The macabre movies of Italian director Dario Argento are surrealistic rollercoaster rides into a
universe of total terror, where anything can - and usually does - happen. Style is everything in
Argento's blood-stained cinematic arias. His characters are eccentric, the plots usually
indecipherable, but nobody can fault his bravaura expertise with the camera, whether prowling
the darkened corridors of a haunted ballet school (a-la SUSPIRIA), or climbing high in the rafters
of an opera house (OPERA) as the eyes of a sinister Raven. Many of Argento's images are so
remarkable that they remain indelibly burned into the impressionable minds of horror fans:
scenes like Irene Miracle's eerie descent into an 'underwater room' at the beginning of INFERNO,
or Tony Musante trapped by the automatic doors of an art gallery, a bug behind glass, unable to
prevent the brutal knifing of a young woman in THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE.
These over-the-top images are usually complemented by excessive music. In SUSPIRIA, scored
at an ear-shattering level by Argento's own group, Goblin, the soundtrack opens with a quiet
'Tubular Bells' type melody, then explodes into an unholy chorus chanting 'Witch!' as heroine
Jessica Harper leaves the sanctuary of an airport lounge and heads into the stormy night. Other
Argento pictures have utilised such diverse musical talents as Iron Maiden (CREEPERS) and
Ennio Morricone (FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET), and the director has encouraged them to
pump up the volume on their work.

A former film critic, who broke into the movies in the late 60's by writing screenplays for 'Dollar'
western specialist Sergio Leone, Argento began in that uniquely European genre that the Italian's
refer to as giallo, or 'yellow' films, meaning naturalistic horror thrillers in the PSYCHO vein. He
then cracked the supernatural horror market in a big way with SUSPIRIA, his most popular film
to date. It is this movie that is primarily responsible for the huge cult following Argento has built
up over the years. In recent times Argento has turned to producing horror films like DEMONS,
the story of a Berlin cinema invaded by bloodlusting zombies who come out of the screen to
attack the audience, and THE CHURCH, an occult chiller directed by his protege Michele Soavi.
OPERA, Argento's most offbeat work to date. He also wrote and directed this stylish terror tale
about a psychopath stalking the cast of a Rome production of MACBETH. This picture reveals
Argento at his outrageous best, particularly in the brutal murder sequences: in one scene a girl
swallows a vital piece of evidence, only to have it hacked out of her aesophagous by the
knife-weilding maniac (the camera dives in the victim's mouth, and exits from the gaping throat
wound!); in another, somebody gets a bullet through the head in excruciating slow motion.
Needless to say the film has had censorship problems in many countries, and is only likely to
make it to these shores in a heavily cut version.

In person, Argento turns out to be a pale, thin-faced man with a friendly manner and piercing
eyes that gaze keenly out from beneath a thick crop of uncombed hair. He looks a lot younger
than his fifty or so years, and speaks quite good English in a hesitant fashion. This interview
was conducted while he was over in London to appear at the famed 'Shock Around The Clock'
film festival and introduce TWO EVIL EYES, the Edgar Allan Poe chiller he collaborated on with
George A. Romero.

PLEASE NOTE: This interview and the above forward originally appeared in
The Dark Side - The Magazine of the Macabre and Fantastic some years ago.

DARIO QUOTES

A selection of quotes concerning the MASTER OF THE MACABRE, click below:

Who has influence you most as a filmmaker?
Many critics in my early days described me as the Italian Hitchcock. But my main influences go back to the days of
German expressionistic cinema - to Fritz Lang and Carl Dreyer. Dreyer's VAMPYR made a big impact on me. The first
horror movie I saw with my family was THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA with Claude Rains. I was very scared then, and it
made me want to go and see many, many horror films. THE HOUSE OF WAX was another favourite, with that mask
crumbling away to reveal Vincent Price's scarred face...

Would you class yourself as a horror fanatic?
I'm a fanatic, yes! I still love horror movies, anything that is strange and makes you think. Did you see WILD AT HEART?
(he smiles) It was good. Very nice. A very sweet film I think, and gentle. Even if you don't like, it's different.

How did you get into making movies in the first place?
Sergio Leone was a friend of mine, and so was Bernardo Bertolucci. We were the new young hopefuls of Italian cinema. So
Sergio said to Bernardo and I, 'Why don't you write me a screenplay?' We worked for six months together and wrote
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, which was a very big success. I went on to write another picture called FIVE MAN
ARMY, with Peter Graves. It was a happy period. We had many hopes. Sadly, Sergio is now dead, and Italian cinema is not
good, because there is only one Italian cinema group. You don't stay in the group and you don't make a picture...

Your first film as a director was BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE...
Yes. I was very young, I think 26, when I made that. When the distributors first saw it, they said 'It is terrible. Nobody will
want to see this picture!' They said it was not suspenseful enough, and it should be more like Hitchcock. But I told them I
had to stick to my own style. Of course it became a very big success both in Italy and America, so after that they did not
offer me any more advice.

What came next?
A film called THE CAT O' NINE TAILS, which was another giallo, with Karl Malden as a blind man who helps track down
a killer. I was interested in exploring some very realistic violence in this one. There is a scene where somebody is crushed to
death in the workings of a lift, which is a very plausible occurrence. Then I made a movie called FOUR FLIES ON GREY
VELVET, starring Michael Brandon as a rock band drummer who witnesses a murder. The title comes from an experiment
performed by the police upon the retina of one of the victim's eyes. By aiming a laser beam through it, they hope to
capture the last image the victim saw - which looks like 'four flies on grey velvet...'

I believe you also made a picture called FIVE DAYS IN MILAN that has yet to be released anywhere.
This was not a horror film. It was shown in Italy in 1973, a black comedy with historical elements. It would be of no
interest to your readers I am sure.

Unlike DEEP RED...
DEEP RED is my favourite film. The character that David Hemmings plays in the movie (a writer who witnesses a grisly
murder and then is pursued by the killer) is very much based on my own personality. Not that I have witnessed and
murders lately, you understand! It was a very strong film, very brutal, and of course the censor was upset. It was cut by
almost an hour in some countries, but the complete version still plays in Italy.

SUSPIRIA came next, and was a bit of a change of pace for you...
I was always interested in the supernatural. I spent much time travelling around Europe with Daria (Nicolidi, the ex-Mrs.
Argento, and star of many of his films), and we came across a strange community in Switzerland called the Rudolph
Steiner Community, which was set up in a very large house. They studied rhythms, dance and magic there, and that place
became the inspiration for SUSPIRIA.

SUSPIRIA and its followup, INFERNO, both have a richly colourful look about them, almost as if they were made in
another age. How did you achieve this?
I used out-dated Kodak stock, which was then processed in a unique way. You can alter the film in the lab by these means.
The same process was used in the 1950's on pictures like WAR OF THE WORLDS. Unfortunately there is no more of the
film stock left, so that's it...

Why haven't we seen many Dario Argento movies lately?
Because my last picture, OPERA, was picked up by Orion pictures and they decided not to release it. Why they do not
release it, I do not know! In Italy it was very popular. They retitled it TERROR AT THE OPERA, which was idiotic but I
accept this. But they spend money to buy this picture and then they don't show it - why? Maybe it's too cruel. OPERA is
a very cruel picture, very strong. Personally, for me it was the most difficult film of my life to make. There were many
complicated movements with the camera. I will be sad if it does not show in England. We will have to wait to see what
happens. But you can see a scene from the film in NIKITA. Director Luc Besson, who is a very nice person and a good
friend, bought one scene from my OPERA to use in the background. Of course people who see the film over here will not
know what the scene is from.

Let's talk about TWO EVIL EYES. Tell us why you decided to do such a well known Poe story as THE BLACK CAT?
I like the story! I know it has been done before, many times, by filmmakers I admire like Roger Corman. But today, for
the fifth time we make the story famous. I wanted to make something different, more up to date. Edgar Allan Poe is
always presented in the past, while here we have brought the story to modern times. It is a softer picture than I usually
make, it's very soft and sensual. We got compliments from the censor - which was terrible!

It's still very violent in places though, more violent than the Romero sequence anyway...
Thank you! (he smiles). The effects on TWO EVIL EYES are very good, by Tom Savini, who is a genius, a wonderful artist.
A wonderful person as well. For months we would sit in the night and drink a beer together. Now Tom is making his own
version of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. It will be good I think. George says, I must not make my episode too violent,
because it will be too different from his. So I changed my style. If I made it again I would make it differently. I like to have
more blood. But Edgar Allan Poe is classic. I am a fan of his writing. I remember the first time I read Poe was when I was
ten years old, and naturally it was the first weird, strange thing I had read in my life. When you are very young and you
read something like this, something changes in your life. You are still normal, but you become curious to know about
terrifying things. We were originally going to film three or four episodes, but there were so many problems with the other
directors that George and I decided to do it together.

Of course this marks the second time you have worked with George Romero on a movie, the first being DAWN OF THE DEAD...
Ah yes, ZOMBIE! That was also a very happy collaboration for me, because George is a wonderful man and fine director. I
wrote the screenplay with him in Rome, then went to watch him shoot the picture. George did ask me if I would like to
become involved with DAY OF THE DEAD as well, but unfortunately I was already working on shooting CREEPERS.

Did you have censorship problems on DAWN?
It was cut almost everywhere it was shown! In France it was returned to the censor eight times, and each time they took
out a little more. In the end there was very little left. the longest version was shown in Italy, but that was only slightly
longer than the American version. The American version was good.

You usually write your own movies. Where do you get your weird ideas from?
My ideas come from my nightmares. But writing them down is not easy. It is the longest part of my work, and takes me
many months, over which I may change many things, write many different drafts before arriving at a final screenplay.

You have had some very unusual music in your movies...
Music is very important to me. I like to make changes with each new film. In CREEPERS, for example. I wanted to have
every scene with music by a different composer. So, Bill Wyman would do the opening scene where the first girl was
murdered in the Swiss mountains, then for another we would have a heavy metal group like Motorhead, and then
Simonetti. It made the film more interesting, I think. At one time I would always write and play my own music with my
group, Goblin. It is finished now, but for six years it was wonderful, because my group could make all the music for my
films. The music for SUSPIRIA is the most popular, but I like DEEP RED very much, also TENEBRAE.

What are you working on at the moment?
I am about to produce a picture called THE SECT, with Michele Soavi, who did THE CHURCH. But I will not start
shooting another picture as director before next summer. I like to write slowly. I need time to reflect and decide, to make
things better. I started to write now, and we will be ready to start shooting next summer. Now I have only an idea. It will
be horror. I want to make some psycho film, like my DEEP RED. Now I am enjoying myself in London. I really love this
city. I have many friends here. When the fascists come to power in Italy I will come to London to stay.