Background in 2014 After completing
Inferno (1980), the second in his planned
Three Mothers trilogy of supernatural horror films, Argento was expected to move straight into production of its concluding chapter. The first in the trilogy,
Suspiria (1977), had turned the director into what Alan Jones called "a horror superstar", but
Inferno had proven a difficult follow-up. Argento had become unwell while writing the film, and his ill health continued into filming. In addition, Argento's relationship with
Infernos co-producer
20th Century Fox had soured the director on "Hollywood politics", so when
Inferno was not well-received upon release, Argento put the
Three Mothers trilogy on hold. Argento said that
Tenebrae was directly influenced by two distressing incidents that occurred in 1980. According to Argento, the calls began pleasantly enough but before long became more insistent, eventually menacing. In addition, Nicolodi and Argento were romantically involved at the time, but their relationship had suffered over a disputed story credit during the filming of
Suspiria. Nicolodi therefore only agreed to a brief appearance in
Tenebrae. Nicolodi later claimed that although filming began well enough, Argento became angry when she and Franciosa bonded over playwright
Tennessee Williams and their experience in theatre, leading the director to make sure their shared scenes "were an ordeal to endure". Nicolodi said she channelled her frustrations with the situation into her character's last scene in the film, where Anne stands in the rain and screams repeatedly, continuing over the film's end credits. However, Nicolodi's voice was dubbed by
Theresa Russell, Giuliano Gemma's was dubbed by
David Graham, and most of the female voices were dubbed by
Adrienne Posta. Another of Argento's collaborators,
Fulvio Mingozzi cameoed as a hotel porter. In the film's Italian-language dub, Argento also provided the opening voice-over, reading aloud descriptions of murderous actions from Neal's fictitious novel,
Tenebrae.
Filming Filming began on 3 May 1982 and took 10 weeks The first flashback scene was filmed at the
Capocotta beach, south of the city near
Ostia. The shoplifting scene was filmed on location at department store
La Rinascente, off Piazza Fiume. The scene in which Neal's landlord's daughter is killed was filmed outside the home of an architect – and friend of Argento – Sandro Petti, switching to studio shots for her initial entrance into the house and back to Petti's house for the confrontation with the killer. The scene where Neal boards his flight to Rome was filmed at
JFK International Airport in NYC. Giuseppe Bassan – a frequent Argento collaborator – was the film's production designer. He was not able to use Elios, as the director
Michelangelo Antonioni, of whom he was a huge fan, was using the studio to film
Identification of a Woman (1982) at the time. which used a type of bicycle pump to spray fake blood from the "wound" across the white wall, Film scholar
Richard Dyer highlights several intelligent devices Argento uses in the film's editing, noting that interpolated sequences are sometimes punctuated by "shots of pills and the sound of running water." Steffen Hantke believes that the shock cuts in the latter part of the film are among cinema's "most brutal and stylized", and exhibit a degree of abstract expressionism. Film scholar Leon Hunt argues that the devices and themes utilized by Argento in the making of
Tenebrae make it as much an example of
art cinema as anything else. The initial murders are shot in a "clipped montage style", Giuliano Gemma later said that Argento fostered an improvisational atmosphere on set. One example he gave was the scene where his character bends to pick up some evidence from the floor, only to reveal Neal behind him, having perfectly matched his position relative to the camera. This moment was not scripted but resulted from Argento's noticing the actors' similar build while they were standing, one behind the other in front of him.
Crane shot Gracey refers to the film's cinematography as "nothing short of astounding", and cites a particular example as highlighting Argento's "passion for technical prowess and breathtaking visuals". Influenced by the penultimate shot in Antonioni's
The Passenger (1975), on which Tovoli had also been the cinematographer, It required a maze of scaffolding to be built around the outside of the home. Argento captured all the footage he needed in two takes, but insisted on filming ten more. It marked the first time the Louma crane had been used in an Italian production; the crane itself had to be imported from France. According to Gracey, the camera performs "aerial gymnastics", scaling the victims' house in "one seamless take, navigating walls, roofs, and peering in through windows, in a set piece that effortlessly exposes the penetrability of a seemingly secure home". Newman and Jones said that although this type of crane shot became commonplace later, at the time it was "truly ground-breaking" in the way the camera seemingly crawled over the walls and up the building – not quite from the killer's viewpoint. However, on the print itself, during the opening credits, the title is clearly
Tenebrae. In addition, the title of Neal's latest book in the film is shown in close-up as being
Tenebrae. In a lengthy interview with Argento conducted by Martin Coxhead that appeared in two issues of
Fangoria in 1983 and 1984, the title was always referred to as "Tenebrae". Early on in production, the film was referred to as
Under the Eyes of the Assassin, which was later used as one of the poster taglines. In Japan, the film was released as
Shadows ; in the USA, it was titled
Unsane in its initial – heavily edited – incarnation. ==Soundtrack==