Wow! Such a good movie.

What a waste of my time!!!

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Tenebre is a low quality foreign slasher type joke of a film, but has its entertainment value.The story and the acting are quite simply a zero score out of whatever scale you want to use and the murder scenes are extremely poor. It is basically a showcase of beautiful braless women, silly music and various locations and camera angles. Lara Wendel was particularly nice as Maria and I found myself amused enough not to trash the film completely. Though the many reviews of actual praise in film making, are absurd. Style no problem, thrilling mystery, gripping story and suspense, you've got to be kidding.

Argento madde a couple of "weirder" movies with "Suspiria" and "inferno", and I don't know if it was the circumstance around the latter film, but with "Tenebrae", he returned to something rather traditional. If you're a fan of the typical '70s giallo style of storytelling, this won't be a bad thing, but it's hard to escape the feeling that by 1982 he was already a bit past this.I watched this movie a couple of times years ago before this recent viewing, and my memory of the denouement was somehow totally different from what actually happened. I think maybe I somehow got its wires crossed with Argento's much earlier "Four Flies on Grey Velvet", where the character the audience mostly followed was a musician. Here it's a writer of horror/crime thriller novels. he's played well, but everyone seems a bit underused, somehow, and this goes especially for guys like Saxon and Steiner, who seem barely present but for a few scenes. The story also commits the worst offense of the bad mystery novel: the killer turns out to be someone we have barely spent any time with in the story, and thus the reaction is less one of surprise than one of "oh, that guy? Huh...."Or is it? This being a giallo, there's a weird twist at the end. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me and I think I like the memory of the story I had a little better. I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone though, so i won't explain. Sorry!You know that with a vintage Argento film, you are going to get lots of stylishness, possibly at the expense of substance, and this is no exception. I happen to think "inferno" was possibly his best movie, and rather than contribute to the atmosphere as they do in th at film, i think maybe the excesses do hurt this movie a little bit. There are scenes that drag on seemingly for the sole purpose of letting us hear more of Goblin's admittedly cool funky/disco music. Specifically, and this is something commented on by many -- a really, really long shot that goes all the way around a building that will seem totally pointless unless you are really willing to just embrace the film on its own terms and are happy to let Argento take you on this slightly superfluous tour. The music is cool, but for the first time, doesn't always seem to fit and can even be a bit distracting. At first I thought maybe this was because Goblin started to embrace 80s electronic music here and I wasn't as into that, but in the intervening years I think I've found more affinity for such music, and no, I guess there's just too much of it sometimes here.So, all-in-all, this is a nice throwback to the glory years of the giallo (those being past and done, largey, by '82, i think), complete with a story that doesn't seem to totally hang together. A neat murder story, but I definitely prefer "Deep Red", and for sheer fever dream madness, "Inferno" can't be beat.

I can never resist an opportunity to watch a Dario Argento film so I was happy when I had the chance to view Tenebre once again; it's been too long.Argento is not only a master of horror but a true master of death and murder, which he proves in this little mystery tale.When American author Peter Neal (played by Anthony Franciosa) arrives in Rome on his book tour for his latest novel "Tenebre" he is shocked when people linked to his book begin to be murdered, and in some instances in the same manner as the book.One of my favourite scenes in the movie is when the hotel owners daughter is dropped off after a night out and is then pursued by a very tenacious Doberman Pincher. Argento does a brilliant job of building the tension and keeping it up through to her demise. His use of lighting, colour, and music build a tautness that keeps the viewer on the edge of their seats. It's nice that he tones down his visual style a little for this film otherwise it could have been too overpowering and distract from the story.Argento's story is strong and filled with believable and relatable characters, which all the actors portray brilliantly adding to the strength of both the story and film. It is also one of first of his stories that aren't ambiguous and confusing.I would always recommend Dario Argento films as he has a style all of his own with a visual style which works perfectly with his movies. This one, more so, as most lovers of mysteries and thrillers should find something to enjoy in it.

Is when you fearfully expect one certain thing to happen. Unlike horror, which is sudden and random. Terror builds up and is foreshadowed. This movie in my opinion succeeds in terror, I found it terrifying. Not horrifying. I loved the plot. With its crazy plot and plot twists, it certainly helped the movie to make me terrified. Anyway the story is convoluted and Dario as usual doesn't spoon feed his audience with the answers leading some people to believe there are plot holes in the movie. (Requieres repeated viewing). All I will say is the movie is cut in two parts and connecting those two parts requires logical reasoning. (Referring to the shiny ornament in the middle of the movie, with organ pipes playing in the background). So the movie doesn't fall into everyone's taste meaning it is not mainstream, mainstream movies usually explain everything to the audience. Tenebre doesn't. Also it is bizarre, moody and ultra-violent. Also the Goblin soundtrack will turn some people off but they are the reason why I love this movie. What I also love about this movie is it is atmospheric and artistic. What the movie does is it first establishes mood before every murder and make us wait for it. It doesn't just mindlessly show someone getting killed every 15 minutes. It builds up tension and uses that tension to make the murders more terrifying. As an example I want to mention that wonderful crane shot with the Goblin music, it left me in awe. It was great cinematography. What the point of the crane shot is to give the feeling of the murderer scouting the location. (Have you ever played the Hit-man games?) Also to add tension and make the audience wait for imminent death. There was also the segment with the Doberman, which had the get away from a dangerous situation just to get into a more dangerous situation. Where she should have been safe she ended up being in greater danger. It was full of tension. It was bizarre yes and for some out of place, but it added irony and I love irony. The violence made me uncomfortable, but that is how I want violence portrayed. Even by our standards it was uncomfortable. By the way, this movie is also a slasher so it means it is more bloodthirsty than 'Profondo Rosso' and 'Suspiria'. It is also the most sexually oriented containing nudes. So more bloodthirsty and more sexual, I honestly love that. A lot. The tone of the movie is very psycho-sexual. Which isn't so foreign in an Argento movie, but sexual deviancy being one of the main themes the tone fits well. Another theme is revenge. Passionate revenge. Anyway I also loved the POV of the killer, it made the movie more unsettling to watch since it forced its viewer to take "part" of the killing. The screaming at the end of the movie evokes strong emotions and dread. It is one of the craziest endings I've seen to be honest. It shook me to my very core. Remembering the scene gives me the chills.The movie gets 10/10 from me and it is my favorite Argento movie, although I don't consider it to be the best Argento movie (Profondo Rosso is definitely his best, in my opinion).