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I think, essentially, what I like about the guy, he's making art-horror films. Or he was. And I gotta give the guy credit for never totally selling out... he's made horror films almost exclusively.
But, yeah, let's look at Tenebre: What a beautiful work of art. I mean, really. The colors, the direction, that one 3 minute shot of a camera swooping all around the house... I definitely see a Hitchcockian vibe (you know, aside from him actually having a film called DO YOU LIKE HITCHCOCK?), but I dunno, his films just aren't that dramatic or suspensful. Instead, he's more concerned with artful murder scenes... art horror, yeah.
I think a lot of his films are a bit "lost in translation", though. Because there'll often be some incredibly dumb dialogue here or there that has me scratching my head. A lot of his films are incredibly obvious, too.
I think "Stendhal Syndrome" is another underrated gem. This one has 3D bullets, odd shots of pills being swallowed, and people entering paintings. It's a bit too long, though.
"Deep Red"/"The Hatchet Murder"/"Profondo Rosso" just amazes me, though. That one has this amazing atmosphere.. with the colors and direction.. I dunno. Something about that one.. I can't put my finger on it, but I love it. I've bought 4 copies of it in my lifetime, in fact
Argento is definitely a very frustrating director. It seems like he doesn't even know his own strengths and weaknesses, and his films are often overlong and indulgent. I've noticed that many films have logical endings -- but then he often will tack on more after the ending to make a "real" ending (see: Opera, Creepers/Phenonemon/Stendhal for examples). He definitely stretches out his worst scenes for too long, and he just kinda skirts around the truly brilliant scenes. Still, when he's on, he's on, and he actually kinda surprises me sometimes. For example, "Trauma", in particular, surprised me with its violence. He's an interesting director, though I think he's an awful storyteller.
He also was one of the 4 writers on one of my all time favorite films, Once Upon a Time in the West.
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