It boggles my mind I avoided Dario Argento during most of my gore-hound years (yet watched utter garbage by Umberto Lenzi and post The Beyond Lucio Fulci), because I'd heard Argento was the gross out auteur to beat all gross-out auteurs in Italy. Or maybe it was that sliver of Demons I caught in the late 80s which freaked me out so badly, I skipped all Argento until 2006.
From this point onward, I found Dario's films infected me in positive ways. He wrote terrific female characters until 1987's Opera, his use of color and sound continue to delight me and his set pieces and some story ideas are fantastic. Yes, some are unnerving (Deep Red and Opera are the two still most cringe worthy after so many viewings), but most are thrilling to watch. Death as art and with an Italian director so steeped in art, architecture and color, awful murders become surreal tableaus you must watch. When I was engrossed in web design, color became the life blood of the sites I designed, just as it evokes a very specific, nefarious palette in Dario's work. I found a connection through elements I would have never expected (color and sound) and soon consumed as much Dario as my brain would allow.
I now can giggle at Demons (a terrific concept poorly executed - sorry Lamberto.) Demons, like my fear of William Lustig's Maniac until I finally watched in 2010, were made worse by my imagination creating something more horrific than either film.
Dario's knack for tapping into nightmare imagery is unparalleled. As I finally accept the fact I am a huge fan of his special fears, I want to know more. My fondness for his work is nearly matched by his protege Michele Soavi's wonderful horrors (Oh, to have a beautiful copy of La Setta on an official North America dvd. I suspect the unfortunate use of Rolling Stones lyrics is probably the reason why the license has never been granted here.) But I digress...
I have the first editions of Maitland McDonaugh and Alan Jones' Argento tomes and refer to them frequently.
Which finally leads me to the two newish books on Dario.
I happened to search for Argento at Amazon and two new titles appeared. The Argento Syndrome by author and VFX creator Derek Botelho. Derek was allowed on the Sleepless set so I am curious as how differently he sees Dario rather than family confidant Alan Jones.
Book two is the The Argento, a very wink-wink self published horror novel by Joshua Skye. I see a lot of Skye's love for Dario and Michele Soavi and this boasts a lead who would be right at home in Dario's work (a transgendered woman.) The storyline sounds a bit like La Chesa, as Camila Nicolodi purchases the crumbling haunted home called The Argento. This is one of the last great pieces of architecture by Guiseppi Soavi.
Because I went bye-bye Amazon, I'm holding off on buying these now. Besides, I'm nose deep in Kevin Grant's fanastic Any Gun Can Play: The Essential Guide to Euro-Westerns.
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