Dario Argento
La Terza Madre

I am fully aware that enough venom has already been spilled over Dario Argento's latest film, but I really cannot believe it. Argento's filmography is a true point of reference for all films that move within the same genre line. Through years of career, he managed to create cult films like "Suspiria," "Inferno," "Four Flies on Grey Velvet," and the renowned "Deep Red," winning the approval of critics as well as the admiration of some famous fans (First and foremost David Bowie). At this point, I find myself thinking that our multifaceted Dario has said, "Too much spoils. No more of these praises, these accolades. I want to make some unmarketable films leveraging my reputation." This is the only solution I've found for the failures like "The Card Player," "The Phantom of the Opera," and "Sleepless." And that's why I expected any abomination from him: from a colossal on the life of Giuliana De Sio to a noir with Carmen Russo and Loredana Lecciso. Then "The Mother of Tears" came along, which is not so far from my hypotheses.

The film is made in the family: directed, of course, by Dario Argento, produced by the same and Claudio Argento, his brother, and then the role of the protagonist was assigned to the daughter Asia (I can't understand how Argento can't see his daughter's lack of aptitude for cinema. Either he has cataracts, or I'm right when I say that "Filumena Marturano" is the most truthful play that exists - I figli so piezz 'e cor'"). It would be useless to tell you the plot since it is that of the most banal and predictable horror films in the world, but I'll do it anyway; otherwise my review would not exist.

During some work near a cemetery, a coffin with a kind of ashes urn is found, smaller. A chance witness to that fateful moment is a prelate (I couldn't identify his rank on the ecclesiastical hierarchy scale. Let's say a prelate …) knowledgeable in esotericism. All thanks to chance, look at that. Without any authorization, ‘this guy takes home the urn and sends it to the director of the Ancient Art Museum of Rome (who, for some reason, is of foreign origin. At least in movies, let's pretend that unemployment in Italy is not at high levels!) but a reckless assistant decides to open it before it arrives. It releases monstrous beings that begin to influence the minds of Roman citizens, making them commit criminal acts, and the function of all this is nothing but paving the way for "Mater Lacrymorum", the sister of the other two witches who occupy the stories of the other two films in the trilogy. Meanwhile, Sarah Mandy (the expressive Asia) manages to escape because while the director’s deputy was forcing the box, she went to get some dictionaries, an action that takes such an unnaturally long time that in the meantime you can also indulge in a game of "Risk" with a rematch. "But she is the protagonist, and if she dies right away, what's the fun?????????????" Ritual phrase.

The rest of the film sees Sarah discovering she has inherited paranormal powers from her mother, despite not inheriting from either parent those basic normal ones like the adequate intellectual ability to quickly realize that the museum director (with whom she has an affair) has also been contaminated by the rage (now, if for most of the film he has always been dressed as if he were about to attend a Red Cross ball and you find him towards the end with a beard, dark circles under the eyes, and a dog-like cough, who tells you "They killed my son" with the same desperation with which he would tell you "The supermarket ran out of scialatielli", it must mean something. But no! She even goes home with him!). To make her discover that she is the chosen one to fight the third mother is a psychic, who for the occasion is lesbian (but why??). She finds her at the home of another expert in esotericism (Forget all other faculties. We’ll see you at theology as the opportunities seem to be there) who is torn to pieces by the maid. The two escape to the psychic's house (even though first, the protagonist lets herself be taken home only to change her mind about the choice given the demonic presences she senses outside on the landing) because following the protagonist's footsteps is the police who believe her guilty of the murder of the assistant who died at the beginning of the film. At night, Sarah notices someone has entered the house. In my idiocy, I would have slipped into the psychic's bedroom, nudged her awake, and warned her. Instead, Asia is smarter. She gets dressed, leaves the house, and calls from a public phone booth (But the most convenient way suggested by me was too simple?). Too late. A devotee of the third mother has already taken out the psychic and her partner (only really disgusting scene of the film). At that point, Asia roams the streets of a possessed Rome (But no one touches her. Yet when she goes to see Father Joannes, the one killed by the maid, the inhabitants of the village where this guy is, also with their heads clouded by the curse released from the box, turn against her because her mother had dared to face the third mother first, of whom they are now subjects.

I'm tired even to focus on it) and after the already cited meeting with the museum director goes to the house of an alchemist who makes two things clear:

1) That she must handle the third mother alone

2) That she must go directly to the castle where she resides. Asia venit, videt, vicit. That's all.

Grating your nerves even more is the screaming of an annoying little monkey who, amidst all this carnage, remains alive until the end. Unmissable also the scene where Asia is chased on a train by an extra who should play a witch but would find a better context in "Melevisione" and the splendid finale that suggests a future love story between Asia and the police commissioner who chased her down to the dungeons where the battle (?) against the third mother takes place (I forgot: but did you know that the third mother is played by Moran Atias? That girl from the quiz? I mean, laughable...).

Also weighing on the work is the very bad acting of the actors, a soundtrack ideal for the "Pimpa" theme song, special effects realized between a coffee break and a nap, and the total lack of overall credibility.

Better I go back to watch "The Cat o' Nine Tails," yeah....