Sad, Hysteric, Unbearable, Torturous, Disdainful, Obtrusive, Woozy, Numb!!!

Final Argento movie for now and he certainly lost his touch. On his "defense" the movies script was written by fan-boys Jim Agnew and Sean Keller who wanted Dario Argento to direct, but still this is not an excuse. This movie, with such a title could have been like a homage to his own great creations over the past years but instead it managed to be the exact opposite. This is no giallo film, its just the leftovers of the once great director and genre creator.



In Italy, Linda (Emmanuelle Seigner) fears her sister Celine (Elsa Pataky), a model, may have been kidnapped. Inspector Enzo Avolfi (Adrien Brody) realizes that she has been abducted by a serial killer. This psychopath, called Giallo (yellow) kidnaps beautiful women in a taxi, drugs them, mutilates them, and finally murders them. He photographs his actions and gains sexual gratification with his creations. Linda and Avolfi team up to rescue her from the sadistic killer known as Giallo (yellow).



This plot is a bit of a mess, often acts like a parody to his real giallo films, and its excessively unrealistic about the way a police investigation is carried out. The victims sibling should have been kept safe away from this dangerous lookout for this vicious murderer while instead she recklessly accompanies the overconfident detective, she has access to victims files, and she's undecided about how to act. She goes from scared, to desperate, to weird, and to suspicious. Avolfi was unbelievable, very arrogant, supposedly in control of the events, and with a past that haunts him and became the reason he entered in this freaky pursuit. The killers identity is revealed soon enough so no much mystery here, and the way he goes about harming the beautiful victims soon becomes boring and uninteresting. The victim for which all this fuss is about, settles in pointless screaming while kept hostage in a deserted basement alike place. With a little effort she could break free and escape since she was in room full of cutlery.



Also, the flashback sequences got annoying and until you realize their purpose you just don't care any more. The same can be said about the characters who try to pose as heroic figures but who fail to gain any interest. Oh and the ending is so unsatisfying that can be described as the apex of boredom. The movie is a mixture of all that's bad, unoriginal, and miserable. All effort to create atmospheric and creepy scenes, ended up as plain ridiculous, unconvincing, and unimpressive. The gore within is as flat and ineffective as the bland characters. There is a bizarre piece of trivia about two characters, which I won't spoil but I'm wondering why that happened. By the time it was all over I had no idea why Argento decided to even bother with this crappy script.



This is a case where mystery and slasher serial killer scenario didn't work well. The cliches, and the lack of effort by all pushed this movie to the bottom. I am so bored after this movie and I've had enough with such cheap horror movies and disappointments, and I guess its time to move on. Avoid, unless for personal reasons you want to see it.

"Too beautiful... he hates beautiful things."

My Verdict:

All in all Dario Argento is a great director, but the kind who has too many ups and downs. He gave the world a fair amount of wonderful horror fiction films, but he also let us down more than once. Going through his filmography was like riding a roller coaster. There were awesome thrills, memorable moments and heartbeats of excitement and fear, but also the unavoidable dizziness, nausea, and the need to eventually step out. I enjoyed this marathon, but its obvious that lately it wasn't very pleasant. However If you want to check any of his movies and give him a chance then definitely do so. Those who are not interested in his movie themes won't miss anything since this is not their idea of a good time, which of course is acceptable. Personally I'm still curious to check his future movie but I really hope for something decent.