Favorite Death Scenes Part 5

Peepholes have always somewhat creeped me out. Perhaps it could be that I find the fisheye lens to be particularly disturbing to my already warped brain chemistry, I'm not really sure. That, and I've never been all too fond of pressing my eyeball against something to get a closer look. Is that what you call science? How about some better technology already. What, are you waiting for evolution to give our eyes X-Ray vision!? Ever since I was a child, people have been shoving my face into View-Masters and Kaleidoscopes, Microscopes and Telescopes, Virtual Reality Headsets and Binoculars. Fuck binoculars! I crawl through girl's windows like a real creeper and have no use for such tools of restraint. Sorry I went off on a tangent there. Peepholes and more notably the acts of voyeurism concerning them have been focal points of numerous films and television programs. It's almost as if the motion picture industry was obsessed with this invention. And horror film directors, the really good ones anyways, seem to be intent on bringing as much eye violence into your field of vision as possible. 

Which brings me to Dario Argento's 1987 film Opera, aka Terror at the Opera. That's where the connection between peepholes, eye violence and voyeurism comes in, with the viewer playing the role of voyeur as this shockingly gruesome event plays out. Betty was an alternate who became the lead in Macbeth after the original singer's "accident" left her notes a bit... flat! ;) Soon she's caught up not only in the pressure of rising to fame and thriving for excellence, but also the anxiety and sheer terror of being stalked by an obsessive maniac who's killing everyone close to her. Enter Myra (Daria Nicolodi), Betty's agent and friend, who comes to her aid during a desperate and confusing time. Locked in an apartment together, with perhaps a killer posing as a detective inside and outside, the lights go dim and there's a knock at the door.

Myra clings to a knife while pressing her face to the door and demands that the strange man show his face. He insists that he's an officer of the law and shines a flashlight off an ID that gleams so brightly you can't see a thing. She accuses him of lying and says that "anyone can get one of those" and that "it's a fake!" With all the muffled tenacity of Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, the man responds with "Look, my gun!" and shows his weapon.

Myra starts flipping out and gets a bit more demanding, "No! Not the gun. I want to see your FACE again!". By this point the man has had enough. He presses the barrel up against the peephole and squeezes the trigger, blasting a shot right through Myra's fuckin' eyeball. The bullet exits out the back of her skull and rips apart the telephone in the background, ending any chance of Betty calling the police. How unlucky.

The awesomeness of this scene alone is amplified to an even more interesting and disturbing realm by the special effects involved, and a story shared by actress Daria Nicolodi. In the extras (Conducting Dario Argento's Opera, as well as in other documentaries about his films) we're shown the large scale model of what they used as the inside of the peephole. A huge, long open cylinder was built with a thin pane of glass in front and a firing mechanism that shot an over-sized bullet through it at hyper speed. A special camera that filmed at a very high FPS rate was required to capture this incredibly short but ambitious SFX shot. This is one of the cool little things that Dario Argento is known for going out of his way just to do for the sake of doing what he dreams and having fun.

At the time of this film's production, Daria Nicolodi was convinced that Dario Argento had concocted some kind of diabolical plan to assassinate her on set and make it look like an accident. The falling out and end of their personal relationship had been a harsh and humiliating time for Daria. Problems with Argento's behavior towards her supposedly started during Tenebrae (which furthered her agitation from being continuously not cast in roles she desired, stemming as far back as Suspiria), but her breaking point was during the filming of Phenomena where she was made to look "sixty years old" and had to perform in "stupid and dangerous stunts" involving a chimp. She was convinced that Argento was trying to ruin her. Now they want to strap real dynamite to the back of her head and shoot a blowgun with a condom full of blood in her face.

She accepted this role because she loved the death scene, and was also able to re-write her own dialogue. It's obvious from reading interviews with her and listening to her speak on these documentaries that she was terrified by a few of the scenes she had to perform in. If Argento was out to get her (or if it was just some unfortunate politics), or if he was really out to KILL her... well, I don't think we'll ever know the absolute truth regarding this. Who knows? Maybe it's a mix of all three of those things. Bottom line is that I love this beautiful woman as an actress and she's one strong lady for staying true to the cinema even though she got screwed over on a few roles she was meant for. We'll always have Deep Red and Shock. Watch the scene HERE!

Favorite Death Scenes Part 4

Cut to a scene where this lovely, black haired woman named Tina gets dropped off by her date. They say their I love you's and their goodbyes before she enters her locked apartment building.

And what an apartment complex it is! Holy shit, look at this place.

Of course, the elevator lift isn't working tonight and she's forced to use the stairs. She proceeds to ascend the triangular stairway when suddenly... the light goes off upstairs. Uh oh!

She lights a few matches and keeps going up. The music here is really creepy and atmospheric, with lots of heavy breathing and fiendish lalala's.

She makes her way to the next loft door when suddenly, she is struck in the back of the head(!) from behind.

She gasps and whimpers as the mysterious black gloved killer slowly pulls out a straight razor!!

The killer quickly and ruthlessly slashes away at the woman's arm and face...

The mysterious figure in black slashes the girl eleven times in about four seconds total, before raising the straight razor high above, and delivering one final slash. Blood spatters unto the floor.

You may be asking yourself, "Why this one? There are far better death scenes in Argento's films." Precisely the point I direct you towards this scene. Blink and you'll miss it! And I don't think this scene deserves to be missed. Dario Argento's straight razor deaths have gotten more brutal over time, but there's no denying the one that started it all. 

A little note about this entry: There were about three to five promotional pictures from this scene that have been printed on various lobby cards and posters throughout the world. These pictures are very visually stimulating (to me at least) and don't appear in the actual film. While this disappoints me greatly (as I had viewed these photos before ever seeing the film long ago), I still love this scene. While I wish it could have been longer, given time to savor the kill with these "missing scenes" intact, I still like how furious and sudden it is.

Custom Bird with the Crystal Plumage Poster.

Here are some shitty snapshots of my old Bird With The Crystal Plumage hand drawn compilation poster started in '03 and finished in '05 (no motivation). I've always liked it for what it is, and it is HUGE, but with all my work, I see major flaws everywhere. Sadly, I couldn't get a straight up frontal pic of this due to the heavy pencil indents gleaming from the flash (and with no flash, no detail), but I'll work on that, hopefully.

About the pic and why I did it? I love Dario Argento and all his films. When I was younger and getting into his movies (only having seen about one or two of them), I was always fascinated by the poster art... especially the Italian poster art! Back in the early 2000's I took a pile of pictures from the film that I liked, mixed it with existing poster artwork and created a hand drawn medley of violence. Some of the choices I made with my art, I don't fully appreciate now... but I really don't give a fuck after all is said and not done. I'm not perfect, and if I were, I'd be perfect. So here's some detail shots:

I may not be too good at overall compositions, but I do know what love is.

Fiore Argento and Anna Ceroli in Trauma (1993)

Asia Argento's half-sisters make an appearance in Dario Argento's Trauma. Anna Ceroli (who a year later died in a motorcycle accident) was part inspiration for this film due to her condition. She and Asia were extremely close, and after her death Asia directed the film Scarlet Diva which is a tribute to her (and also later named her first daughter after her).

Anna Ceroli can be seen during the final moments of the film, dancing with the Reggae Band.

The film ends with the song Ruby Rain and a fade-out on her face with her hair swaying in the wind.

Fiore Argento has a shamefully short scene as the receptionist at the Farraday Clinic when David goes searching for Aura. She's only got a few lines of dialogue but it's still nice to see her nonetheless. Not to mention she looks darn cute here.

Asia Argento was originally supposed to play the detective in The Card Player, which would have been nice to see these two in another film together, but scheduling conflicts got in the way and the role was given to Stefania Rocca.

In Bed with Asia Argento... in Trauma (1993)

By the looks of things, getting in bed with Asia Argento can be quite... Traumatic! *Dr. Evil Pinky*

A beautiful opening shot for this post if I may say so myself.

Echoes of Phenomena?

After being seriously drugged up (once again) Aura is saved by her Knight in Black Satan, Davey.

I love how she just falls back onto the couch like that.

Awww yeah! Here we go...

But I thought you love it when I watch you sleep!?!

I decided on a Twilight reference to that last quip as opposed to a Jennifer's Body reference addressing the issue of the dick possibly being too big for her.

You're welcome.

FIN.