Dario Argento Montage - WARNING: CONTAINS SOME GORE!

NOT A "DEATH SCENE" VIDEO! WARNING: FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO AVOID IT, THIS CLIP CONTAINS A FEW SCENES OF VIOLENCE AND GORE. YOU HAVE FOUR MINUTES TO STOP THIS VIDEO OR LEAVE THIS PAGE IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO SEE IT (OR SHOULD NOT BE VIEWING IT). ALSO, IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN ANY OF DARIO'S FILMS THIS MONTAGE CONTAINS SOME MAJOR SPOILERS. I was approached by Producer Robert Marcucci to create a presentation DVD representing famed Italian director Dario Argento's films as part of a budget proposal for Dario's new film (a planned sequel to SUSPIRIA and INFERNO). I worked alone over many dark nights, to create a montage from supplied DVDs and Soundtracks of Argento's films that would demonstrate Dario's incredible cinematic style for potential investors. Unfortunately, the project did not find a champion, and our effort to galvanize support for Dario's new movie died a slow death. In my opinion, Dario, at his best, in my particular favorites "Deep Red" and "Suspiria" (or in other genuine startlers such as "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage" or "Opera") creates a beautiful, wholly unique and dreamlike yet nightmarish world that is unparalleled in the realm of cinema. Often imitated, never duplicated. I can only hope my montage did him some degree of justice. At least the legendary Claudio Argento (who also produced one of my all time favorites "Santa Sangre") himself said he really liked it. The standard (or rather, MTV-addled) editorial approach for this challenge would have been to lay a bunch of quick cuts over a techno-horror sound byte for approximately two minutes. But for me, a far more effective way to demonstrate for the uninitiated (or remind those who may have forgotten) what makes Dario's films unique was to allow his hypnotic trance to take hold, as he does through the cinematography, art direction and choreography in his films, before allowing the nightmare to invade and shed blood. And to just focus on the gore in Dario's films, I think, would do his particular style of film making a disservice. Argentophiles may note the curious absence of some of Dario's most famous scenes and images, this is because the presentation DVD also included uncut scenes from several of his films and I did not want anything to be repeated in my montage (I wanted my "love letter" to have maximum impact on the investors). Deluxe Argentophiles will notice that in a number of long video extracts (such as the "Opera" shootout and the handkerchief discovery bit from "Tenebre") I have retained the original editing of that sequence. And also that I have reversed the video for the steam sequence at the very end from "Deep Red," while running the audio of the "Suspiria" bells in reverse. Here's hoping Dario's new addition to The Three Mothers trilogy is green-lighted soon! ***** UPDATE" Thanks to the wonder of youtube I can see for myself that this film did finally find funding and is now due for release - I had no idea until I saw it here. Great news! ******* (all video and sound used for this montage came from the finest elements available and were supplied by producer Robert Marcucci and used with the permission of director Dario Argento - all films are shown in their original aspect ratios - AVOID "full frame" and cut versions of any of these films at all costs)