Friday, June 26, 2009

Updated Argento rankings

9:05 PM / Cinema / Comments12 Comments

Cinema

Having now seen Giallo, I think the time is ripe for me to update my ranking list for Dario Argento's films. In order of favourite to least favourite, they are:

  1. Suspiria *****
  2. Deep Red *****
  3. Opera *****
  4. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage ****½
  5. Inferno ****½
  6. The Stendhal Syndrome ****½
  7. Tenebrae ****½
  8. Phenomena ****
  9. Four Flies on Grey Velvet ****
  10. The Card Player ***½
  11. The Cat O' Nine Tails ***½
  12. Giallo ***½
  13. Mother of Tears ***½
  14. Two Evil Eyes (segment The Black Cat) ***½
  15. Sleepless ***
  16. Trauma ***
  17. Do You Like Hitchcock? ***
  18. The Phantom of the Opera **

This list has remained remarkably static for some time now. His post-Phantom output does tend to shift around a little for me, though. For instance, Sleepless seems to go down in my estimation every time I revisit it, while The Card Player goes up. Conversely, Mother of Tears has remained in much the same position, holding the middle ground. By and large, though, there have been no major changes since the last time I put together one of these lists.

Feel free to reply to this post with your own lists.

Updated Saturday, June 27, 2009 at 06:01 PM: Updated with ratings for each film.

 
12 Comments

1. Guillaume said:

Time is kind to films like "The bird with the crystal plumage" and "The Card Player",i think...these films age very well,i always enjoy watching them from time to time...

"Phantom of the opera" and "Sleepless" are in fact the only ones that leave me a bit cold and that i struggle to watch on the whole...even a "minor" Argento work like "Do you like Hitchock?" ages better than "Sleepless" and is more fun to watch on repeated vieweings.

(Posted on Friday, June 26, 2009 at 9:46 PM)

2. Daniel Sardella said:

Here's mine:

1. Suspiria
2. Deep Red
3. Opera
4. The Bird With The Crystal Plumage
5. Inferno
6. Tenebre
7. The Cat O' Nine Tails
8. Phenomena
9. The Stendhal Syndrome
10. Four Flies On Grey Velvet
11. Two Evil Eyes (segment The Black Cat)
12. Mother Of Tears

Those are the only ones I've seen/own, not including both MOH episodes.

(Posted on Friday, June 26, 2009 at 10:12 PM)

3. Marcus said:

Nothing in that list that I really disagree with other than The Card Player over Cat O'Nine Tails or the too low of a ranking for The Black Cat.

(Posted on Saturday, June 27, 2009 at 4:16 AM)

4. Peter von Frosta said:

My personal ranking (as far as I've seen his movies):


1. Opera
2. Deep Red
3. Suspiria
4. The Card Player
5. Tenebrae
6. Inferno
7. Trauma
8. The Phantom of the Opera

You can say that I did'nt like everything below Card Player very much.

(Posted on Saturday, June 27, 2009 at 12:02 PM)

5. Marcus said:

I know some people who would go ballistic by seeing Tenebrae and Inferno below The Card Player. :D

(Posted on Saturday, June 27, 2009 at 5:06 PM)

6. Peter von Frosta said:

Maybe so but I find them both so boring.

(Posted on Saturday, June 27, 2009 at 5:24 PM)

7. colinr said:

I'd go ballistic over Tenebrae below Card Player ;)

My list from the Argento's I've seen. I prefer the giallo stuff over the fantasy, though while I have conventionally ranked Suspiria above Inferno, the first 30-40 minutes of the later film surpass Suspiria in my opinion (it's just a shame about the rest!)

1. Tenebrae
2. Deep Red
3. The Bird With The Crystal Plumage
4. Suspiria
5. Inferno
6. The Stendhal Syndrome
7. Opera
8. The Card Player
9. Phenomena
10. Sleepless
11. Trauma

I have Phantom of the Opera but am working up the nerve to see it. Ditto Mother of Tears! And I have Cot O'Nine Tails, Four Flies and Do You Like Hitchcock? but have still to find time for them.

(Posted on Sunday, June 28, 2009 at 5:06 PM)

8. Corky Burger said:

1. Suspiria
2. Inferno
3. Deep Red
4. Cat O' Nine Tails
5. Trauma
6. Mother of Tears
7. Tenebre
8. Phenomena
9. Bird WIth Crystal Plumage
10. The Black Cat
10. Card Player
11. Pelts
12. Phantom of the Opera
13. Jenifer
14. Opera
15. Sleepless

Not seen: Five Days of Milan, Stendhal Syndrome, Hitchcock, Giallo

(Posted on Monday, June 29, 2009 at 5:17 AM)

9. Lex said:

1. Suspiria
2. Phenomena
3. Deep Red
4. Opera
5. Inferno
6. The Stendhal Syndrome
7. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
8. Tenebrae
9. Four Flies on Grey Velvet
10. The Card Player
11. Trauma
11. The Cat O' Nine Tails
17. Do You Like Hitchcock?
12. Sleepless
14. Two Evil Eyes (segment The Black Cat)
13. Mother of Tears
18. The Phantom of the Opera

(Posted on Monday, June 29, 2009 at 6:28 PM)

10. avanze said:

.tenebre
.suspiria
.profondo rosso
.opera
.four flies on grey velvet
.inferno
.phenomena
.the card player
.stendhal syndrome
.bird with the crystal plumage

My top ten is something like that, bottom half is somewhat flexible, but know that Tenebre is my all time favourite Argento, as I do prefer his Gialli which explains the high placement of Il Cartaio.

(Posted on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 11:40 AM)

11. Author Profile Page Michael said:

Great to see everyone's lists, and nice to see the underrated The Card Player getting a little bit of love here and there. That said, I think Peter is the first person I've come across to rate it above Tenebrae or Inferno!

(Posted on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 5:10 PM)

12. Craig said:

Here's my top ten of what I have seen.

1. Opera
2. Suspiria
3. The Bird With The Crystal Plumage
4. Deep Red
5. The Stendhal Syndrome
6. Sleepless
7. Phenomena
8. Tenebrae
9. Mother Of Tears
10. Trauma

(Posted on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 9:03 PM)

 
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