Butcher Block is a weekly series celebrating horror’s most extreme films and the minds behind them. Dedicated to graphic gore and splatter, each week will explore the dark, the disturbed, and the depraved in horror, and the blood and guts involved. For the films that use special effects of gore as an art form, and the fans that revel in the carnage, this series is for you.
By the time Dario Argento made and released Tenebrae in 1982, he’d already perfected the art of giallo. Between his Animal Trilogy and Deep Red in the ‘70s, he’d already established himself a master of gialli before switching gears and dipping into the supernatural with Suspiria and Inferno. Tenebrae marked his return to giallo, and while it faced censorship in his own native country, it came along at just the precise moment of time to draw the ire of the Director of Public Prosecutions in the UK. Successfully prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act, along with 38 other horror films, Tenebrae was banned until 1999- where it finally released with a few seconds trimmed. It wasn’t until 2003 that it finally passed uncut. Stateside, Argento’s film wasn’t released until 1984, heavily cut under the title Unsane. By today’s standards, it’s fairly tame, but that doesn’t mean it’s difficult to see why it ruffled the feathers of censors- it gets extremely bloody.
The plot sees American horror novelist Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) in Rome promoting his latest release, with his literary agent Bullmer (A Nightmare on Elm Street’s John Saxon) and assistant Anne (Daria Nicolodi) in tow. His arrival coincides with the start of a series of grisly murders, and the bodies bear pages of his novel Tenebrae. The police seek Neal out for questioning, then assistance, as a result.
Most of the victims are women, at least in the first half. Throat slashings, stabbings, and even a tense, drawn out dog attack sequence. Many of the victims are affiliated with Neal in some way. And then there are the weird flashback sequences, in which a woman is getting frisky with multiple unseen men until one of them slaps her. The rest chase that assailant down so the woman can get revenge by way of kicking him then shoving the heel of her red stiletto in his mouth. It’s every bit as violent and sexual as it implies. But halfway through, Argento gives equal opportunity for vicious slayings to the men as well. Axe swings to the head and back, strangulations, and surprise impalements means that the men get it just a brutally and the women. Another rarity is that the majority of the deaths take place in broad daylight. The killer has no qualms about stabbing his victims even in a fairly populated street square, under the bright sun.
The diversity in kills isn’t just gender specific; a pair of lesbian lovers fall victim to the murderer, and Argento wanted to depict their relationship openly, without judgment. Considering Italy was conservative toward homosexuality at the time, Argento felt this was the main reason Tenebrae was censored in its native release, not the gore. Sexual deviancy is the central theme here, both in how many of the victims are sexually liberated and how the killer is sexually repressed. The passages of Neal’s book, Tenebrae, gives massive insight to the themes and motivation, but it also adds a layer of culpability in terms of how we consume and digest art. All of which to say that there’s a lot going on in this particular Video Nasty, making it far more than the gorefest the censors labeled it.
If you haven’t seen Tenebrae, I won’t spoil the identity of the killer, but I will say it’s one of the most satisfying. And one of the earliest adaptors of this particular type of killer. Which leads to the scene that was mostly widely trimmed in its various censored releases – the blood spraying death of Neal’s ex-wife Jane (Veronica Lario). Seated by a window in wait, an axe crashes through it and chops through her arm. Blood sprays everywhere, painting those white walls crimson. The killer isn’t done with her, or anyone else that stops by her house after.
Like most horror films, it wasn’t widely regarded by critics upon release but has since found reappraisal in the decades since. Uncut releases no doubt helped that reappraisal. From a visual standpoint, it’s Argento at the top of his game. But more than just a well shot, stunning giallo, it’s clear Argento had a lot on his mind with Tenebrae.
