Dario Argento: Panico Review | Documenting the Brilliant but Flawed Horror Master

Four years after tackling the life of Italian horror maestro in Fulci for Fake, writer-director Simone Scafidi returns to the technicolor world of Italian giallo filmmakers with a retrospective look at arguably the greatest of them all: Dario Argento. Dario Argento: Panico gives genre fans an extensive, if not somewhat shallow, portrait of the master filmmaker from his early career as a film critic and screenwriter to his decades-long success as genre royalty.

The film begins with Argento on his way to a hotel — a mainstay of his screenwriting process — where he sets out to write his newest screenplay. The car ride to the hotel is playfully tense as Scafidi intercuts similar moments from Argento’s films accompanied by an anxiety-inducing score, ultimately showing the ominous German dance school from Suspiria before revealing Argento’s temporary abode. Calm and serene, the beautiful wellness retreat nestled in the lush Roman countryside is a far cry from the hostile buildings inhabited by Argento’s subjects. This is where the master will write his newest work, this time accompanied by a film crew intent on capturing his process and discussing his decades-long career.

Argento’s Eye for Beauty Came at an Early Age

Dario Argento: Panico

3.5 /5

Release Date February 2, 2024

Director Simone Scafidi

Runtime 1hr 38min

Writers Manlio Gomarasca , Giada Mazzoleni , Davide Pulici

Pros

• A thorough look at the auteur’s career
• Fascinating descriptions of Argento’s relationships with the women in his life
• A well-judged neutral perspective on Argento’s later works

Cons

• Could have experimented stylistically given the subject is Argento
• The doc doesn’t have much to say about its subject and events

Going into Panico, there’s an expectation of dual stories: one about Dario Argento’s life and films, and one about his writing his latest screenplay, perhaps with some reflection on the perceived dip in quality in the 1990s and 2000s. But Scafidi lets Argento’s latest screenwriting endeavor live in the background while quietly injecting a different narrative into the mix: the role of women in Argento’s life and their subsequent effect on his work. The story of Argento’s career begins with his mother, photographer Elda Luxardo, and her work that captured both the feminine mystique and a young Dario’s imagination. Luxardo “was specialized in showing the beauty of women,” Argento tells us, and it was watching her work first-hand that led him to elevate women in his films.

From here, Panico explores more of Argento’s early life — his adventurous travels, his interest in classical literature, his first job as a film critic, his screenwriting credit on the Sergio Leone classic Once Upon a Time in the West — before jumping into his directorial debut, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. The film was a major hit in Italy and a surprise success in America, establishing the young Argento as an up-and-coming master and popularizing the Giallo genre.

What follows is the tale of Argento’s rise and eventual fall: from the “Animal Trilogy” (The Cat o’ Nine Tales and Four Flies on Grey Velvet); to the poorly received comedy The Five Days; to his triumphant return with fan favorites like Deep Red and Suspiria; and finally, to the failed films that came post-Opera. Though the film does suggest some possible reasons for this downturn in quality, Scafidi neither excuses nor lambasts these works, instead presenting them as one part of a monumental catalog.

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A History of Argento, From Friends, Family, and Fans

Structurally, Panico doesn’t break the mold of other documentaries like it, relying on a mixture of talking head interviews, old behind-the-scenes footage, and archival interviews and news stories to paint a picture of Argento’s illustrious, though imperfect, filmography. The interviews might be thought of in three categories, the first being with collaborators and contemporaries like Luigi Cozzi and Michael Soavi, who are able to describe the experience of working alongside such a titanic talent at the height of his career and beyond.

The second type of interview is with modern filmmakers whose own careers are clearly inspired by Argento. Gaspar Noé, Nicholas Winding Refn, and Guillermo Del Toro all make appearances to enlighten the audience as to what it is that makes Argento a master of his craft. Finally, there are the interviews with the women — mostly family members — who lovingly and painstakingly describe the experience of living and working with the horror maestro.

At the end of it all, what’s most striking about Dario Argento: Panico is the clear throughline of feminine power and beauty that flows through the director’s life and work. From sister Floriana Argento and first wife Marisa Casale, we learn about a young Dario with love in his heart and the trauma of WWII on his mind. From Opera star Christina Marssilach, we get an impression of what it was like working for Argento — the good and the bad.

Perhaps most importantly, it is from Argento’s daughters, Fiore and Asia, that we come to understand the story behind the story, of a father whose passion for filmmaking would always come from a love for and strange curiosity about women. It was the women in Dario Argento’s life that made possible his astonishing career — his mother, sister, ex-wife, daughters, actresses, and especially the absent Daria Nicolodi, without whom some of the director’s best films wouldn’t exist.

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Dario Argento: Panico Could Do More with its Stellar Subject

As a retrospective of the great director’s career, Dario Argento: Panico is great, a stellar primer for new fans and a reminder to old fans of the greatness that exists even in those later, lesser-loved films. The documentary paints a lovely picture of a decades-long career that continues to shape the cinema landscape despite the decline in quality seen in Argento’s later work. It’s also lovely to see the women in Argento’s life highlighted, that they not only inspired him but maybe scared him a little bit, too.

That said, it feels like Panico needs something more. Perhaps if Scafidi had leaned in more to Dario’s latest screenplay, which functions more as a frame for the documentary rather than feeling like a vital clue to understanding the aging maestro. Or maybe if the film more frequently placed that famed Argento dread over its narrative; the moments when Scafidi subtly mimics the director’s style to make Dario a character in his own thriller are delightful, if underplayed.

Or perhaps still if the documentary offered a stronger critique of Argento’s treatment of women in real life and on the screen, a stronger sense that though the director is clearly passionate about women, he was still capable of, and often did do, great harm to the ones in his life. Dario Argento: Panico isn’t particularly groundbreaking, but it is still worth watching for anyone wishing to learn more about the life and history behind one of horror’s, and film’s, greatest directors.

Dario Argento Panico is available to stream exclusively on Shudder on February 2.

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