Hey, so... What the fuck did I just watch?

Do you actually believe this? He was really fascinated with psychological research in his earlier films especially. Gender stereotypes in Bird with the Crystal Plumage and repercussions of childhood trauma in Deep Red. It's not just popcorn subtext to make the movies more interesting either, Argento really was researching psychology at institutes during his time, and reflected a lot of his knowledge in his movies.

He also loves the history of horror in storytelling, and stuff like Suspiria and Inferno are littered with references to Grimm fairy tales and The Faerie Queene among others.

His filmmaking flourishes were a direct response to the moviemaking landscape of the time, and his desire to push it into more artistic directions. The ending of Crystal Plumage with the main characters flying out of the country while some psychologist is explaining the killer's motives to the police in voice over is a parody of the Psycho ending, which clumsily has all the characters getting lectured about the plot of the movie.

Phenomena is just goofy though.

That's all propaganda for critics. Name an Argento film that's not at least 40 minutes of an angelic visage filling the screen.

YOU'LL DIE AS YOU LIVED
IN A FLASH OF THE BLADE

I liked Phenomena, it's just batshit enough to be entertaining without being a completely incomprehensible mess like Inferno.

So I've seen the following Argento:

>Animals Trilogy
>Suspiria
>Deep Red
>Phenomena
>Opera
>Inferno

I wasn't a big fan of Inferno, but generally liked everything else. Cat o' Nine Tails was probably my next least favorite. Is there any other giallo/Italian horror from other directors that I should watch? Or additional Argento that's worth watching?

The only other Italian horror I've seen was Black Sunday.

Definitely watch Tenebre by Argento. If you're interested in more gialli, I recommend Sergio Martino.
In terms of other Italian horror, check out the films of Lucio Fulci. If you liked Black Sunday, continue looking for Mario Bava's films.

Where the hell is The Faerie Queene 'littered' in either of those films? It's not some fairy tale as the title suggests, it's an extremely dense allegorical poem celebrating the triumph of the Church of England and of Queen Elizabeth told through chivalric adventures. The only connection I can possibly think of is Duessa being like a hag in disguise, but that's a very common trope.

I knew I was forgetting a movie, I've also seen Tenebrae, but thanks for the other recommendations.

Haven't seen much, watch this youtube.com/watch?v=Blw1fK-U9AE

Seconding this post

Argento sucks ass.
All of his movies are "you know what would be cool? Now... how do I put that into my movie?".
Awful dub, awful dialogue, dumb ass plots, dumb ass actions with somewhat memorable scenes sprinkled throughout.
Just enough to have the "cinephile" numales praise it.

>Awful dub, awful dialogue, dumb ass plots, dumb ass actions
True, but I like Argento for the colors and music. Only seen a few of his, though.

Mario Bava made the best of the early giallos:
>1963 - The Girl Who Knew Too Much (b/w)
>1964 - Blood and Black Lace (colour)
the pattern for the formula it settled into is already set in these two films. I highly recommend both of these to people who want to explore this genre.

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plot-wise, I prefer Blood and Black Lace - in part because the plot is the most plausible of any giallo I've seen yet.
then I've seen no other one chronologically 'til the '70s:
>1970 - The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
this is Argento's first film as director, and among his most accomplished and least surreal. no supernatural bullshit (if you're wont to view such things as bullshit).

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Watch the one about zombies on a cinema

Argento’s classic films are comfy-horror kino.
Literally best horror films for having a GOOD time, even Phenomena with its gross shit

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according to RYM, 1971 was among the best years for giallo, though I've only seen two of them.
I wouldn't recommend A Lizard in a Woman's Skin, but Short Night of Glass Dolls was decent though some might think it moves too slowly. it also has one of my favourite giallo themes ever, composed by Morricone:
youtube.com/watch?v=7GtgwdFNQcE

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What says. Fulci’s earlier films like Don’t Torture a Duckling are similar to Argento’s animal trilogy, in that they follow the giallo format but push the horror to the forefront.

For Argento, I think his part of the movie Two Evil Eyes is the last thing he did that’s really good. Also watch Demons.

'72 had a couple of giallo that are popular (Don't Torture a Duckling; What Have They Done to Solange?), though I haven't seen them yet.
mid-70s were ruled by Argento's best work:
>1975 - Deep Red
>1977 - Suspiria
I watched these in reverse chronological order. they were the first Italian horror films I'd ever seen. most people seem to start here, but I'd recommend these Bava films first:
that said, I'd recommend them both highly. there's enough unique visual content and twists to make them good for at minimum one watch - at least to check what you might be missing out on.
1976 also had The House With Laughing Windows, which I have not seen.

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Saw this at a local film festival and it was genuinely one of the most crazy films I've ever seen. I was full on hysterical during the climax. I've seen several Argento pictures before but felt this really crossed the line from wonderfully bizarre to full on insanity. Loved the experience though, the whole audience was laughing.

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Sorry, I made a mistake. I was thinking of Thomas De Quincy and how his writings helped form the three mothers mythos in those two films. I don’t know why I said Faerie Queene. They don’t have anything to do with each other. Pardon my autism.

Duckling and Solange are essential gialli, user.

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Morricone is a fucking genius
youtu.be/Q2qovA_0Lnk

I've only seen 2 '80s Argento:
>1982 - Tenebre
>1985 - Phenomena
Tenebre brings things back down to earth, and has one of the best endings out of any giallo I've ever seen.
(yes, I noticed plot holes, but no, they didn't impede my enjoyment of the film.)
it also seems to have been a key inspiration for John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness.
Phenomena is basically the reverse: things go way off the deep end.
it helped my enjoyment of the film when I heard that Argento originally wanted to cast Suspiria with a bunch of teenage girls - but couldn't at the time, because so many awful things happen to them. (that's why we get awkward scenes of grown young women sticking their tongues out at each other.)
so this was basically Argento's successful second attempt at that setting - this time in a Swiss boarding school for girls. teenage Jennifer Connelly's character gets bullied mercilessly here by the other girls.
the last five minutes are just bonkers. I'll let other viewers decide for themselves if that's a good thing or not. my reaction was:
>What?!
then:
>WHAT?!?!

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they're either already downloaded or on the list, user
his composing credits list is so fucking massive in the '70s I hardly know how to parse it. it's like every Italian director could get him to produce a score for them each year.

>that scene in Inferno with the old man getting eaten by rats for 5 minutes then casually getting stabbed by a nobody that's never explained

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I thought this would be a different GIF. I just saw Data and went with it.

Based Joe.
Based absolute fucking nerd.
Based Bruce.

This turned me into a sexual deviant

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wrong

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here's a question: why doesn't rym count Suspiria and Inferno as gialli?
rateyourmusic.com/films/chart?page=1&chart_type=top&type=film&year=alltime&genre_include=1&include_child_genres=1&genres=giallo

I'm going to need to see some evidence

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Because they are supernatual horrors and not gialli

but supernatural stuff happens in Phenomena, and it's called a giallo

That's because it also has all the elements of a giallo while suspiria and inferno do not.

a terrible movie by an incompetent filmmaker

I haven't seen Inferno, but for a lot of Suspiria, I was wondering who/what that green-eyed killer was. watching it for the first time, you don't necessarily know what the nature of the threat will be, and the filmmaking style doesn't conclusively dissuade the audience of the idea that this might perhaps be yet another giallo from the Giallo King until the last 10 minutes.

The last great flick by the poor man's Mario Bava

youtube.com/watch?v=WADFrvge6GA

I don't think anything he made comes close to Inferno. It's so wonderfully unconventional. You really feel how powerless the protagonists are in the face of Fate.

man inferno is such a piece of shit. at least his previous films had some semblance of a plot, including suspiria. inferno is just people crawling around nicely lit staircases and getting their throats slit for 90 mins

>inferno is just people crawling around nicely lit staircases and getting their throats slit for 90 mins
except that sounds awesome

>can't follow an intricate plot involving different characters in diferent locations
hmm yes, sounds like a brainlet.