After a break from the genre which launched his career, Dario Argento returned to the gialli with Tenebre, one of his most coherent and, in my opinion, remarkable films.

Tenebre tells the story of novelist Peter Neal, who travels to Rome to promote his new novel, aptly titled,"Tenebrae" . While there, a series of gruesome killings occur that mirror each of those in Neal's novel. The killer makes contact with Neal and thus a game of cat and mouse begins, in which the author and his agent and publicist (Saxon, Nicolodi) take on the investigation themselves. As the body count grows so do the list of suspects, and, like in all good gialli, you don't know who the killer is until the last reel unspools.

Tenebre is, for one reason or another, unfairly maligned by many Argento fans, who most likely felt the sudden jump back into the familiar giallo territory after the classic Suspiria and the middling Inferno was a sign of artistic retreat, and perhaps it was. While Suspiria earned Argento his largest international audience, Inferno was a dissapointment both critically and commercially, so a return to the giallo was a logical choice, and Tenebre was the perfect vehicle. While there are some obvious plot-holes and a conflict in the film's supposed "message" and Argento's actions, it is one of my favorites in both style AND substance.

The Anchor Bay DVD features a commentary by director Dario Argento, Composer Claudio Simonetti and Jounalist Loris Curci, two behind-the-scenes segments, trailers, and an alternate end music segment. Picture quality is solid, but the film was never very pretty, so this is the best it's going to look. As for the audio, don't worry, the Goblin soundtrack shook the walls of my house, and it's a nice, distortion free effort.

While many Argento fans will claim this as their least favorite of his giallos I think it deserves a look from those who are just discovering the director and his work. Personally, I would rank this just under Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) on my list of Argento's finest giallos.