Dario Argento

Directing

Dario Argento

Born 1940-09-07 · Rome, Lazio, Italy

Dario Argento was born on September 7, 1940, in Rome, Italy, the first-born son of famed Italian producer Salvatore Argento and Brazilian fashion model Elda Luxardo. Argento recalls getting his ideas for filmmaking from his close-knit family from Italian folk tales told by his parents and other family members, including an aunt who told him frighting bedtime stories. Argento based most of his thriller movies on childhood trauma, yet his own--according to him--was a normal one. Along with tales spun by his aunt, Argento was impressed by stories from The Grimm Brothers, Hans Christian Andersen and Edgar Allan Poe. Argento started his career writing for various film journal magazines while still in his teens attending a Catholic high school. After graduation, instead of going to college, Argento took a job as a columnist for the Rome daily newspaper "Paese Sera". Inspired by the movies, he later found work as a screenwriter and wrote several screenplays for a number of films, but the most important were his western collaborations, which included Cimitero senza croci (1969) and the Sergio Leone masterpiece C'era una volta il West (1968). He is known in italy as Master of Horror.

Acting credits

Suspiria poster
7.5

An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.

Suspiria

1977

Innocent Blood poster
6.2

Marie is a vampire with a thirst for bad guys. When she fails to properly dispose of one of her victims, a violent mob boss, she bites off more than she can chew and faces a new, immortal danger.

Innocent Blood

1992

Ennio poster
8.3

A portrait of Ennio Morricone, the most popular and prolific film composer of the 20th century, the one most loved by the international public, a two-time Oscar winner and the author of over five hundred unforgettable scores.

Ennio

2022

Opera poster
6.7

A young opera singer is stalked by a deranged fan bent on killing the people associated with her to claim her for himself.

Opera

1987

Tenebre poster
6.8

A razor-wielding serial killer is on the loose, murdering those around Peter Neal, an American mystery author in Italy to promote his newest novel.

Tenebre

1982

Deep Red poster
7.7

An English pianist living in Rome witnesses the brutal murder of his psychic neighbor. With the help of a tenacious young reporter, he tries to discover the killer using very unconventional methods. The two are soon drawn into a shocking web of dementia and violence.

Deep Red

1975

Inferno poster
6.6

A young man returns from Rome to his sister's satanic New York apartment house.

Inferno

1980

Vortex poster
7.1

Lui, a struggling author with a heart condition, and his wife Elle, a retired psychiatrist, find their idyllic life shattered when Elle begins to succumb to the effects of dementia.

Vortex

2021

We Are Cinema poster
9.5

An Italian documentary about Italian cinema.

We Are Cinema

2021

Dark Glamour: The Blood and Guts of Hammer Productions poster
6.0

The greatness, fall and renaissance of Hammer, the flagship company of British popular cinema, mainly from 1955 to 1968. Tortured women and sadistic monsters populated oppressive scenarios in provocative productions that shocked censorship and disgusted critics but fascinated the public. Movies in which horror was shown in offensive colors: dreadful stories, told without prejudices, that offered fear, blood, sex and stunning performances.

Dark Glamour: The Blood and Guts of Hammer Productions

2017

Sergio Leone: The Italian Who Invented America poster
7.4

To mark the recent thirtieth anniversary of Sergio Leone’s death, this documentary sets out to pay tribute to one of the great legends of world cinema. The singular artistic vision of Sergio Leone has transcended national borders, creating the Spaghetti Western genre and transforming the international cinematic panorama forever with his innovative stylistic and narrative solutions, which have now become part of the language of the movies. The film, which is enriched with precious archive footage from the Cineteca di Bologna, including rare audio recordings and film clips shot behind the scenes, sees for the first time the direct participation of the Leone family and has interviews both with Leone’s longtime collaborators and with icons of Hollywood who have been profoundly influenced by his work.

Sergio Leone: The Italian Who Invented America

2022

No artwork available
8.0

Homo Cinematographicus is a human species whose unit of measurement and point of reference is the cinema and its derivative, television. Filmed at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, the film offers an unspecified number of statements, talking about memories and a thousand fragments of stories, titles and film scenes, the warp of a gigantic collective Chanson de geste.

Homo Cinematographicus

1998

Close Up poster
9.5

More than 150 silent short films about singers, actors and directors captured during Press Conferences in Cannes, Venice and Berlin, between 1993 and 2002. Presented the first time in 2012 (ten years after the last shooting) in Napoli Film Festival and in 2013 at the Art Institute of California in Santa Ana. An anthropological experiment on the facial expressions of famous people showing the human being aspect. All original footage from Mel Gibson to Peter Jackson, from George Lucas to Catherine Deneuve, from Michael Douglas to Giancarlo Giannini and many others.

Close Up

2012

Friedkin Uncut poster
7.1

An introspective insight into the life and artistic journey of William Friedkin, an extraordinary and offbeat director of cult films such as The French Connection, The Exorcist, Sorcerer, Cruising, To Live and Die in L.A. and Killer Joe. For the first time Friedkin opens up, guiding the audience on a fascinating journey through the themes and the stories that have influenced his life and his artistic career.

Friedkin Uncut

2018

Dario Argento: Panico poster
6.8

This documentary about the great master of European horror and fantastic films offers an immersive exploration into the life and legacy of the director of Suspiria. Using the writing process of his next film as a starting point, Dario Argento Panico immerses us in the mind of the Italian genius, and offers testimonials from other filmmakers who love his work, all key names in today's world of cinema including Gaspar Noé and Guillermo Del Toro.

Dario Argento: Panico

2024

Sergio Leone: cinema, cinema poster
6.4

The life and work of one of the great masters of Italian cinema, Sergio Leone (1929-89); a rich and fascinating portrait through unpublished testimonies of collaborators, actors, directors and critics who reconstruct every aspect of his creative activity.

Sergio Leone: cinema, cinema

2001

Deep Argento poster
3.0

Dario Argento is one of the most acclaimed Italian directors in the world, revered as if he were a rock star. At the same time, however, he is a person who has always protected his private life. This documentary breaks that taboo and delves into the most intimate aspects of his life and career, uncovering personal documents and photographs that, until now, had been jealously guarded.

Deep Argento

2023

Bits & Pieces poster
5.0

Dive into the Eternal City – see Rome like you’ve never seen it before. Storefront robberies, bizarre murders, career dreamers, and cameos from Italy's foremost directors and actors feature in this star-studded omnibus tale about life and love.

Bits & Pieces

1996

Stephen King's World of Horror poster
8.0

This horror documentary is not the same as the 1986 TV special Stephen King's World of Horror nor the 1988 VHS release of the same name, which runs 45 minutes, was distributed by Front Row Entertainment and is about King himself. Instead, This Is Horror (copyright 1989) was a TV special which ran in four 60 minute increments. This new special used some framing footage from the original 'World of Horror' but is primarily newer interviews and behind-the-scenes footage about what was hot in horror in the late 80s. Here in the U.S., a condensed 90-minute version made its way onto video courtesy of Goodtimes in 1990. Elsewhere, the entire special was released as 2 different tapes running 90 minutes apiece. In the UK these were titled This is Horror: A Video Encyclopedia of Horror (Volumes 1 and 2) and in Germany they were called Best of Stephen King's World of Horror (Parts 1 & 2).

Stephen King's World of Horror

1989

Nessuno siamo perfetti poster
7.0

A loving portrait of reclusive comic-book writer Tiziano Sclavi, creator of Dylan Dog

Nessuno siamo perfetti

2015

Masters of Horror poster
7.8

Documentary showcasing the work of prominent film directors in the horror genre. Featuring interviews with the directors, behind the scenes footage and clips from popular horror films, and hosted by Bruce Campbell, star of The Evil Dead (1981).

Masters of Horror

2002

Italian Kings Of B poster
6.0

Documentary on Italian genre cinema.

Italian Kings Of B

2003

Fear in the Dark poster
9.0

A short documentary on the history of the horror film narrated by Christopher Lee.

Fear in the Dark

1991

Ban the Sadist Videos! poster
6.8

An in-depth analysis of the "Video Nasty" scandal of the early 1980s in Britain.

Ban the Sadist Videos!

2005

Behind the camera

Suspiria poster
7.5

An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.

Suspiria

1977

Suspiria poster
7.5

An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.

Suspiria

1977

Phenomena poster
6.8

A young girl, with an amazing ability to communicate with insects, is transferred to an exclusive Swiss boarding school, where her unusual capability might help solve a string of murders.

Phenomena

1985

Phenomena poster
6.8

A young girl, with an amazing ability to communicate with insects, is transferred to an exclusive Swiss boarding school, where her unusual capability might help solve a string of murders.

Phenomena

1985

Phenomena poster
6.8

A young girl, with an amazing ability to communicate with insects, is transferred to an exclusive Swiss boarding school, where her unusual capability might help solve a string of murders.

Phenomena

1985

Dark Glasses poster
4.7

Diana, a high-class prostitute trying to escape from a serial killer, suffers a car accident that leaves her blind and kills the family of Chin, a ten-year-old boy.

Dark Glasses

2022

Dark Glasses poster
4.7

Diana, a high-class prostitute trying to escape from a serial killer, suffers a car accident that leaves her blind and kills the family of Chin, a ten-year-old boy.

Dark Glasses

2022

Opera poster
6.7

A young opera singer is stalked by a deranged fan bent on killing the people associated with her to claim her for himself.

Opera

1987

Opera poster
6.7

A young opera singer is stalked by a deranged fan bent on killing the people associated with her to claim her for himself.

Opera

1987

Opera poster
6.7

A young opera singer is stalked by a deranged fan bent on killing the people associated with her to claim her for himself.

Opera

1987

Jenifer poster
6.0

After a detective rescues a mute disfigured woman from being murdered, he takes her into his home to prevent her from staying in a mental hospital, a move which alienates his family and soon turns to obsession.

Jenifer

2005

Demons poster
6.6

A group of people are trapped in a West Berlin movie theater infested with ravenous demons who proceed to kill and possess the humans one-by-one, thereby multiplying their numbers.

Demons

1985

Demons poster
6.6

A group of people are trapped in a West Berlin movie theater infested with ravenous demons who proceed to kill and possess the humans one-by-one, thereby multiplying their numbers.

Demons

1985

Tenebre poster
6.8

A razor-wielding serial killer is on the loose, murdering those around Peter Neal, an American mystery author in Italy to promote his newest novel.

Tenebre

1982

Tenebre poster
6.8

A razor-wielding serial killer is on the loose, murdering those around Peter Neal, an American mystery author in Italy to promote his newest novel.

Tenebre

1982

Man Called Amen poster
3.5

A very unlikely trio join forces in order to rob a bank: an ex-bandit called Smith, now a cheerful reverend, a nomadic artist and a pickpocket. Their plan is successful, however, and the three make off with the money from the bank's vaults, only to find themselves robbed of their newly-acquired wealth by a young schoolmistress.

Man Called Amen

1972

Deep Red poster
7.7

An English pianist living in Rome witnesses the brutal murder of his psychic neighbor. With the help of a tenacious young reporter, he tries to discover the killer using very unconventional methods. The two are soon drawn into a shocking web of dementia and violence.

Deep Red

1975

Deep Red poster
7.7

An English pianist living in Rome witnesses the brutal murder of his psychic neighbor. With the help of a tenacious young reporter, he tries to discover the killer using very unconventional methods. The two are soon drawn into a shocking web of dementia and violence.

Deep Red

1975

The King of Ads poster
4.3

A collection of European T.V. commercials directed by a variety of well-known directors from across Europe and the U.S. Compiled and produced by Jean-Marie Boursicot.

The King of Ads

1991

The 5-Man Army poster
6.6

At the behest of local revolutionaries, a mercenary enlists four specialists in various combat styles to help him rob a Mexican Army train carrying $500,000 in gold.

The 5-Man Army

1969

Four Flies on Grey Velvet poster
6.5

Roberto, a drummer in a rock band, keeps receiving weird phone calls and being followed by a mysterious man. One night he manages to catch up with his persecutor and tries to get him to talk but in the ensuing struggle he accidentally stabs him. He runs away, but he understands his troubles have just begun when the following day he receives an envelope with photos of him killing the man. Someone is killing all his friends and trying to frame him for the murders.

Four Flies on Grey Velvet

1971

Four Flies on Grey Velvet poster
6.5

Roberto, a drummer in a rock band, keeps receiving weird phone calls and being followed by a mysterious man. One night he manages to catch up with his persecutor and tries to get him to talk but in the ensuing struggle he accidentally stabs him. He runs away, but he understands his troubles have just begun when the following day he receives an envelope with photos of him killing the man. Someone is killing all his friends and trying to frame him for the murders.

Four Flies on Grey Velvet

1971

Inferno poster
6.6

A young man returns from Rome to his sister's satanic New York apartment house.

Inferno

1980

Inferno poster
6.6

A young man returns from Rome to his sister's satanic New York apartment house.

Inferno

1980