Il mondo dell'orrore di Dario Argento (1985)

Director:

Michele Soavi

Writer:

Michele Soavi (writer)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

Plot:

Documentary on horror/mystery film maker Dario Argento. Features an in-depth interview with Argento and covers his work from 1969 to 1985.

Plot Keywords:

Interview | Behind The Scenes | Film Clip | Film Making | Horror Filmmaking

Cast

Romano Albani	...	Himself
Dario Argento	...	Himself
Fiore Argento	...	Herself / Vera Grandt
Urbano Barberini	...	Himself
Patrick Bauchau	...	Himself / Insp. Rudolf Geiger
Michael Brandon	...	Himself
Flavio Bucci	...	Himself
Clara Calamai	...	Herself
Stefania Casini	...	Herself / Sara
Jennifer Connelly	...	Herself
Mirella D'Angelo	...	Herself
Keith Emerson	...	Himself
David Emge	...	Himself
Mimsy Farmer	...	Herself
Ken Foree	...	Himself
James Franciscus	...	Himself
Jessica Harper	...	Herself / Suzy Banyon
David Hemmings	...	Himself
Natasha Hovey	...	Herself
Karl Malden	...	Himself
Davide Marotta	...	Himself / Bruckner Monster
Leigh McCloskey	...	Himself / Mark Elliott
Macha Méril	...	Herself
Irene Miracle	...	Herself / Rose Elliott
Tony Musante	...	Himself
Daria Nicolodi	...	Herself / Various
Donald Pleasence	...	Himself / Prof. John McGregor
Aldo Reggiani	...	Himself
Eva Renzi	...	Herself
Eva Robin's	...	Herself
Tom Savini	...	Himself
Michele Soavi	...	Himself
Luciano Tovoli	...	Himself

Also Known As:

Dario Argento's World of Horror
Dario Argento's world of horror (Italy) (video box title)

Runtime:

USA:76 min | Argentina:76 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-18 | Argentina:18 | Australia:R

Company:

DACFILM Rome

Movie Connections:

Featured in Stephen King's World of Horror (1986) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Flash of the Blade

Dario's Big Pitch

No one can deny Dario Argento. Earning a place in horror as a pioneer while being as visually adept as Peter Jackson, John Woo or David Fincher. Unfortunately, his style over substance approach has limited his exposure to the European shores and to probing pesky horror fans. This could be the reason why 'Dario Argento's World of Horrors' comes off as more of a commercial than a documentary. It does have its meat, with behind the scenes footage and interviews but it also comes off somewhat contrived. The interviews, for instance, have him talking directly to the camera expressing thoughts and reasons on various projects. While this gives a somewhat intimate approach it also looks staged and heavy handed with Dario looking like he's just talking to himself. Once more the editing is just too abrupt and distracting making it look extremely amateurish with the result being uneven pacing between interviews and selected scenes. OK, this was Michele Soavi's first gig, but harsh cuts and uneven progression are something an editor is hired to fix. More importantly it never really fleshes out his many film contributions but instead seems content to be Argento's argument to the world that he is a valid director. Almost like propaganda. Yuck. It's too bad, because the proof is in the pudding. The more we discover about his films the more we see how inventive and influential his style is. The interesting info is just glanced over here and I wanted more. Such as his Technicolor filming of Suspiria, the makeup effects in Demons, or the fantastic production design for Tenebre. Footage was shown but never explained or commented on. I wanted to see more about his various styles of camera work that seems almost ripped off by contemporary films. Also you could have put aside an hour alone on his work with composer Ennio Morricone and the band Goblin. Now group this with the fact that it's somewhat dated (Miami vice music and all) and what you have is an interesting but uninspired 76 minutes.