This documentary about the great master of European fantasy and horror cinema offers an immersive exploration of the life and work of the legendary director of ¨Suspiria¨, introducing us to the mind of the Italian genius, and offering us the testimonies of other filmmakers who love his work with key names in current cinema. Dario Argento wrote his most famous films inside hotels, completely isolating himself from external reality and immersing himself in his own nightmares. In the documentary Dario is working 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. After many years, advised by his agent, he decides to go back to a hotel to finish his new screenplay and to be interviewed, filmed and followed by a crew that is shooting a film about him. Meanwhile, they are intertwined with opinions from notorious directors, screenwriters, producers, actors and family members, such as: Michele Soavi, Lamberto Bava, Franco Ferrini, Luigi Cozzi, Vittorio Cecchi Gori, Guillermo del Toro, Gaspar Noé, Nicolas Winding Refn, Cristina Marsillach, Asia Argento, Fiore Argento, Floriana Argento and musician Claudio Simonetti who was the main composer and member of the musical band Goblin . Within this structure, a wellness center very far from the distressing places that characterize the cinema of Argento does not feel at ease and has difficulty both in finding the peace necessary to finish the screenplay, and in confiding the his secrets to the crew who are interviewing him. But the demon of cinema, who has never abandoned him, will once again push him to give himself totally.
In his beginnings Dario was a prestigious screenwriter in various genres as Spaghetti Western, wartime and thriller, such as: ¨One upon the time in the West¨, ¨Oggi a me... domani a te!¨, ¨Cemetery without crosses¨, ¨Battlee of Commandos¨, ¨Commando¨, ¨Every Man Is My Enemy¨. Dario then created the 'Animal Trilogy', whose film titles were influenced by a magician from Turin. His first important movie was ¨The Bird With the Crystal Plumage" that became an international hit, despite having continuous discussions with the main star, Tony Musante, who even claimed some authorship of the story. Argento followed up with two more thrillers, ¨The Cat o' Nine Tails¨ (1971), starring Karl Malden and James Franciscus, and ¨Four Flies on Grey Velvet¨(1971) starring Michael Brandon and Mimsy Farmer whose character and aspect bears remarkable resemblance to wife Nocolodi which made her quite angry. These films were backed by his father Salvatore Argento who was the major promoter and producer, who financed all his projects and sometimes limited the highly imaginative and expensive productions that came out of Dario's mind. He then went back to directing so-called "giallo" thrillers, starting with ¨Deep Red¨ (1975), a violent mystery-thriller starring David Hemmings that inspired a number of international directors in the thriller-horror genre. His next work was ¨Suspiria¨ (1977), his masterpiece, a surreal horror film about a witch's coven that was inspired by the Gothic fairy tales of the Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Anderson, which he also wrote in collaboration with his girlfriend, screenwriter/actress Daria Nicolodi, who acted in "Profondo Rosso" ("Deep Red") and most of Argento's films from then to the late 1980s. However, due to some vicissitudes, discussions and the little recognition of Nicolodi's authorship, it gave rise to the sad marital separation between her and Dario, which caused him deep sorrow. Argento advanced the unfinished trilogy with ¨Inferno¨ (1980), before returning to the "giallo" genre with ¨Tenebrae¨(1982), a sort of gory whodunit, and then with the haunting ¨Phenomena¨ (1985) with a very young actress: Jennifer Connellly.
Argento got a big hit in North America, as he temporarily settled in the US, where he collaborated with director George A. Romero on the two-part horror-thriller ¨Two Evil Eyes¨ (1990) (he had previously collaborated with Romero on the horror action thriller ¨Dawn of the Dead¨ (1978)). While still living in America, Argento appeared in small roles in several films and directed another violent mystery thriller, ¨Trauma¨ (1993), which starred his youngest daughter Asia Argento from his long-term relationship with Nicolodi. Argento returned to Italy in 1995, where he made a comeback in the horror genre with ¨The Stendhal Syndrome¨ (1996) and then with another version of "Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera",¨ The Phantom of the Opera¨ (1998), both of which starred Asia, in this last film she had her first on-screen love scene in front of her father, and where Asia said she lost her virginity. Most recently, Argento directed a number of "giallo" mystery thrillers such as: ¨Sleepless¨ (2001), ¨The Card Player¨ (2003) and ¨Do You Like Hitchcock?¨ (2005), as well as two gory, supernatural-themed episodes of the USA TV cable anthology series ¨Masters of Horror¨ (2005). Having always wanted to make a third chapter to his "Three Mothers" horror films, Argento finally completed the trilogy in 2007 with the release of ¨Mother of Tears¨ (2007), which starred Asia Argento as a young woman trying to identify and stop the last surviving evil witch from taking over the world. In addition to his Gothic and violent style of storytelling, "La terza madre" has many references to two of his previous films, "Suspiria" (1997) and "Inferno" (1980), which is a must for fans of the trilogy.
The documentary titled¨ Dario Argento: Panico¨(2023) was well directed by Simone Scafidi who, together with his production team, documents his life, including formative interviews and illustrating us extensively about Dario's career. Simone is a director and screenwriter specialized in the world of documentary. Among his works are: ¨Zanetti story¨ (2015) and ¨Fulci for Fake¨ (2019).
