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Originally Posted by demonrail666
I certainly think that of all the big horror directors from the 70s-early 80s, his reputation has been the most over-inflated..
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I'm going to have to agree to disagree with you on that one. If anything, I believe Argento deserves even more credit. He's easily in my top 5 of all-time (if not my top 3). And I'm not just talking about the horror genre.
I even loved his much hated take on Phantom of the Opera - remember that part in the sky? Shit was like the beginning Lynch's Dune - with rats! Or what about Stendhal Syndrome? Also Cat O' Nine Tails and Inferno. Just classic, after classic. His style is so wild and all over the place. Do you not remember
that 'crow shot' from Opera? Dude slaughters the tracking shot. Then you have his obvious love of heavy metal which bleeds into all his work. To me, Argento is like a more gruesome (and Italian) Brian De Palma. Both directors took where Hitchcock left off and just ran with it. The dude is bat shit, visually brilliant, and I love him all the more for it.
That's why a film like Giallo is so disappointing to me. To me, Argento is a man of spectacles, and that film is completely lacking in that regard. The guy has fallen off pretty hard as of late, I have no qualms admitting that. But it does come with age, ostensibly. I think he has at last one more masterpiece in him - somewhere.
Also in speaking of Demons (which Argento only produced) - what an awesome movie! Once it kicks in, it's like non-stop action. Maybe it's been a while since you've seen it, but I find it hard to believe you consider it to be so forgettable. I bought the limited edition Synapse steelbook blu-ray when it came out, of that and the sequel (which I still haven't watched - shame on me). The dub is especially entertaining to me, and the transfer is impeccable! Clearly, I'm not the only one who loves that film lol.
Tomato/Tomatoe though, eh?