Beautiful, challenging Argento horror films coming to the Wexner Center

The films of Dario Argento can be considered something of a contradiction.

The 82-year-old Italian filmmaker earned a worldwide reputation on the strength of a series of horror films that are at once beautifully made and excessively violent.

It’s a potent mix that will be on full display during a major retrospective at the Wexner Center for the Arts. From Thursday through Aug. 17, the arts center on the campus of Ohio State University will present a dozen of Argento’s films.

“The beauty and the horror being combined in the frames together creates this very unsettling feeling,” said Wexner Center head of film/video David Filipi, pointing to a famous murder scene set in an art gallery in the 1970 film “The Bird with the Crystal Plumage” (showing on Thursday).

“(The art gallery) has white walls and everything — it’s just so clean and measured,” Filipi said. “Then you have this violent murder that happens in the middle of all of it. There are these juxtapositions between these really compelling visuals, and then these horrible murders.”

For horror film fans, such contrasts are among the things that set Argento’s work apart from his both his artistic forebears, including Mario Bava and Alfred Hitchcock, and his contemporaries.

“He’s an absolute master at this sort of grotesque beauty, and when you get the best of Argento, it’s not like anything anybody else has ever done,” said Columbus film critic and filmmaker Hope Madden, who will introduce the 1971 film “The Cat o’ Nine Tails” on Friday.

“What he does is so extremely visual,” Madden said. “It just screams for your attention. The extravagance of the different set pieces and the different murders. . . . Everything is so entirely him.”

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Argento's literary roots

Born in Rome in 1940, Argento had his first exposure to the movie business while working as a film critic. Later, he contributed to the screenplays of a number of notable films, including Sergio Leone’s 1968 spaghetti western “Once Upon a Time in the West.”

When he assumed the director’s chair, Argento chose to work in a specific horror subgenre known as “giallo” — a reference to elaborately plotted murder mystery paperback books in Italy that were sold with yellow covers.

“When (Argento) made them, the plot is next to irrelevant,” Madden said. “I find that amazing. He started off as a writer, but his plots are almost a side note.”

Indeed, audiences should not go into an Argento film expecting the usual pleasures of narrative filmmaking.

“If you’re somebody who gets very involved in the plot points, then I think these films are going to frustrate you,” said Madden, adding that the director’s films are better approached as “visual and auditory experiences.”

Added Filipi: “For film lovers that gravitate towards a really heightened style in their movies, I think they might respond well to these.”

All films 4k restorations

Each of the movies presented in the retrospective will be shown in 4K restorations from Cinecitta Studios in Rome.

“The final quality achieved is undoubtedly far superior to that of the 35mm copies, albeit in perfect condition,” Cinecitta Studios said in a comment by email. “The ultra-high definition scanning of the original negative, as well as the digital restoration (scene and audio) and color correction, eliminated every slightest imperfection, bringing the works to a level of near-perfect definition.”

What are the must-sees?

Among the 12 Argento films being shown at the Wexner Center, Filipi points to “The Cat o’ Nine Tails” as a must-see.

In keeping with Argento’s habit of using American or English-speaking performers in lead roles for his Italy-set horror films, the movie stars Karl Malden and James Franciscus as journalists aiming to get to the bottom of a crime.

“It’s fun because Karl Malden is in it, and that might be a more familiar reference point for some people,” Filipi said, referring to the actor best known to American audiences for starring in the Hollywood productions “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Patton.”

“There’s this intense scene where one of the characters is in the barbershop and he’s getting shaved, and it’s like the tension of the blade on the neck,” Filipi said. “The tension that is created is just kind of exquisite.”

“Suspiria” — screening on July 14 along with the 1990 film “The Black Cat” — represented Argento’s first dalliance with supernatural subject matter. The film stars Jessica Harper as an American dance student who pulls up stakes for Germany. There, she enrolls in a dance school where paranormal goings-on occur alongside dance instruction.

Argento went deeper into an otherworldly realm with “Phenomana,” a 1985 film starring Jennifer Connelly as a telepathic adolescent. Columbus poet and writer Scott Woods will introduce the screening on Aug. 10.

“‘Suspiria” still seems somewhat tethered in the world that he has been exploring in his earlier films, where by the time you get to ‘Phenomena,’ it’s like it’s not tethered to anything — which is exciting on one hand,” Filipi said.

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What's an offbeat pick?

Argento broke out of the horror mold just once in his career with “The Five Days,” a comedy set amid political tumult in 19th-century Italy. The film will be shown on July 27.

Filipi said that the film may be an eye-opener for those familiar with Argento’s genre of choice.

“It’s not a horror film — it’s almost like a bit of a buddy film,” he said. “We’re showing it because it’s so rare. Even people who are like, ‘I’ve seen all of Argento’s films,’ say, ‘I’ve never seen that film before.’”

Films not for everybody

Despite Argento’s ample artistry, Madden admits that his work isn’t for all tastes.

“If you don’t like to see violence — like murder, like blood, really, really artificially red blood — then you simply shouldn’t watch Argento, because that’s what he’s there for,” Madden said, also pointing to sexist elements inherent in the director’s work since the victims in his films are often female characters.

Even so, the filmmaker remains a formidable talent whose films are bound to be conversation-starters for audiences.

“We’ve been talking about just how popular horror is right now, especially with younger people,” Filipi said. “Here’s a (filmmaker) who was very influential, certainly on the slasher films that have followed in the past few decades. I think our timing is really good on this one.”

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At a glance

“Retrospective: Dario Argento” encompasses 12 films directed by Dario Argento running from Thursday through Aug. 17 at the Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 N. High St. A series pass — including admission to each film, a limited-edition print by Kentucky cartoonist J.T. Dockery and an Heirloom Café gift card worth $5 — cost $72, or $56 for senior citizens and Wexner Center members, $40 for students. Individual tickets may be purchased for each film in the series. All screenings start at 7 p.m.

July 6: “The Bird with the Crystal Plumage”

July 7: “The Cat o’ Nine Tails”

July 8: “Four Flies on Grey Velvet”

July 13: “Deep Red”

July 14: “Suspiria” and “The Black Cat”

July 15: “Mother of Tears”

July 20: “Opera”

July 27: “The Five Days”

Aug. 3: “Tenebrae”

Aug. 10: “Phenomena”

Aug. 17: “Trauma”

For more information, visit wexarts.org.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 'Retrospective: Dario Argento' film series coming to Wexner Center