Tag Archives: Dario Argento

2025 Kryptic World Tour Coming to an End

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This weekend, we are heading to our last real convention, Monster Bash, which is taking place in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. They have a great guest lineup, including Gary Clarke from How to Make a Monster, Kathryn Leigh Scott and Sharon Smyth from the original Dark Shadows series, Barbara Wilson from Blood of Dracula, Invasion of the Animal People aka Terror in the Midnight Sun, and The Flesh Eaters, John Russo from the original Night of the Living Dead, and more. You can get all the info by clicking HERE.

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Giallo Gelato at the Logan Theatre

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Next month, the Logan Theatre in Chicago will be hosting a 50th Anniversary Giallo Celebration, hosted by Stephanie Sack. Taking place from July 18th to the 21st, each night will feature a film that came out in 1975. As listed on the site, “These sensational films — equal parts murder mystery, fashion fantasy, and fever dream — were Italy’s post-war answer to Hitchcock and the drive-in grindhouse, where sleaze meets style, art meets arterial spray, and every killer indeed comes dressed to kill. To celebrate the 50th anniversaries of four notorious 1975 cult classics, Sack presents GIALLO GELATO: a four-night spree of sleaze, suspense, and stylish psychosis at The Logan Theatre’s Late Nights.”

Here are the films that will be screening, each of the four nights, at 11pm:

Friday July 18th – Autopsy
Saturday July 19th – Dario Argento’s Deep Red
Sunday July 20th – Strip Nude for Your Killer
Monday July 21st – Footprints on the Moon

For more information about the theater and this event, just click HERE.

Euro Horror from We Belong Dead

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The fine folks from We Belong Dead magazine have their latest massive book coming out, this time covering Euro Horror! In the ad on the page for the book, it has NASCHY! FRANCO! ARGENTO! BAVA! ROLLIN! Now if that isn’t a good way to make me order the damn thing, I don’t know what would! I have several of these massive books that We Belong Dead have been putting out over the last few years and they are all a work of art. Brimming with exceptional essays on the movies we all love, it is just so much fun to wander through them and read someone else’s thoughts on a variety of films. This one looks to be no different.

Edited by Eric McNaughton & Darrell Buxton, with foreword by Lone Fleming, with “350 pages in glorious full color, large format”, and illustrated with hundreds of stills, lobby cards, and poster art. For the softcover edition, the price is £35 ($44.45), and for the hardcover edition, the price is £45 ($57.15), which is limited. And of course, the postage to ship from the UK isn’t cheap either, with £15 ($19.05) and £20 ($25.40) for the hardcover. So, you’re looking at about $70 for a hardcover edition with shipping. Yes, a bit pricy. But, as I mentioned above, going by their previous books, I do think it is a great investment. And since a lot of them go out-of-print, the value will go up.

And if you need a little more pushing, my Discover the Horror co-host, Aaron AuBuchon has 4 different essays within the covers, from The Devil’s Nightmare, to Fulci’s The Beyond, to Argento’s Inferno. In fact, if memory serves, I even have an essay in there!

If you are interested, they are taking pre-orders now. Just click HERE to get to the page to place your order. I think you’ll thank me.

Discover the Horror Episode 38: Italian Horror with Troy Howarth

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There are plenty of ways to help you on your way to discovering more about the films you love, as well as ones you might not know too much about. There’s always books on different filmmakers, or sort of the audio form of that, the audio commentaries that are usually found on most of our favorite films. The more insight you have, the more you will know, and maybe even enjoy it more. One of those that is helping fans learn just that is Troy Howarth. He’s written over a dozen books on a variety of subjects, usually in the Italian film genre, covering directors like Argento, Bava, Fulci, and more recently, Umberto Lenzi. He’s also published a 3-volume set on the giallo film. Plus, he has done a ton of different commentaries, giving fans even more info!

Films mentioned in this episode:

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’70s Argento at the Gene Siskel Film Center

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If you’re a fan of Dario Argento, especially his early work, and live somewhat close to Chicago, you might want to check this out. Starting on Feb. 3rd, they will be screening Argento’s first 6 feature films over the course of 7 days. Below is the list of titles, dates, and times. If you haven’t had the chance to see these on a big screen, then now is your chance to knock out his early titles, which many would argue are his best, including the rare comedy he made, The Five Days, aka Five Days in Milan. For more details, you can go directly to the Gene Siskel site by clicking HERE.

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John Steiner – Rest in Peace

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John Steiner is another name that most might not know, but if you’re a fan of Italian cinema, then you will know his work. With a man close to 100 credits to his name in less than 25 years is pretty impressive. But also add the fact that he worked with many talented people and directors, including 4 iconic names in the Italian film industry. He worked with Lucio Fulci several times, in the early ’70s, such as in both of the White Fang films, Mario Bava in his last film, Shock (1977), Dario Argento’s Tenebrae (1982), and Ruggero Deodato’s Cut and Run (1984). Hell, he was even the main bad guy in Yor: Hunter from the Future (1983)!!! Needless to say, he is in a lot of our favorite films.

Unfortunately, it was reported that Steiner died in a car accident on Sunday, July 31st. As the years go by, the longer you have been a fan of cinema, we see more and more leave this part of their journey. But because we are fans, we know that because of their film legacy, they will live on and on, each time we bust out one of their titles. So now is the time to do just that. Break out Tenebrae or even Yor, sit back and enjoy Steiner’s work with a smile and remember.

Our thoughts go out to his friends and family during this difficult time.

Nightmare Industry – Italian Horror Documentary

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From the producers of the In Search of Darkness documentaries comes a new one that looks to be just amazing! Nightmare Industry is a new documentary coming out soon that is going to cover the Italian horror film industry. With Phillip Escott and Eugenio Ercolani as the co-directors and producers, I have a great feeling that this is going to be essential viewing. According to Escott, they want to “tell the ultimate story about Italian horror cinema.” He also states that their goal for this project is for fans to learn something, which has my support right there! Escott said “I want them to be entertained. I want them to have fun, because that’s what Italian horror cinema is all about. But I also want them to walk away enlightened. I want them to learn. A lot about what went into making these incredible movies.”

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January Giallo

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For the last several months, I’ve been honored to be part of the podcast Kicking the Seat, hosted by Ian Simmons, which he has been going through a bunch giallo films and discussing them with myself, as well as Dr. AC aka Aaron Christensen, and Bryan Martinez from The Giallo Room. The episodes are called Accademia Giallo and we’ve covered a wide range of titles from some familiar ones and some more obscure titles, so if you’re a fan, or want to learn more about this sub-genre, check these out.

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Suspiria at the Music Box!!!

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This is a little short notice, but it was recently announced that Dario Argento’s immortal Suspiria (1977) will be screening at Chicago’s Music Box Theatre this weekend and next week. If you haven’t seen this film in the theater, then you haven’t really seen it. Seriously. This will be screened from a DCP format, which I’m guessing is the print from the Synapse recent Blu-Ray, so it is simply amazing.

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Holiday Ideas for Horror Book Lovers

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If you’re looking for a gift for someone that is an avid book lover that also loves the horror genre, there are so many titles out there to choose from. And they just seem to keep coming out too! In fact, it’s really hard for me NOT to buy them for myself! Yes, having a library of horror reference books is not as cheap as it once was, but I’m not complaining. To be fair, I do not have copies of any of these yet. Key word… YET! But I know at some point, I’m going to have to kick my son out of the house so my library can take over his room!

If you know a big fan of Dario Argento, then I would highly recommend the latest book by Troy Howarth, Murder by Design: The Unsane Cinema of Dario Argento. If you’re not familiar with Howarth’s work, this would be a great place to start. I haven’t gotten my copy yet, but I have never been disappointed by his work, always making them not only very informative, but entertaining as well. This covers not only his work as director, but writer and producer as well. You’ll read about everything from his early work in westerns to his move into the director’s chair, giving us plenty of memorable films, from The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) to Suspiria (1977) to Sleepless (2001). You read new interviews with Argento himself, along with daughter Fiore Argento, actress Sally Kirkland, Irene Miracle, composer Claudio Simonetti, cinematographer Luciano Tovoli. Continue reading →