Dario Argento's films are considered some of the most influential horror features of all time. The Italian director rose to prominence in the 1970s, producing one acclaimed movie after another. While most of Argento's films during this time are in the Giallo style, which combines horror and mystery to tell neo-noir stories, Argento put his own unique spin on the subgenre.
Melodramatic and painterly, Argento's films are as visually dazzling as they are spooky. They are also noted for their progressive and moody soundtracks. Argento often relies on supernatural plots involving witches, ghosts, and characters with psychic abilities. He also incorporates elements from slashers into his artistic features, including crazed killers, mass murder, and tons of bloodshed.
Sleepless (2001) - 6.2
Argento returns to his Giallo roots with his murder mystery starring Max von Sydow. The actor plays Ulisse Moretti, a retired police detective in Turin who is drawn back into the business after a serial killer thought to be dead begins murdering again.
As Moretti pursues the new cases, he realizes the killer is framing the murders around an old nursery rhyme. While Sleepless doesn't approach the grotesque magnificence of Argento's early films, it contains enough well-executed scenes to warrant a watch.
Inferno (1980) - 6.6
Inferno is the second feature in Argento's Three Mothers trilogy, which are all focused around a coven of ancient witches. In this stylish entry, a young Italian poet living in New York City believes she lives in a building occupied by one of these ancient witches, The Mother of Darkness.
The woman, Rose, writers to her brother Mark in Rome, urging him to visit her and help her uncover the mystery. Argento worked with fellow Italian filmmaker Mario Bava to design Inferno's stunning, moody sets.
Four Flies On Grey Velvet (1971) - 6.7
This layered, intricate narrative about a rock musician caught up in a bloody cat-and-mouse game is full of intrigue, paranoia, and dread. Michael Brandon stars as Roberto Tobias, a drummer who stabs a man stalking him in self-defense at the beginning of the movie.
The next day, Tobias receives photos of the stabbing from a masked blackmailer. Instead of money, the conman wants something much more nefarious from Tobias and his large group of beatnik friends.
The Cat O' Nine Tails (1971) - 6.7
Alfred Hitchcock's influence on Argento is clear in this crime thriller about a reporter and a blind man who forces to solve a series of murders related to a pharmaceutical company. Instead of referring to the flail historically used in corporal punishment, the title refers to the number of leads the two men compile as they try to solve the crimes.
As The Cat O' Nine Tails progresses, bodies pile up and the two protagonists discover a secret experiment being conducted by the medical institute at the center of the action. Their meddling also puts them on the radar of the actual killer.
Phenomena (1985) - 6.8
Jennifer Connelley stars in this whimsical supernatural tale co-starring Donald Pleasance and a chimpanzee named Tanga. Connelley plays a teenager sent to a Swiss boarding school who discovers she has a special ability to communicate with insects.
This extrasensory gift comes in handy when the girl also discovers there's a serial killer slashing up young women in the small town where the school resides. Despite its absurd premise and middling script, Phenomena is an aesthetically pleasing feature known for its dazzling action sequences and heavy metal soundtrack.
Opera (1987) - 7.0
Argento turns high art into a blood bath in Opera, which raises the stakes for choreographed torture scenes in horror movies. Set in the Parma Opera House in Italy, the film follows an unseen assailant butchering cast of an avant-garde production of Verdi's take on Macbeth.
It turns out the murderer is obsessed with the soprano singer cast as Lady MacBeth, a young woman named Betty. Her stalker forces Betty to watch each slaying by taping needles around her eyes, making for one of Argento's most brutal and unrelenting films.
Tenebrae (1982) - 7.1
One of Argento's classic whodunnits, nothing is what it seems in Tenebrae. In the film, a crime novelist named Peter Neal travels to Rome to promote his new book, where a series of murders unfolds around him that bear a striking resemblance to scenes from his novels.
There is nothing supernatural about Tenebrae, which delves into the senseless nature of killing by giving audiences an onslaught of blood and violence. When the identity of the killer is revealed, the film's goal to highlight the fetishization of violence becomes even more apparent.
The Bird With The Crystal Plumage (1970) - 7.2
Argento once again blurs the distinction between artistic expression and murder in The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. The film begins as a writer witnesses the brutal killing of a woman in an art gallery, one he is unable to stop after he is caught between two sliding glass doors.
The writer reports the slaying to the police, eventually starting his own investigation in hopes of tracking down the black-coated figure responsible for the slaying. This film is looped in with The Cat O' Nine Tails and Four Flies On Grey Velvet as part of Argento's Animal Trilogy – which all focus around voyeuristic, makeshift detectives solving crimes.
Suspiria (1977) - 7.4
Considered Argento's most influential horror film, Suspiria is a witchy, impressionistic melodrama about a young dancer accepted into a prestigious academy that is a front for a large coven of powerful witches. Jessica Harper stars as the performer, Suzy Bannion, who knows from the get-go that something is not wrong at the Tanz Academy.
Like most Argento films, what Suspiria lacks in character development and plot it makes up for in optics. Every scene in the film evokes the abstract, from the blood that flows to the academy's sprawling corridors.
Deep Red (1975) - 7.5
Deep Red isn't just about blood; it's a horror film about family trauma and exploring pain through creative expression. David Hemmings stars as a renowned jazz musician who observes the murder of a female psychic.
In Argento fashion, Hemmings's character Marcus Daly takes it upon himself to uncover the identity of the killer. What makes Deep Red stand out from the rest of Argento's works is that while it contains plenty of gore and stylized imagery, the film evolves into a fleshed-out and dynamic narrative carried by Hemmings's performance.
