Beware of Dario Argento: A 20-Film Retrospective
Film at Lincoln Center and Cinecittà present Beware of Dario Argento: A 20-Film Retrospective, a retrospective of the iconic Italian horror director’s influential feature films, 17 of them premiering in brand-new 4K restorations, with the director in person for select screenings. Presented in collaboration with Italian Cultural Institute.
Ever since his heart-stopping directorial debut in 1970, Dario Argento has been redrawing the boundaries of cinematic horror with flamboyant violence, feverish plotting, and deliriously stylized compositions. Initially associated with giallo, the pulpy Italian subgenre he helped formalize and would later take to unprecedented heights with his international breakthrough, Deep Red (1975), Argento embraces a gamut of fantastical influences—from sublime Gothic art and penny dreadfuls to Murnau, Hitchcock, and Disney—with his distinctively baroque style of disorientating cinematography, stained-glass colorwork, and elaborate musical scores (often composed by his own rotating house group, Goblin).
The retrospective will pay homage to Argento’s singular voice in horror cinema, from his seminal debut feature The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, widely regarded with popularizing gialli internationally, and other unforgettable contributions to the subgenre including: Deep Red, Tenebrae, and Opera; to his masterful paranormal-tinged Phenomena, and supernatural “Three Mothers Trilogy”: the wildly influential Suspiria, 35mm screenings of Inferno, and Mother of Tears; to underscreened gems like Trauma, The Stendhal Syndrome, The Black Cat, and Dracula 3D, as well as his made-for-television feature Do You Like Hitchcock?. The lineup also will host the North American Premiere of Dark Glasses, his first film in 10 years.
Organized by Madeline Whittle and Tyler Wilson of Film at Lincoln Center, and by Camilla Cormanni, Paola Ruggiero, and Marco Cicala of Cinecittà. Co-produced by Cinecittà, Rome. Presented in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute.
In honor of Beware of Dario Argento: A 20-Film Retrospective, don’t miss an exclusive poster exhibit of Argento titles curated by Posteritati in the Furman Gallery, located in the Walter Reade Theater. Free and open to the public through June 23!
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The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
World Premiere of New 4K Restoration | Q&A with Dario Argento on June 17
For his seminal directorial debut, Argento took Fredric Brown's novel The Screaming Mimi and transformed it into a horror-inflected whodunit of voyeuristic delirium.The Cat o’ Nine Tails
World Premiere of New 4K Restoration
Argento chased The Bird with the Crystal Plumage’s box-office success with his most accessible giallo thriller, a hybrid mystery/buddy movie that pairs Karl Malden’s blind cruciverbalist with James Franciscus’s intrigued reporter.Four Flies on Grey Velvet
4K Restoration
The final entry in Argento’s “Animal” trilogy of giallo thrillers follows a prog-rock drummer (Michael Brandon) who is blackmailed for a murder that he may or may not have committed.The Five Days
World Premiere of New 4K Restoration
Singer/songwriter Adriano Celentano stars in this broad and bleak farce, a period piece set during Italy’s Revolutions of 1848. Inspired by true events, this spaghetti western–style comedy warns viewers not to be seduced by nationalistic demagogues and the mobs that serve them.Deep Red
World Premiere of New 4K Restoration | Q&A with Dario Argento on June 18
In Argento’s most stylistically and narratively rich giallo thriller, David Hemmings stars as a jazz pianist who struggles to remember a vital piece of evidence after witnessing the murder of a German psychic (Macha Méril).Suspiria
U.S. Premiere of New Restoration | Intro by Dario Argento on June 18
Dario Argento’s witchy freak-out is one of cinema’s most potent hallucinogens: a sustained spectacle of outrageously stylized violence and eye-popping art direction set to Goblin’s iconic prog-occult score.Inferno
Tenebrae
World Premiere of New 4K Restoration | Intro by Dario Argento on June 17
A deranged killer reenacts the work of popular mystery novelist Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) in this exuberantly perverse giallo thriller, Argento’s macabre riposte to his armchair-psychologist critics.Phenomena
World Premiere of New 4K Restoration | Q&A with Dario Argento on June 19
In Argento’s singularly bizarre, paranormal-tinged giallo, Jennifer Connelly stars as a sleepwalking, telepathic 14-year-old who teams up with a forensic entomologist (Donald Pleasence) and his nurse—a trained chimpanzee named Inga—to investigate a string of brutal murders.Opera
World Premiere of New 4K Restoration
A budding soprano (Cristina Marsillach) is tormented by a murderous stalker during a production of Giuseppi Verdi’s Macbeth in this unnerving mid-career gem, inspired by Argento’s unsuccessful real-life bid to mount a stage production of Verdi’s Rigoletto.The Black Cat
World Premiere of New 4K Restoration
Harvey Keitel stars as an unlovable, Weegee-esque photographer who grows obsessed with a mysterious black cat that keeps wandering into his darkroom in this unnerving pastiche, Argento’s contribution to the Two Evil Eyes horror pairing.Trauma
World Premiere of New 4K Restoration
This chilly mystery thriller follows Aura (Asia Argento), an anorexic teenager on the run after her parents’ murder at the hands of a mysterious serial killer.The Stendhal Syndrome
World Premiere of New 4K Restoration
Asia Argento delivers her first great lead performance in this dark psychological thriller, starring as a police officer who’s raped and stalked by a killer (Thomas Kretschmann) after fainting in Florence’s Uffizi Gallery.The Phantom of the Opera
World Premiere of New 4K Restoration
In Argento’s bloody adaptation of Leroux gothic classic, the outwardly handsome Phantom (Julian Sands) woos Christine (Asia Argento) even as he must evade the pursuit of István Bubik’s grubby Rat Catcher.Sleepless
World Premiere of New 4K Restoration
Max von Sydow plays a retired policeman tasked with solving a decades-old cold case known as “The Dwarf Murders,” in this Turin-set whodunit.The Card Player
World Premiere of New 4K Restoration
A killer challenges a Roman police inspector (Stefania Rocca) and a visiting Irish cop (Liam Cunningham) to a series of high-stakes online poker games in this characteristically tart, Dogme 95-inspired poliziesco detective thriller.Do You Like Hitchcock?
World Premiere of New 2K Restoration
Originally intended to be the pilot episode of a cinema-themed Italian TV series, this playful thriller follows Giulio (Elio Germano), a clueless academic and reluctant voyeur who stumbles upon a murder plot involving his sexy neighbor (Elisabetta Rocchetti) and a mysterious blonde (Chiara Conti).Mother of Tears
World Premiere of New 4K Restoration
In this giddy and gross conclusion to Argento’s “Three Mothers” trilogy, Daria Nicolodi and Udo Kier return to help Asia Argento fight the pitiless, bloodthirsty witch Mater Lachrymarum (Moran Atias) and her cannibalistic acolytes.Dracula 3D
Presented in 3D
The Stendhal Syndrome co-stars Thomas Kretschmann and Asia Argento reunite as Count Dracula and Lucy in Argento’s idiosyncratic update of Bram Stoker’s foundational vampire novel, shot in vivid 3D by Luciano Tovoli.Dark Glasses
North American Premiere | Intro by Dario Argento on June 19
In this unusually tender giallo thriller, Diana (Ilenia Pastorelli), a Roman sex worker, and Chin (Andrea Zhang), a Chinese-Italian preteen, try to catch a wire-wielding serial strangler in the aftermath of a fateful car crash.Tickets are $15; $12 for students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities; and $10 for Film at Lincoln Center members.
Save with the purchase of three tickets or more with the 3+ Film Package. Discount automatically applied when adding at least three tickets to your cart.
In honor of Beware of Dario Argento: A 20-Film Retrospective, don’t miss an exclusive poster exhibit of Argento titles curated by Posteritati in the Furman Gallery, located in the Walter Reade Theater. Free and open to the public through June 23!
Limited quantity just added! See more and save with All-Access Passes for $99 and Student All-Access Passes for $49.
Passes will be available to pick up at the box office starting the first day of the series. Your pass will grant access to one (1) for every film in the series, with exceptions listed on our website where applicable. We recommend arriving at least 15 minutes prior to a screening as late seating cannot be guaranteed. Passes do not give access to any free events or talks.