Dario Argento has earned the title of "Master of Italian Horror," having produced in the past absolute masterpieces such as L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo, Il gatto a nove code, Profondo rosso, Suspiria, Inferno, and in my opinion, also Tenebre, not to mention good films like Quattro mosche di velluto grigio, Phenomena, and Opera. Then total darkness with titles I don't even want to mention, so abominable they are. It almost seems that the Roman director has suddenly forgotten how to make cinema.
Watching an Argento film was a true experience of sublimating Italian horror art: each of his works up to Opera (1987) carried with it a remarkable load of ideas. From the music to the chases, from lingering over murders to managing with absolute mastery to unsettle the viewer without using gallons of blood. I particularly remember the scene in Suspiria where a woman, already torn by barbed wire, is slaughtered by the killer. An emblematic sequence of how Argento's "early" cinema could create disturbing scenes with few images.
Now, after watching Il cartaio, one cannot fathom how Dario Argento has managed to regress in such a frightening manner. A period of decline is predictable in a long career, and he had somewhat recovered with Non ho sonno. Il cartaio, however, is a work that cannot be salvaged at all, but rather completely startles the viewer, and certainly not because of the gore scenes. A film based on an extremely thin plot: a serial killer tortures his victims and plays poker with the police to free them. If the police win, the killer lets them go; if not, he kills them. You can understand that from such a story, it was difficult, if not impossible, to extract anything original, and consequently, Dario Argento thought (wrongly) to develop the entire film in the continuous pursuit of effect, the thriller element. One sequence in particular is the autopsy, where the filmmaker lingers on the killed body of a girl. Another problem is that while in the past the gore scenes were still well-crafted and genuinely anxiety-inducing, in Il cartaio they are all disjointed and aimless. They are placed there almost as if to fill all those parts that stutter forward, also due to a terrible script.
It is not clear why there is this insane regression by Dario Argento, who seems to have completely lost his compass on how to make horror films. After producing several masterpieces, his cinematographic flair has completely withered. He has started to make completely questionable choices, such as having the same actors re-dub the film in question. This is because, according to Argento, the work is better appreciated in foreign countries. I would very much like to see how many countries have well-received such a film...
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