La Sindrome di Stendhal (The Stendhal Syndrome)

I first saw La Sindrome di Stendhal at the Stockholm Film Festival in 1996. Dario Argento was in attendance and I remember feeling underwhelmed by it at the time. I had seen Trauma at the same festival a couple of years earlier and while I wasn't particullary impressed by Argento's 1994 film, this was even further away from classic Argento territory. This was of course long before the likes of The Third Mother and Giallo, so while I've grown to appreciate it since that first viewing, it's still fairly low on my list of my favourite Argento films.

It took my surprisingly long to find this locandina. You'd think the poster for a relatively recent film like this would be easy to find, but it seems quite rare and I've only seen it for sale a couple of times. I was lucky enough to get my hands on this Immagine & Strategia designed poster in september.

Opera (Terror at the Opera)

I love Renato Casaro's beautiful poster art for Dario Argento's Opera. I've been fascinated by the striking image of the the pins underneath the eyes ever since I saw it in an issue of Fangoria back in the 80's. Many consider the film Argento's last truly great giallo and unfortunately it was the last time time he'd opt for painted artwork for the poster.

On an Argento related side note I picked up Njuta Films Profondo Rosso DVD recently and found time to listen to Thomas Rostock's interesting and informative track commentary track last weekend. The commentary track alone makes the DVD worth package up, but add the fact that you get the international cut and restored opening and end titles and you got a must buy package.

NonHoSonno (Sleepless)

The poster art for NonHoSonno might be uninspired and poor, but the film was a return to form for Argento following the disappointing Phantom of the Opera. I know opinions on the film are somewhat divided, but I like it. Hopefully the upcoming Giallo starring Adrian Broady will be more along the lines of this, rather than the very, very disappointing Third Mother.

Phenomena

I watched Phenomena twice last month. I managed to catch it on the big screen (I was really excited about this, but slightly let down when it turned out it was a DVD, rather than film that was projected) and also picked the R2 Medusa DVD up. This edition contains the Integral version of the film (with English subs). Never watched the film in Italian before and it was a slightly strange experience to see the film without hearing Jennifer Connelly's and Donald Pleasance's voices. Unfortunately the misplaced heavy metal was still there though.
Great poster art by E. Sciotti

Trauma

Trauma is one of the few Argento films I've had the pleasure of seeing on the the big screen. I remember being bitterly dissapointed when I first saw it at the Stockholm film festival back in the early 90's. I recently revisited it through the R2 Optimum disc and while it's still not one of Argento's better films, it wasn't quite as bad as I remembered it. No info on who is behind the very poor looking locandina.

Profondo Rosso (Deep Red)

The first two gialli I ever ordered were Tenebre and Profondo Rosso. I didn't know anything at all about the giallo genre, but I'd just seen Suspiria and was keen to get my hands on more Argento. Starting out with two classics, I was instantly hooked and they both remain two of my favourite gialli.

Love the Profondo Rosso locandina and I've finally managed to get my hands on one that's in better condition that the one that was posted here previously.

Il Cartaio (The Card Player)

The least expensive poster in my collection by far. Won this Il Cartaio locandina on eBay for €2. I'm not to keen on the film, but at least the poster looks better than the plain looking Non ho Sonno one.

Tenebre

Let's start the week off with the best giallo of the 80's, Tenebre. One of my most watched gialli, but it doesn't matter how many times I watch it, I never tire of it. Really looking forward to the upcoming Anchor Bay special edition (which hopefully will be the definitive DVD version of the film). The poster has one of the most iconic images of Argento's posters. Unfortunately I haven't been able to identify the artist.

4 mosche di velluto grigio, the third entry in the Animal trilogy, is by far the least seen entry in Argento's gialli canon. It finally received a DVD release by German company RetroFilm late last year. Although the release is certainly a step up from the poor VHS dupes fans have become accustomed to over the years, this film is still waiting for the edition it deserves. Poster by Ercole Brini.

Il Gatto a nove code (The Cat o' Nine Tails)

Time for another Argento locandina. This one from 1971's Il Gatto a nove code. Poster art by P. Franco

L'Uccello dalle piume di cristallo (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage)

It's never going to be a proper giallo blog without some Argento posters. I'll start off by posting the locandina from his 1970 debut L'Uccello dalle piume di cristallo. A very striking and brutal image by P. Franco and one of my personal favorites.