Italian Gothic Horror Films (1980-1989)

by Roberto Curti

  continuity is the nod to melodrama, in the blend

  Bava) and Il profumo della signora in nero (974,

  of music and scenic action. The choice of Keith

  Francesco Barilli).

  Emerson—writing his first film score—con-

  The link with the director’s previous film

  firmed the director’s idea of “making a rock

  is given precisely by buildings, and not just be-

  opera … a film for young people.”27 Argento was

  cause both pictures end with one of them on fire.

  as much a rock star figure as Emerson was, and

  Expanding the barely sketched myth of Suspiria,

  both knew and appreciated each other’s work.

  Argento (and Nicolodi) imagined the existence

  In a way, having him on board was the fulfill-

  of three “palaces of evil” designed and built by

  ment of an old dream, as the director claimed

  an alchemist/architect whose very name recalls

  he had been toying with the idea of working

  the elusive alchemist Fulcanelli, for three “Moth-

  with Emerson, Lake & Palmer since the days of

  ers” whose names were again lifted from Thomas

  4 mosche di velluto grigio (97).

  24 1980: Inferno With its wild reimagining of Giuseppe

  The sequence in Central Park, with Kazan-

  Verdi’s opera chorus Va, pensiero (from the

  ian attacked by rats, goes even further. Argento

  third act of the 842 opera Nabucco) as a /4,

  builds the suspense with an almost unbearable

  keyboard- driven Prog- Rock extravaganza to ac-

  sadistic crescendo, with the invalid man falling

  company the scene of Sara’s taxi ride, the former

  into the pool of water (originally Kazanian was

  ELP member gave the movie a soundscape in

  to have two wooden legs, which he would lose

  tune with the type of music to which Italian

  in the muddy lake) and lying there at the mercy

  twenty- somethings were listening: in 980,

  of the rodents, screaming in pain for help. In the

  British progressive rock was still the most pop-

  distance, a hot dog vendor29 hears the screams,

  ular subgenre among them, as certified by such

  notices the elderly man in danger, throws away

  music magazines as Ciao 2001, and Punk was

  his cap, grabs a hatchet and starts running to-

  looked at with diffidence by many. Moreover,

  ward him. The build- up, aided by Emerson

  the blond keyboardist had become a household

  silent movie- like piano score, is irresistible, and

  name even among general audiences, after his

  the shot- by-shot construction of the scene

  appearance in the closing credits of the popular

  seems to hint that Kazanian is going to be saved

  (and unconventional) TV show Odeon. Tutto

  at the last minute. But then, surprise: the appar-

  quanto fa spettacolo (broadcast from December

  ent savior turns out to be an agent of Hell, and

  976 to April 978) as a ragtime- era pianist play-

  with a few well- placed strokes in the neck he fin-

  ing rearranged versions of Honky Tonk Train

  ishes poor Kazanian (the hand was that of as-

  Blues and Maple Leaf Rag. Argento was deeply

  sistant director Lamberto Bava, who managed

  impressed by Emerson’s approach: “He com-

  to get a convincing performance out of the im-

  posed the music practically on the spot. He sat

  bibed Pitoeff). It is a blatant joke which “openly

  before the screen, behind a keyboard, and he

  ratifies the playful unpredictability of death”30

  played while we screened the film back and

  at the expense of the audience, who are treated

  forth. He had the projection stop, wrote on his

  to a macabre gag when they least expected it. It

  music paper, and then started again. I have never

  is almost the grim reversal of Suspiria’s elaborate

  seen anyone do this.”28

  symphonies of death, although the scene was

  Even though Argento pushed the pedal on

  originally even more complex in the script, with

  the gore in Inferno, the results are rather different

  the agonizing Kazanian glimpsing a Charon- like

  from Suspiria. The most gruesome moments

  figure coming out of the sewer tunnel, on a boat,

  waver between outrageousness and black-

  amidst the fog. The boat scene was ultimately

  humored mockery, even more unabashed than

  discarded because, as Albani explained, the

  the odd verbal joke (“Have you ever heard of

  water in the lake was too shallow. Another

  the Three Sisters?” “Do you mean those black

  grotesque gory scene, cut from the final edit, was

  singers?”), and even more biting in a movie so

  the death of John the butler (Mastelloni), who

  dark and pessimistic. The murder of Carlo, with

  is strangled with a curtain rope, so violently that

  its masterful use of diegetic music, sound and

  his eyes pop out as if he was a living Tex Avery

  words, manages to take the viewers off- guard and

  cartoon (always true to himself, Argento

  works as the perfect “boo” moment. As he leaves

  handled the rope personally, holding it so tight

  to check the electricity generator, the lights in

  around the actor’s neck that Mastelloni col-

  Sara’s apartment come and go, as does Va, pensiero

  lapsed).3 In the finished film we only get to see

  which was playing in the background. At a certain

  the aftermath of the scene, with Carol discover-

  point he stops answering to Sara’s questions, and

  ing John’s disfigured body, but it’s never clear

  the frightened girl follows him to the storage

  how that happened.

  room. For a few seconds the audience is left with

  All these scenes have in common the use

  a doubt: is Carlo an agent of evil? Is he going to

  of crude, sometimes rudimentary weapons

  jump out and kill Sara? Or is he already dead?

  (butcher’s knives, hatchets, an ersatz guillotine

  Then we hear Carlo’s voice again, calm, reassuring

  in Rose’s death scene) which sometimes are re-

  and almost joking: nothing bad has happened to

  placed by animals acting as agents of evil.

  him. And then, in that split- second—an impos-

  Felines, in particular, are ubiquitous. A horde of

  sibly brief gap for anything to happen—the man

  cats assault Elise (Nicolodi) in what remains the

  appears again, with a long knife stuck in his neck.

  film’s weakest death scene, with Bava Jr. and his

  The use of timing here is arbitrary as it is unfair,

  assistant Andrea Piazzesi throwing felines at the

  but it achieves the desired result.

  actress’ stand in—Maurizio Garrone32—just like

  1980: Inferno 2

  Aristide Massaccesi had done over Luciano

  like a modern- day version of De Quincey’s

  Rossi’s face on the set of La morte ha sorriso al-

  opium eater.

  l’assassino (973); and Kazanian
is so obsessed

  The script elaborated on the idea of old

  by cats that he captures them and takes them

  creatures praying on the young: in an unfilmed

  to the lake to drown them, with gruesome re-

  scene near the beginning, while on her way to

  sults. Originally Argento had devised a scene

  the mailbox, Rose was to meet a 40-year-old

  depicting a rabid cat in a courtyard, with white

  woman in a black cloak, who suddenly, and al-

  foam dribbling from its open mouth, which

  most subliminally, turned into an old hag. The

  would serve as a counterpart to the antique

  Three Mothers are described by Varelli as

  dealer’s death. Thousands of rodents were im-

  “wicked stepmothers, incapable of creating life,”

  ported from China for the scene, and a lot of

  queen bees who bewitch men and deprive them

  them escaped, hid in the studios and bred.

  of their will, as they did with the architect—who

  “They’re still there, after over 30 years! Our

  will show up as an impotent figure on a wheel-

  rats!” Claudio Argento quipped.33

  chair, at the mercy of his nurse/lover/wicked

  Animals (a key presence in Argento’s oeu-

  stepmother (Lazar). It’s an image which recalls

  vre since the very beginning) are everywhere in

  the ending of Alberto Lattuada’s black comedy

  the film—living or dead, killing or being killed,

  Venga a prendere il caffè da noi (970), starring

  embalmed or portrayed in objets d’art. They re-

  Ugo Tognazzi as a middle- aged man who settles

  flect their human counterparts’ actions or status

  in the house of three wealthy spinsters (Francesca

  (such as the caged bird in Elise’s apartment), but

  Romana Coluzzi, Milena Vukotic, Angela Good-

  they are also the keys to unveil alchemic mys-

  win) and sets out to seduce them, only to end up

  teries that are denied to humans. The script’s

  in a wheelchair after suffering a stroke, served

  opening even included a shot of a row of ants

  and revered, but in fact dominated, and sexually

  disappearing into a hole in the floor in Rose’s

  defused, by the three queen bees. In this sense,

  apartment, hinting at the secret passage “under-

  Argento’s film can well be considered a horrific

  neath the soles of [her] shoes” which is the final

  take on this type of grotesque comedy centered

  key to solve the mystery in Varelli’s book. By

  on vampiric female figures—see also Marco Fer-

  following the insects, Mark will reach the archi-

  reri’s Una storia moderna—L’ape regina (963)—

  tect’s secret apartment: the affinity between the

  and not surprisingly it doesn’t feature proper

  hero/heroine and the insects will become central

  male figures besides the boyish Mark: the other

  in Phenomena and will be reprised in the epi-

  men in the film are either elderly and/or crippled

  logue of Opera.

  (Varelli, Kazanian) or sexually ambiguous (John

  As with Suspiria, the main characters are

  the butler), and the only one portrayed as het-

  artists, sensitive souls who can see and feel be-

  erosexual and sexually active (Carlo) is dis-

  yond the ordinary world. Suzy was a dancer,

  patched within a handful of minutes.

  Rose is a poetess, and Mark34 is a musicologist.

  In the conservatory scene, Mark notices a

  Rose has a sense of smell so developed that she

  stunning- looking young woman caressing a cat

  can feel the sickly sweet smell that is typical of

  in her lap, who stares at him intently and makes

  the infernal buildings described by Varelli, and

  him dizzy. Romano Albani’s lighting singles her

  which people mistakenly attribute to a “cookie

  out in the room, as if struck by a (not-so) divine

  factory” nearby (sweetness as a tempting trap is

  light—almost a blasphemous version of a Ren-

  again a nod to fairy tales—think of the marzipan

  aissance Madonna. Unlike Suspiria, here Argento

  house in Hansel and Gretel), and Mark is as weak

  depicts a seductive sorceress who captivates the

  as any young romantic hero—pale, sickly and

  male and puts a spell on him, one of the arche-

  subject to fainting: an impulsive, ineffectual

  types of Italian Gothic horror. According to

  lead. At first, he and his sister even communicate

  Daria Nicolodi, the woman is not one of the

  by way of letters,3 as if they belonged in another

  Three Mothers: “She was a witch. She couldn’t

  era. Like Suzy and her unfortunate schoolmates

  have been Mater Lachrymarum because the

  before them, they, too, are overgrown, asexual

  Mater is Death. She was rather an emanation, in

  children, bodies in the splendor of youth whose

  that moment very visible and seductive, as so

  vital forces are absorbed through magic spells

  very often Death has been portrayed.”37 This oth-

  and potions, and who are preyed upon by elderly

  erworldly appearance, however, is not just Ar-

  people like Varelli. The same can be said about

  gento’s cinephile homage to Bell Book and

  Countess Elise,36 diaphanous, feverish and weak

  Candle (98, Richard Quine), whose most

  26 1980: Inferno iconic image featured Kim Novak holding a

  Ultimately, such ambivalence is echoed in the

  Siamese cat; it is also an interesting key to pen-

  poster, which features a sinister skull with female

  etrate the author’s approach to the female uni-

  lips emerging from the darkness, and which

  verse at a time where Italy was experiencing the

  recalls Asa’s face magically rejuvenated in La

  rise of the feminist movement, portrayed in con-

  maschera del demonio (960). It is an image of sex-

  troversial terms on the screen. Fellini, in the

  uality and death with few equals in the realm of

  contemporaneous La città delle donne (980),

  Italian horror, and further underlines the director’s

  had his alter ego Marcello Mastroianni tried and

  complex look at the eros/thanatos duality.

  condemned by a court of liberated feminists.

  Inferno marked Argento’s professional en-

  In Inferno, the mysterious witch is played

  counter with Mario and Lamberto Bava. Mario

  by Ania Pieroni, then the lover of politician (and

  took care of some special optical effects, painting

  future prime minister) Bettino Craxi: a ravishing

  maquettes and concocting other trick shots: as

  young woman who displays an aggressive,

  recounted by Tim Lucas,39 the elderly master cre-

  somehow vulgar beauty (pouty lips, heavily

  ated some cityscape views by way of milk cartons

  made- up eyes, bright red lipstick) and who is

  covered with photographs, as well as a sculpture

  lighted like a glamorous diva. Argento would

  that augmented Rose’s apartment building
,

  cast her again in Tenebre as the kleptomaniac

  which is set on fire in the climax. Bava also took

  who becomes the murderer’s first victim, but

  care of the special effects for the final appearance

  first we had seen her, defiant and provoking, put

  of Death—a scene which incidentally recalls a

  a much earthier spell upon another man (Enio

  moment in 6 donne per l’assassino (964), in

  Girolami), using her sexuality like a credit card.

  which Tao- Li (Claude Dantes) advances toward

  In these two images of seduction, embodied by

  the same woman, one can perhaps see the di-

  rector’s problematic vision of womanhood in

  the 980s. Argento had already depicted a fem-

  inist type, Gianna Brezzi, in ambiguous terms

  in Profondo rosso (97), where she proved a

  much stronger presence than the ineffectual

  hero, but also a sinister, suspicious character

  who could as well have been the murderer. In

  his following film he would portray liberated

  women either as expressions of evil or as the vic-

  tims of a mad moralizer. Whereas Tenebre—

  populated by Lolita- esque nymphs, buxom les-

  bians, real- life transsexuals and femmes fatales

  in shades and red shoes—represented an explo-

  sion of unbridled and predatory sexuality in Ar-

  gento’s cinema, in Inferno sexuality is either de-

  nied, repressed or alluded to in a sinister

  manner, most notably in the couple portrayed

  by Alida Valli and Leopoldo Mastelloni, who

  seemingly have an ambiguous relationship—

  even more puzzling since Mastelloni is a con-

  troversial and openly gay stage actor, notorious

  for his provocative behavior, while Valli here

  portrays a masculine, stern woman. It was Ni-

  colodi who convinced Argento to cast her friend

  Mastelloni, with whom she had acted in the TV

  movie Tre ore dopo le nozze, directed by Ugo

  Gregoretti. “I managed to have Leopoldo in In-

  ferno, whereas Dario absolutely didn’t want him,

  because he said, ‘No, I don’t want a gay butler!’

  But eventually, after many tortures, he succeeded

  in making him stop wiggling and walk straight.”38

  the stunning Italian locandina for Inferno.

  1980: Inferno 27

  the camera, before being revealed as a reflection

  sound of the voices carried as a flow into the

  in a mirror—by way of lights and a semi-

  conduits of the building); Earth (the reference