Known for Directing
Dario Argento was born on September 7, 1940, in Rome, Italy, the first-born son of famed Italian producer Salvatore Argento and Brazilian fashion model Elda Luxardo. Argento recalls getting his ideas for filmmaking from his close-knit family from Italian folk tales told by his parents and other family members, including an aunt who told him frighting bedtime stories. Argento based most of his thriller movies on childhood trauma, yet his own--according to him--was a normal one. Along with tales spun by his aunt, Argento was impressed by stories from The Grimm Brothers, Hans Christian Andersen and Edgar Allan Poe. Argento started his career writing for various film journal magazines while still in his teens attending a Catholic high school. After graduation, instead of going to college, Argento took a job as a columnist for the Rome daily newspaper "Paese Sera". Inspired by the movies, he later found work as a screenwriter and wrote several screenplays for a number of films, but the most important were his western collaborations, which included Cimitero senza croci (1969) and the Sergio Leone masterpiece C'era una volta il West (1968). He is known in italy as Master of Horror.
Born
September 7, 1940 (age 86)
Birthplace
Rome, Lazio, Italy
Filmography
182 films, 17 shows


CVLT
2023 · 8m
country: Italy
In the clip for the song "Cvlt" the rappers Salmo and Noyz Narcos go to the master's house. Things take an unexpected turn.


Dark Glasses
2022 · 1h 26m
country: France
Diana, a high-class prostitute trying to escape from a serial killer, suffers a car accident that leaves her blind and kills the family of Chin, a ten-year-old boy.


Dracula 3D
2012 · 1h 50m
country: France
When Englishman Jonathan Harker visits the exotic castle of Count Dracula, he is entranced by the mysterious aristocrat. But upon learning that the count has sinister designs on his wife, Mina, Harker seeks help from vampire slayer Van Helsing.


Giallo
2010 · 1h 32m
country: Italy
In Italy, a woman fears her sister has been kidnapped; Inspector Enzo Avolfi fears it's worse. They team up to rescue her from a sadistic killer known only as Yellow.


The Mother of Tears
2007 · 1h 42m
country: Italy
An ancient urn is found in a cemetery outside Rome. Once opened, it triggers a series of violent incidents: robberies, rapes and murders increase dramatically, while several mysterious, evil-looking young women coming from all over the world are gathering in the city. All these events are caused by the return of Mater Lacrimarum, the last of three powerful witches who have been spreading terror and death for centuries. Alone against an army of psychos and demons, Sarah Mandy, an art student who seems to have supernatural abilities of her own, is the only person left to prevent the Mother of Tears from destroying Rome.


Pelts
2006 · 58m
country: Canada
Jake Feldman is a furrier struggling to build a business while being tormented by his obsession with a stripper. When a sadistic backwoods trapper kills a strange group of pet raccoons, Jake knows their luxurious hides could make a coat that will change his fortunes forever. Only these are no ordinary pelts: the cursed furs will wreak vengeance on anyone who touches them.


Jenifer
2005 · 58m
country: United States
After a detective rescues a mute disfigured woman from being murdered, he takes her into his home to prevent her from staying in a mental hospital, a move which alienates his family and soon turns to obsession.


Do You Like Hitchcock?
2005 · 1h 33m
country: Italy
A nerdy film student and lifelong voyeur begins to believe that two lovely young strangers may have conspired to commit a brutal murder.


The Card Player
2004 · 1h 43m
country: Italy
Policewoman Anna Mari is forced to play a dangerous game with the title serial killer. If she loses, she witnesses the maniac's tortured victims having their throats cut in explicit close-up detail via webcam. She teams up with British cop John Brennan to find out the identity of the murderer.


Sleepless
2001 · 1h 57m
country: Italy
An elderly and retired police detective and a young amateur sleuth team up to find a serial killer whom has resumed a killing spree in Turin, Italy after a 17-year hiatus.


The Phantom of the Opera
1998 · 1h 44m
country: Hungary
A series of terrifying accidents and brutal murders leave a bloody trail into the subterranean caverns of an Opera house. Below the theatre stalks a man raised by creatures of the underworld.


The Stendhal Syndrome
1996 · 1h 59m
country: Italy
A young policewoman slowly goes insane while tracking down an elusive serial rapist/killer through Italy when she herself becomes a victim of the brutal man's obsession.


Trauma
1993 · 1h 49m
country: Italy
A young Romanian woman and a recovering drug addict launch an unlikely investigation after her parents are murdered by a vicious serial killer known as The Headhunter.


The King of Ads
1991 · 1h 31m
country: France
A collection of European T.V. commercials directed by a variety of well-known directors from across Europe and the U.S. Compiled and produced by Jean-Marie Boursicot.


Two Evil Eyes
1990 · 2h
country: Italy
A duo of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations about a greedy wife's attempt to embezzle her dying husband's fortune, and a sleazy reporter's adoption of a strange black cat.


Opera
1987 · 1h 47m
country: Italy
A young opera singer is stalked by a deranged fan bent on killing the people associated with her to claim her for himself.


Phenomena
1985 · 1h 55m
country: Italy
A young girl, with an amazing ability to communicate with insects, is transferred to an exclusive Swiss boarding school, where her unusual capability might help solve a string of murders.


Tenebre
1982 · 1h 41m
country: Italy
A razor-wielding serial killer is on the loose, murdering those around Peter Neal, an American mystery author in Italy to promote his newest novel.


Inferno
1980 · 1h 47m
country: Italy
A young man returns from Rome to his sister's satanic New York apartment house.


Suspiria
1977 · 1h 39m
country: Italy
An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.


Deep Red
1975 · 2h 7m
country: Italy
An English pianist living in Rome witnesses the brutal murder of his psychic neighbor. With the help of a tenacious young reporter, he tries to discover the killer using very unconventional methods. The two are soon drawn into a shocking web of dementia and violence.


The Five Days
1973 · 2h 2m
country: Italy
In 1848 Milan, a thief and a baker witness the chaotic final days of the Italian Revolution.


Four Flies on Grey Velvet
1971 · 1h 44m
country: France
Roberto, a drummer in a rock band, keeps receiving weird phone calls and being followed by a mysterious man. One night he manages to catch up with his persecutor and tries to get him to talk but in the ensuing struggle he accidentally stabs him. He runs away, but he understands his troubles have just begun when the following day he receives an envelope with photos of him killing the man. Someone is killing all his friends and trying to frame him for the murders.


The Cat o' Nine Tails
1971 · 1h 52m
country: Germany
A newsman works with a blind puzzle-solver to uncover a deadly conspiracy linked to a genetic research facility.


The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
1970 · 1h 36m
country: Germany
An American writer living in Rome witnesses an attempted murder that is connected to an ongoing killing spree in the city and conducts his own investigation, despite him and his girlfriend being targeted by the killer.