Tenebrae
Tenebrae is a 1982 film from Italy, directed by Dario Argento, running 110 minutes. reelscum files it under giallo and video nasty.
- Year
- 1982 · 1980s films
- Country
- Italy
- Runtime
- 110 min
- Director
- Dario Argento
- Updated
- 29 Oct 2026
- Obscurity
- known (18/100)
- Also known as
- Unsane · Tenebrae · Dario Argento's Tenebrae
- Banned in
- UK
Defined in the glossary: Giallo, Video nasty
A prosecuted DPP video nasty; Argento's giallo stayed cut by the BBFC for two decades.
Argento's coldest and cleverest. That crane shot earns its reputation.
Argento answers the critics who called his films misogynist by making a film about a writer accused of the same, then staging a series of murders that argue with the charge and enjoy themselves too much to settle it. The look is a shock after the gothic reds of Suspiria: white, bright, modern, almost antiseptic.
The single unbroken crane shot that climbs and crosses an entire apartment building exists for no reason except that Argento could, and it is one of the great show-off moments in horror.
Cold, clever, and nasty in a way the sunlight makes worse.
Trailer
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Written about
- The giallo, 1963 to 1976
A line of yellow paperbacks, a killer in black gloves, and Mario Bava building the American slasher a decade before Hollywood cashed the cheque.
The cycle in depth
- Banned, cut and confiscated
A Fulci print flown out of the country, an Australian rating that just means no, and a German court that filed The Evil Dead under criminal violence. Three states, three machines for making a film disappear.
- The Exorcist was banned on video in Britain by one censor
The Exorcist passed uncut for British cinemas in 1974, then had no legal UK video release from 1988 to 1999 because one censor would not certify the tape.
On these lists
- The giallo starter pack
Six films, in this order. By the end you will know whether you can live without the plot making sense.
Filed alongside
The New York Ripper
Genuinely nasty and hard to defend. The killer quacks. It doesn't help.
Phenomena
Insect telepathy, a Swiss boarding school, and a straight-razor chimpanzee. Argento off the leash.
Possession
On the nasties list by pure bureaucratic accident. An actual masterpiece about divorce.
The Beyond
Makes no sense whatsoever and is Fulci's best film. Dream logic, fully committed.
A Bay of Blood
Bava invents the slasher a decade early. Friday the 13th copied two kills outright.
Zombi 2
A zombie fights a shark. Fulci's splinter shot is still the worst thing here.
Inferno
Argento's sequel to Suspiria. Even less plot, even more colour. A building that is alive.
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
Argento's debut, and the film that made the giallo an export.
Blood and Black Lace
The template, and still the best-looking film on this list.
Deep Red
Argento's best. Goblin's score does half the work and knows it.
I Spit on Your Grave
The most argued-about film on this site. Read the glossary entry before deciding.
The Cat o' Nine Tails
Argento's least favourite of his own films. He is roughly right.