portrayed super-spy Matt Helm, and he's pretty good. John Saxon, who I love, plays his agent and delivered the great line "These dykes want your balls!"
Argento has made a career for himself in the genre of horror/suspense Giallo (Italian for "yellow), which came from the yellow covers of murder mystery books that focused on perversion or bizarre killings. This movie is the perfect example, as there were several murders with a razor, with an axe, a knife, a garrote, and a piece of modern art. It featured COOOOL music (yes, with four O's) by Goblin, under the name of Claudio Simonetti. There was some nice editing (except for one jump cut that I assume was due to added footage) and great cinematography. One vertigo-inducing crane shot is pretty incredible and goes on for three minutes. Not everything was perfect. Irritating flashbacks featuring red shoes were intended to show the killer's motivation, but just confused me. One scene was REALLY contrived and also featured a big ole continuity problem. It was just a terrible part of the movie, but the rest was pretty neat. Red herrings abounded, but that is a staple for this sort of film (and I just realized that a lot of the modern--meaning post-Scream--slasher movies are basically teen Giallos). This was REALLY bloody. There's a lot of horrible murders in this one, kids, maybe more than usual for Argento. A lot of screaming, too. Again, characters are introduced only for prolonged death scenes. A silly dummy was used for axe killings, but most of the death effects were great.
I especially liked the twist involving the killer's identity. I enjoyed the way it all worked out in the end, but I am sure, even though I haven't seen the Americanized cut, that it would not have worked as well.
I'd Recommend It To: Argento and/or Italian horror fans.
Note: So, if you're like me, you ask at some point what "Tenebrae" means. I couldn't tell you. I do know that the book Franciosa's character is famous for is titled that. I have seen this film referred to as "Tenebre" (without the a), even on the disc's cover, but that seems to be a misspelling, as it never appears that way in the film.