Dario Argento: Panico (2023) User Reviews

Solid Overview of this Master of Horror

[Reviews_of_the_Dead · 8/10 · 4 April 2024]

This was a documentary that I saw hit Shudder earlier this year. I'm a huge Dario Argento fan so getting a documentary about his personal life as well as his career was something I knew I'd watch. I started this one at work when my day was slow and then finished at home. This moves fast, gives his personal life before becoming a filmmaker and then goes through personal things as each of his movies came out.

Now I knew parts of Argento's personal life. I tend to do research on people and things that I'm a fan of. I didn't know that he was married to Marisa Casale earlier in life. They divorced as he became more popular to the point where elements of Four Flies on Grey Velvet might be mirroring things there. I knew that he had two daughters that were actors, Asia Argento and Fiore Argento. I didn't realize there was a third. This factors into things that made Trauma odd for him and Asia.

It was also interesting to hear from Asia about what happened between the love of his life and her mother, Daria Nicolodi. It is a shame that she passed away before this was made as I would have loved to hear from her. Suspiria and Inferno stem from stories that Daria's mother told her. Dario wasn't big on giving her more credit for some reason and it strained their relationship. These are things fans of this horror maestro already knew, but we get a different perspective here.

Something that I like as well is that we see Dario getting interviewed. These were done for this documentary as he is older now. We also get interviews from his sister, Floriana, his ex-wife and fellow filmmakers he's worked with like Michele Soavi, Lamberto Bava, Franco Ferrini, Luigi Cozzi, Claudio Simonetti and Vittorio Cecchi Gori. There are also great filmmakers who he directly influenced like Guillermo del Toro, Gaspar Noé and Nicolas Winding Refn. I also didn't want to leave out that they talked to Cristina Marsillach who is the star of Opera.

I'd say that this is a well-made documentary. There is a great editing early where Dario is being driven to a remote hotel and they put in scenes from Deep Red and Suspiria. That made me smile. The only thing that I didn't necessarily like is that this has felt at different times like they're making a movie and not a documentary. This doesn't ruin it by any stretch. Asking Dario and all these people different things as well as framing what was going on in his life while making these movies was an interesting watch for any fans of this filmmaker. I'd recommend this for sure.

My Rating: 8 out of 10.

Well made!

[BandSAboutMovies · 8/10 · 31 January 2024]

In this film, Dario Argento explains the difference between fear and panic (the panico that gives this its title). He claims that fear is like a fever of 100.5 F, one that has you terrified. Panic is just a degree higher, something that takes you beyond to a place that you can't control.

If you've read Argento's book Fear, he often speaks of writing his scripts isolated in a hotel room. In this documentary, the director finds himself returns to the place where he completed his latest script and speaks as part of an intimate interview, all while being followed by a film crew documenting his life for a movie about his illustrious career.

He's joined by friends, collaborators and fans -- many of whom are today's most important filmmakers -- to discuss the story of his life and films.

Director Simone Scafidi made Fulci For Fake in 2019, a film that attempted to explain the movies of Lucio Fulci. In that effort, he didn't have true access to Fulci. Here, he has Argento speaking to his greatest successes and why he makes movies, as well as some of the most essential people in his life, including his daughters Fiore and Asia, his first wife Marisa Casale, Claudio Simonetti of Goblin, Lamberto Bava, Michele Soavi, Luigi Cozzi and current directors Nicolas Winding Refn, Guillermo del Toro and Gaspar Noé.

Del Toro speaks most effectively on the power of what Argento can do and how he's "getting high off his own supply." He makes a case that Deep Red presents a world where anything at any time can happen and that you must accept that -- "here's is a killer doll, alright" he laughs -- and that it's also full of ancient evil waiting on the outside of the frame, a film where no one is safe.

There's a lot more that I'd like to have heard about, such as the time in American making Dawn of the Dead and Inferno, as well as what inspired his later films. This skips quite a bit -- sorry fans of Dracula 3D and Mother of Tears -- but it's impossible to get a multiple decade career into a short running time. What does emerge is that even when people have had rough relationships with Dario -- such as actress Cristina Marsillach, the star of Opera -- they feel as if they have learned from the time they spent with him. It makes for an interesting companion to his aforementioned autobiography, as you only hear his side of the story, where Asia presents a more nuanced vision of him, including a surprising moment of tenderness and vulnerability.

It's very hard for me to be objective on this film's subject, as his movies form the nucleus of so much of my love for cinema. I am pleased with the results, as it gives me as much as I need to know and I could honestly listen to Soavi, Bava and Cozzi speak for hours.

As a film nerd, I am beyond happy that this mentioned The Card Player. As you may know, my parents' first date was to see The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and for years they used it as a barometer of films they hated. I think my gialli addiction started in those formative film discussions as a form of rebellion. Also: Yes, I did cry when they showed the Louma crane from Tenebrae.

A Suitable, if general, Overview

[joker-4 · 7/10 · 1 February 2024]

Known as the "Master of Thrill", Italian filmmaker Dario Argento boasts a long and complex career. The Shudder original Dario Argento: Panico documentary takes a look at highlights from Argento's filmography by interviewing the Master of Horror himself along with other talking head contemporaries. For those that might only be familiar with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) or Suspiria (1977), Panico is a suitable overview with Argento himself acting as a grandfatherly host. For true Argento fans, Panico has all the substance of a featurette buried on disc 2 of the Opera collector's edition Blu-Ray.

Dario Argento: Panico provides a totally-fine overview of the auteur's work that pairs nicely with salt-cured prosciutto and a glass of Sangiovese chianti. But what would have worked spectacularly would have been if that Italian hotel was haunted... instead of Argento's tired eyes.

A decent documentary.

[Jeremy_Urquhart · 6/10 · 23 February 2024]

Dario Argento Panico is a documentary that has an initially interesting framing device that it doesn't do a ton with (the man himself working on his latest film in a hotel, with a film crew purportedly following him around). It intercuts these scenes with fairly standard documentary scenes that go through his directorial career chronologically.

The only part that really felt inspired, beyond the first few scenes, was a time when what Argento was saying in the present day lined up very well with a TV interview he'd given in the 1970s or 1980s. The editing kept cutting back and forth, letting young and old Argento finish their sentences, and it was quite affecting.

It's otherwise a decent documentary about an interesting filmmaker, but at a certain point, it feels like it's going through the motions a bit as a documentary about a filmmaker. Beyond a couple of parts that stood out, it's probably just for Argento fans only. I find Argento's films generally interesting, so I found this documentary mostly interesting.

For the true admirer...

[indy-39 · 8/10 · 5 February 2024]

In my wildest dreams, I never hoped that anyone would ever do a Dario Argento doc that would seriously delve into what makes Argento one of my favorite filmmakers. Indeed, I often vacillate myself between seeing him as a guilty pleasure and a true visionary in the horror genre. Dario Argento: Panico lays out a sound case for placing him at the top of the pantheon of greats.

I enjoyed the film with a rare relish and was very impressed that the exploration was not top heavy with Suspiria- but rather doled out equal time to so many other films. It made me want to go out and revisit some of the work I haven't seen in a while. (I'd just seen Inferno recently in the Blu Underground print and was blown away by the film for the first time- after three previous viewings. ) My high praise, however, comes with a warning- I think if you have limited exposure to all of his work you will be at a severe disadvantage here. This is a deep dive and the film doesn't take time to get you up to speed on the work- but that's how it should be when dealing with the "Maestro". (If Fellini called him that, how could I possibly disagree?)

Dario Argento Panico: Passable but glosses over some of the talking points

[Platypuschow · 5/10 · 19 February 2024]

Plot

A film crew documents horror director Dario Argento as he works on his latest script in a hotel room, revisiting the isolation where he dreamed up his most iconic films, removed from distractions to explore his dark imagination.

Cast

Made by Simone Scafidi who also did a comparable documentary about Fulci (Which I've yet to see) and featuring interviews with Dario, Asia, del Toro, Bava and Ferrini.

Verdict

Argento is a cinematic genius, this to me is not disputable. I've enjoyed a large percentage of his works and hold him in high regard within the industry.

A documentary about him I saw great potential in, sadly the execution is very sterile. It's not exactly an expose or even a biopic, it's a very bland by the book look at his life and his works with contributions from his peers.

This to me is a passable and eye opening watch for mega-fans, but for anyone else it's an unforgivable bore.

Rants

Something has always bothered me about Argento, and that's his use of his daughter Asia. He cast her frequently through his works even from a young age, yet the consistency is nudity and sex involving her and that just never sat right with me and raised questions I'm entirely certain I don't want the answers to. To him it's likely harmless, to her it's likely harmless, to me it has made my skin crawl since the first time I saw it.

Breakdown

Informative Some decent contributors Rather boring No surprises, no frills, just the facts.