*** SPOILERS ***
So a movie from the famous Dario Argento. I've heard a lot about him, so I was interested to see what all the fuss was about.
Having watched the movie and several parts of it several times, in a vain attempt to work out what was going on, I have to say I'm still wondering about all the fuss. I will attempt to give a synopsis, but I don't promise that it'll make any sense.
The movie centers around a book called 'The Three Mothers' which (as far as I could make out) was written by an architect who built 3 buildings in different parts of the world. They housed each of the three mothers (evil women). There were also 3 keys and strange clues given about where these could be located. In fact there seemed to be a bit of an obssession generally with the number 3 in this movie. We also seemed to follow 3 different characters rather than have 1 main lead.
A woman in New York (Rose) is researching the history of her building when she comes across 'The Three Mothers' story. She thinks she is living in one of the cursed buildings, so she writes a letter to her brother Mark such is her concern (whatever happened to telephones...) asking him to come and see her. He doesn't read the letter as he is distracted by some uber-hairy eyebrowed woman makes wierd mouth shapes while he is trying to read it (I think it was meant to be alluring). The girl sitting beside him (Sarah) however sees fit to read the letter when he leaves it behind (nosey cow!).
So having read the letter, this new character goes to a library to check out 'The Three Mothers' book. She is completely freaked out by what she reads and from there everything just goes completely crazy. Sarah is stabbed, along with some wierd guy that turns up, who ironically makes a big deal in not believing in the supernatural. He gets a nice big pointy knife to the throat.
Mark finds the 2 bodies and returns to New York to look for his sister. We meanwhile know Rose has also been killed. He finds out via people in her building that she has disappeared so he starts to look for her with some help from one of her friends, Elise.
He meets several weird people, including a mute guy in a wheelchair (who you just know will show up again) and starts to investigate his sisters disappearance. What happens from then on is complete confusion to me.
People die - Elise is stabbed while trying to help Mark - The original seller of the book to Rose is eaten by rats after trying to drown some cats in a lake. He is then stabbed by a hotdog seller who hears his cries - A caretaker starts a fire accidentally and is burnt to death.
Mark at the ending discovers the mute guy in the wheelchair is in fact the author of the book and the architect of the 3 buildings. Blah Blah Blah he manages to do away with him. One of the three mothers makes an appearance (it was one of the women he met earlier) and the fire gets her as it causes the building to collapse. Mark escapes.
Wondering WTF? Yup I was too.
I know a lot of people are big Argento fans, but after this I doubt I will be joining those masses. He seems to be more intent in creating something that looks the way he wants it to, rather than something that makes any kind of sense or is entertaining to the viewer. He uses red and blue light a lot and although visually some of the scenes in the movie look fantastic, surely that shouldn't be at the expense of the movie?
I've also heard people talk about the soundtrack.... I hated it. It was loud and distracting (as if you needed any more distracting).
My rating? Avoid unless you're a pretentious art student or someone who likes to say they enjoy Argento just to look cultured. Looks good, unfortunately doesn't deliver on any other level.
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