Suspiria | MIFF 2023 | IIC Melbourne
SuspiriaDir. Dario Argento, ItalyWith a title derived from the Latin phrase ‘sighs from the depths’, Dario Argento’s most famous film is an undeniable masterwork of skin-crawling terror. Argento’s beloved classic fuses the refined and graceful movements of ballet with the bloody horror and melodrama of Italian giallo. Suzy is an American dance student who arrives at […]
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Opera | MIFF 2023 | IIC Melbourne
OperaDir. Dario Argento, ItalyAfter bringing bloodshed to a ballet school in Suspiria (also screening at MIFF 2023), the giallo maestro wreaks operatic havoc on a soprano tackling a Shakespeare adaptation. Theatre folks consider it a curse to utter the title of Macbeth while staging a production of Shakespeare’s historical tragedy, a superstition shared by their opera […]
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The Five Days | MIFF 2023 | IIC Melbourne
The Five DaysDir. Dario Argento ItalyA rarely screened outlier in Dario Argento’s career, this deliciously dark historical comedy follows a thief and a baker caught up in the chaos of a political uprising. Set against the backdrop of the 1848 Italian Revolutions, this politically charged action-comedy stars pop star Adriano Celentano as a hapless thief liberated […]
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Phenomena | MIFF 2023 | IIC Melbourne
PhenomenaDir. Dario Argento – Italy, SwitzerlandThis oeuvre of outré, starring a then-14-year-old Jennifer Connelly, is widely regarded as one of Dario Argento’s most eccentric and bizarre films. Jennifer Corvino, the daughter of a famed American movie star, is sent to study at the Richard Wagner Academy for Girls in Switzerland. Once there, she finds herself in […]
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Tenebrae | MIFF 2023 | IIC Melbourne
TenebraeDir. Dario Argento, ItalyInspired by the director’s own brush with an obsessive fan, this stylish slasher offers metacommentary on sexism and screen violence. American crime writer Peter Neal is greeted in Rome not only by a cavalcade of attentive journalists but by two detectives investigating a homicide. A woman’s throat has been slit, mimicking a […]
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The Black Cat | MIFF 2023 | IIC Melbourne
The Black CatDir. Dario Argento Italy, USAHarvey Keitel stars in this adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s tale of obsession and violence, nowsplendidly restored by Cinecittà. Rod Usher (Keitel) is no stranger to the dark and gruesome; he’s frequently called on by local police to documenthorrific crime scenes. But when his girlfriend Annabel, a violinist, brings […]
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Four Flies on Grey Velvet | MIFF 2023 | IIC Melbourne
Four Flies on Grey VelvetDir. Dario Argento Italy, FranceA quirky and lesser-known piece of the Italian giallo maestro’s tapestry, and a lesson in cinematic innovation. Roberto, a drummer in a rock band, is being watched by a mysterious man. He follows the shady figure into a theatre, where a struggle ensues; Roberto accidentally stabs the […]
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The Bird With the Crystal Plumage | MIFF 2023 | IIC Melbourne
The Bird With the Crystal PlumageDir. Dario Argento Italy, West GermanyIn Dario Argento’s assured and tense debut, an American expat in Rome is entangled in a serial killer’s web. Sam Dalmas is a struggling writer living abroad with his girlfriend Julia (Suzy Kendall, To Sir, With Love); he makes ends meet by writing manuals about […]
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The Cat o’ Nine Tails | MIFF 2023 | IIC Melbourne
The Cat o’ Nine TailsDir. Dario Argento Italy, France, West GermanyDo murderous thoughts lurk in our very DNA? Dario Argento interrogates nature vs nurture inhis suspenseful second film. When a mysterious break-in occurs at the Terzi Institute for genetic research, the only thing amiss is the glaring lack of stolen goods. But these apparently low […]
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Do You Like Hitchcock? | MIFF 2023 | IIC Melbourne
Do You Like Hitchcock?Dir. Dario Argento Italy, SpainIf you like Hitchcock, you’ll love Dario Argento’s exhilarating 2005 homage to the Master ofSuspense. Giulio is a Rome film student obsessed with the work of Alfred Hitchcock. He spends his time watching movies and spying on his attractive neighbour, Sasha, who he discovers frequents the same video […]
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