Gli incubi di Dario Argento (Dario Argento's Nightmares) was a TV series created and directed by Dario Argento that was part of the RAI TV show Giallo by Enzo Tortora. He's probably most famous for the show Portabello that had viewers call in to buy or sell things, present ideas or try and look for love. And if they could get the parrot who was the show's namesake to say his name, they would win a prize. He was also arrested in 1983 and jailed for 7 months as it was thought he was a member of an organized crime family, the Nuova Camorra Organizzata. It was a case of mistaken identity and he got out of ten years in jail thanks to the Radical Party. They offered him a candidacy to the European Parliament, which he won in a landslide. He was cleared of all charges the year this show ran and brought this show - on which he discussed unsolved murder cases - and Portabella to RAI.
The main draw of these episodes are nine new mini-movies made by Argento. They're three-minute shorts shot on 35mm that show off some wild effects but one of them, Nostalgia Punk, so upset viewers that it has rarely been shown since. The stories are:
La finestra sul cortile (The Window on the Court): This is Argento's tribute to Alfred Hitchcock and Rear Window. After watching the film, a man named Massimo watches his neighbors fight. He runs down with a knife to stop them, but falls on his own weapon and is blamed by the police for killing the woman. If you recognize the music, it's part of the Simon Boswell score from Phenomena.
Riti notturni (Night Rituals): This is also missing from some online versions of the film, but has a maid conspire with a voodoo coven to murder and devour the couple that she works for.
Il Verme (The Worm): A woman who goes by the name of Bettina is reading Dylan Dog (the comic book that Cemetery Man comes from) when she overhears a story about parasites that go from cats to humans. As she explores her nearly nude body in a mirror, she notices a worm has grown out of her eye, which she stabs out.
Amare e morire (Loving and Dying): Set to Michael Jackson's "Bad," this story has Gloria assaulted and left for dead. As she recovers, she believes that the man who raped her is one of three neighbors. She sleeps with each in an attempt to learn who it is and get her bloody revenge.
Nostalgia punk: The most controversial segment, this has a woman's water become poisoned. She begins to vomit multicolored liquids and then parts of her body before she finally tears her own body to pieces and her organs rain out of her destroyed carcass. It got so many complaints that Argento was told to settle down in future segments.
La Strega (The witch): Using Morricone's score from The Bird With the Crystal Plumage, this has Cinzia's party guests playing a game called "The Witch" that ends with children screaming and holding a bloody head.
Addormentarsi (Falling asleep): A man is possessed by a demon just before he falls asleep and then devours his dog. This uses "Anarchy in the UK" by the Sex Pistols.
Sammy: Sammy is a young girl who is frightened when Santa enters her room. Then Santa removes his face and reveals a monster. It's simple but it really works.
L'incubo di chi voleva interpretare l'incubo di Dario Argento (The Nightmare of the One Who Wished to Explain Dario Argento's Nightmare): A young man comes to REI to be part of this series and when he stays at a hotel, he soon learns he's in a room with foreigners who steal everything he has and then threaten to kill him. It turns out that it's all a set-up by Argento.
At the beginning of every episode, Argento appears, often with Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni (Demons 2, Il Bosco 1, Opera) all gothed out and acting as his starry-eyed assistant.
Argento also created another segment for Giallo, Turno di notte (Night Shift), which was about what happens to cab drivers at night. Episodes were also directed by Lamberto Bava and Luigi Cozzi. He also shared how he filmed several big moments in his most famous movies, such as the Loma camera sequence in Tenebrae; the bird attack in Opera, the transformation scenes in Demons 2 and how he directed Goblin to create the score for Suspiria. These scenes are worth watching and also appear in the Luigi Cozzi-directed Dario Argento: Master of Horror.
While this is by no means necessary watching for those with a passing interest in Italian horror, for devotees of the form and Argento, it is required viewing. It's the chance to basically get nine new stories even if they are very short.
The main draw of these episodes are nine new mini-movies made by Argento. They're three-minute shorts shot on 35mm that show off some wild effects but one of them, Nostalgia Punk, so upset viewers that it has rarely been shown since. The stories are:
La finestra sul cortile (The Window on the Court): This is Argento's tribute to Alfred Hitchcock and Rear Window. After watching the film, a man named Massimo watches his neighbors fight. He runs down with a knife to stop them, but falls on his own weapon and is blamed by the police for killing the woman. If you recognize the music, it's part of the Simon Boswell score from Phenomena.
Riti notturni (Night Rituals): This is also missing from some online versions of the film, but has a maid conspire with a voodoo coven to murder and devour the couple that she works for.
Il Verme (The Worm): A woman who goes by the name of Bettina is reading Dylan Dog (the comic book that Cemetery Man comes from) when she overhears a story about parasites that go from cats to humans. As she explores her nearly nude body in a mirror, she notices a worm has grown out of her eye, which she stabs out.
Amare e morire (Loving and Dying): Set to Michael Jackson's "Bad," this story has Gloria assaulted and left for dead. As she recovers, she believes that the man who raped her is one of three neighbors. She sleeps with each in an attempt to learn who it is and get her bloody revenge.
Nostalgia punk: The most controversial segment, this has a woman's water become poisoned. She begins to vomit multicolored liquids and then parts of her body before she finally tears her own body to pieces and her organs rain out of her destroyed carcass. It got so many complaints that Argento was told to settle down in future segments.
La Strega (The witch): Using Morricone's score from The Bird With the Crystal Plumage, this has Cinzia's party guests playing a game called "The Witch" that ends with children screaming and holding a bloody head.
Addormentarsi (Falling asleep): A man is possessed by a demon just before he falls asleep and then devours his dog. This uses "Anarchy in the UK" by the Sex Pistols.
Sammy: Sammy is a young girl who is frightened when Santa enters her room. Then Santa removes his face and reveals a monster. It's simple but it really works.
L'incubo di chi voleva interpretare l'incubo di Dario Argento (The Nightmare of the One Who Wished to Explain Dario Argento's Nightmare): A young man comes to REI to be part of this series and when he stays at a hotel, he soon learns he's in a room with foreigners who steal everything he has and then threaten to kill him. It turns out that it's all a set-up by Argento.
At the beginning of every episode, Argento appears, often with Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni (Demons 2, Il Bosco 1, Opera) all gothed out and acting as his starry-eyed assistant.
Argento also created another segment for Giallo, Turno di notte (Night Shift), which was about what happens to cab drivers at night. Episodes were also directed by Lamberto Bava and Luigi Cozzi. He also shared how he filmed several big moments in his most famous movies, such as the Loma camera sequence in Tenebrae; the bird attack in Opera, the transformation scenes in Demons 2 and how he directed Goblin to create the score for Suspiria. These scenes are worth watching and also appear in the Luigi Cozzi-directed Dario Argento: Master of Horror.
While this is by no means necessary watching for those with a passing interest in Italian horror, for devotees of the form and Argento, it is required viewing. It's the chance to basically get nine new stories even if they are very short.
