Dario Argento Panico

In my wildest dreams, I never hoped that anyone would ever do a Dario Argento doc that would seriously delve into what makes Argento one of my favorite filmmakers. Indeed, I often vacillate myself between seeing him as a guilty pleasure and a true visionary in the horror genre. Dario Argento: Panico lays out a sound case for placing him at the top of the pantheon of greats.

I enjoyed the film with a rare relish and was very impressed that the exploration was not top heavy with Suspiria- but rather doled out equal time to so many other films. It made me want to go out and revisit some of the work I haven't seen in a while. (I'd just seen Inferno recently in the Blu Underground print and was blown away by the film for the first time- after three previous viewings. ) My high praise, however, comes with a warning- I think if you have limited exposure to all of his work you will be at a severe disadvantage here. This is a deep dive and the film doesn't take time to get you up to speed on the work- but that's how it should be when dealing with the "Maestro". (If Fellini called him that, how could I possibly disagree?)

Known as the "Master of Thrill", Italian filmmaker Dario Argento boasts a long and complex career. The Shudder original Dario Argento: Panico documentary takes a look at highlights from Argento's filmography by interviewing the Master of Horror himself along with other talking head contemporaries. For those that might only be familiar with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) or Suspiria (1977), Panico is a suitable overview with Argento himself acting as a grandfatherly host. For true Argento fans, Panico has all the substance of a featurette buried on disc 2 of the Opera collector's edition Blu-Ray.

Dario Argento: Panico provides a totally-fine overview of the auteur's work that pairs nicely with salt-cured prosciutto and a glass of Sangiovese chianti. But what would have worked spectacularly would have been if that Italian hotel was haunted... instead of Argento's tired eyes.

... in the discotheque ... or wherever else you want to take it. Just do not take your gloves off for this - so no pun intended. How are you feeling about Dario? You may be a fan of the first hour - you may still be a fan ... you may only like the early things he did ... I doubt there will be many who like his recent output ... which would beg the question: was he always "bad" or is he losing his touch? Something to ... well food for thought.

Argento worked with a lot of people ... he worked for a lot of people ... so there is no shortage of people who want to talk about him and his work. As a friend said, this is a beginners guide ... it is more about Argento light ... but there are enough more documentaries that probably dig deeper ... we will know shortly how the other movies fair ... I will watch them and tell you about them.

Plot

A film crew documents horror director Dario Argento as he works on his latest script in a hotel room, revisiting the isolation where he dreamed up his most iconic films, removed from distractions to explore his dark imagination.

Cast

Made by Simone Scafidi who also did a comparable documentary about Fulci (Which I've yet to see) and featuring interviews with Dario, Asia, del Toro, Bava and Ferrini.

Verdict

Argento is a cinematic genius, this to me is not disputable. I've enjoyed a large percentage of his works and hold him in high regard within the industry.

A documentary about him I saw great potential in, sadly the execution is very sterile. It's not exactly an expose or even a biopic, it's a very bland by the book look at his life and his works with contributions from his peers.

This to me is a passable and eye opening watch for mega-fans, but for anyone else it's an unforgivable bore.

Rants

Something has always bothered me about Argento, and that's his use of his daughter Asia. He cast her frequently through his works even from a young age, yet the consistency is nudity and sex involving her and that just never sat right with me and raised questions I'm entirely certain I don't want the answers to. To him it's likely harmless, to her it's likely harmless, to me it has made my skin crawl since the first time I saw it.

Breakdown

Informative Some decent contributors Rather boring No surprises, no frills, just the facts.

This was a documentary that I saw hit Shudder earlier this year. I'm a huge Dario Argento fan so getting a documentary about his personal life as well as his career was something I knew I'd watch. I started this one at work when my day was slow and then finished at home. This moves fast, gives his personal life before becoming a filmmaker and then goes through personal things as each of his movies came out.

Now I knew parts of Argento's personal life. I tend to do research on people and things that I'm a fan of. I didn't know that he was married to Marisa Casale earlier in life. They divorced as he became more popular to the point where elements of Four Flies on Grey Velvet might be mirroring things there. I knew that he had two daughters that were actors, Asia Argento and Fiore Argento. I didn't realize there was a third. This factors into things that made Trauma odd for him and Asia.

It was also interesting to hear from Asia about what happened between the love of his life and her mother, Daria Nicolodi. It is a shame that she passed away before this was made as I would have loved to hear from her. Suspiria and Inferno stem from stories that Daria's mother told her. Dario wasn't big on giving her more credit for some reason and it strained their relationship. These are things fans of this horror maestro already knew, but we get a different perspective here.

Something that I like as well is that we see Dario getting interviewed. These were done for this documentary as he is older now. We also get interviews from his sister, Floriana, his ex-wife and fellow filmmakers he's worked with like Michele Soavi, Lamberto Bava, Franco Ferrini, Luigi Cozzi, Claudio Simonetti and Vittorio Cecchi Gori. There are also great filmmakers who he directly influenced like Guillermo del Toro, Gaspar Noé and Nicolas Winding Refn. I also didn't want to leave out that they talked to Cristina Marsillach who is the star of Opera.

I'd say that this is a well-made documentary. There is a great editing early where Dario is being driven to a remote hotel and they put in scenes from Deep Red and Suspiria. That made me smile. The only thing that I didn't necessarily like is that this has felt at different times like they're making a movie and not a documentary. This doesn't ruin it by any stretch. Asking Dario and all these people different things as well as framing what was going on in his life while making these movies was an interesting watch for any fans of this filmmaker. I'd recommend this for sure.

My Rating: 8 out of 10.