Tenebrae 4K 1982 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

Renowned American writer Peter Neal, master of chilling thrillers, arrives in Rome to promote a new novel. Soon an epidemic of shocking murders begins in the city. In a strange way, they repeat the plot of the book he has just written. Moreover, someone begins to threaten the writer himself, who is forced to start his own investigation.

Review 4K Movie

In the circles of connoisseurs of horror films and psychological thrillers, the Italian director and screenwriter Dario Argento has a controversial reputation. Many consider him a cult master aesthete, even sometimes calling him "Visconti of violence". Also there are those who treat him with indifference and disdain: they say that behind a picturesque picture there is no content. And if you look at the director's work, you can say with certainty that both sides are right. Argento has perfect canvases: the devilishly beautiful and terrifying "Suspiria", the debut "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage," where the aesthetic production cooperates with a clever puzzle plot. And then there are the rarely passable works, such as Inferno (the Russian translation of Underworld), where the director plays too much with the camera and the editing table, losing the plot and the audience in the middle of the film, or the more contemporary You Like Hitchcock?, on which the maestro was obviously concerned with anyone but the camera man and the editor. How diverse is the creative genius of Dario Argento!

In 1982, we didn't know what to expect from the Italian. The man, who had already surpassed many directors working in the genre of jallo for years, continued to live up to the expectations placed on him, seemingly reached the peak of his talent in "Blood-red", suddenly suddenly struck a blow to mysticism in his legendary "Suspiria". And then suddenly "Inferno", limited distribution, unflattering reviews... Unable to find the strength to finish the trilogy of Three Mothers, Argento returns to his roots and shoots the jello "Shiver". The central character is the writer Peter Neal, who is brought to his attention that three hours before his arrival in Rome, a girl was murdered with the pages of his new book found in her mouth. And the investigation begins...

The first thing that attentive viewers will have to pay attention to is that Argento has begun to engage in self-citation, for the plot is suspiciously similar to his debut "The Bird...": both characters arrive in Italy from the United States, both are writers, both have a shrill girlfriend, both finally, and both have to stay in the country for a while. Argento is as if nostalgic for his first half of the seventies, where there were no ragtag filth, where the perverse psychology of the killer and a surprisingly elaborate game of cat-and-mouse ruled the ball. And "Shiver" is a real kitsch, an ode to the jallo genre and, not very modestly, to his earlier works, from which the author blows off the dust. All the necessary and beloved director's trappings are present: a murderer with childhood trauma, a mildly positive protagonist, Hitchcockian sexual tension, playing with the subconscious of a murder witness (memory lapses), the villain's black gloves. Dario Argento makes pure genre cinema, and, perhaps for the first time since The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, by revealing the identity of the murderer in the finale, mocks the unprepared and utterly confused viewer.

However, considering that an important part in Argento's films is video, or the visual side of things, it should be mentioned that a true connoisseur of this Italian's work will notice rather quickly: despite the moving and non-boring camera, something is missing here. Everything seems to be there: expressive faces, beautiful girls, chases and spectacular murders - something is still missing. Sure, the visuals aren't much to complain about, but viewers remember the plan during the two pianists' dialogue from "Blood Red," remember the lonely death of the blind musician from "Suspiria," and finally remember the battle in the gallery from "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage." "Shiver" has nothing of the sort to offer. Here the camera, though not boring, walks measuredly from scene to scene. Yes, the film does not lack atmosphere, it is there and peaks in the last minutes of the film, but it cannot be called beautiful even at a stretch (except that even the overly charming Ania Pieroni charms). The film is an unconscious spit in the face of those who regard Argento as a creator of beautiful but empty pictures - there are only two pictures, but the content is of central importance in "Shiver". It would be hypocritical to discuss a film about a maniac without mentioning the murders. Fans of beautiful and mysteriously obscure scenes of this kind have nothing to do here, neither do those who like dismemberment, but there is something to see for the aesthetically inept: during the hand chopping scene you involuntarily recall Sophie Fatal from "Kill Bill" (another genre director Tarantino also likes to cite). And from the visuals we move on to the sound: what is true is true - the film has no mesmerizing musical theme, and anyone who has seen at least a couple or three previous works by Argento will notice that.

Nevertheless, the picture wins - the director and screenwriter have completely rehabilitated himself after the inarticulate and inane "Inferno". There is no doubt that the overall impression of most viewers will be extremely positive: no avant-garde, the glorious and best traditions of the jallo genre, packed into an hour and a half of screen time. Obviously, the director failed to scare anyone with his previous film, so he returned to what he not only knows, but does almost better than everyone else - playing with the viewer by provoking him to endless suspicions and conjectures. Yes, self-citation, and some might even say narcissism, but in the meantime, yet another proof that jallo is a genre in which Dario Argento has virtually no equal.