I discovered Italian horror cinema a little over a decade ago. Prior to that, I had mostly heard about the way that they tended to make rip-off/sequels to popular American releases as seen with Zombi 2 or the La Casa series (which combined a number of films into a non-canonical and tangentially-at-best series beginning with The Evil Dead). After seeing Argento’s Suspiria and Lamberto Bava’s Demons in a one-two punch, I immediately realized how wrong I was to dismiss this part of the horror world for so long, and I’ve been steadily diving into the world of Italian horror cinema ever since. Severin Films has significantly helped to bring availability to the world of Dario Argento with their newest set, Dario Argento’s Deep Cuts, which collects a considerable amount of television works, documentaries, and other unusual bits of Argento’s work in a delightful and fascinating box set that’s now available on their site.

The collection is organized into three distinct sections, and it’s hard to say for certain if there’s one defining element. It almost feels like Severin found a bunch of disparate Argento features and just cobbled them together into a collection. That sounds like criticism, but I assure you this is more of a strength. This box set is just a bunch of Argento stuff, very good and very rare, and each section is worth diving further into.

Deep Cuts is broken up into:
1) Door Into Darkness
2) Night Shift
3) Dario Argento’s Nightmares

DOOR INTO DARKNESS:

Door into Darkness is a four-episode series of television films hosted by Argento and directed by him along with Luigi Cozzi (Star Crash), Mario Foglietti, and Roberto Pariante. These were created for RAI TV and were difficult endeavors for the team to craft as the television studio wanted to avoid knives and heavy violence…for an Argento series of television films. The four films are as follows:
-THE NEIGHBOR (Il vicino di casa), in which a young couple moves into an apartment come to realize that their upstairs neighbor has just killed his wife. It’s a slow burn but ramps up nicely at the end into an exciting conclusion. Directed by Luigi Cozzi.
-THE TRAM (Il Tram), in which a young woman is killed aboard a bustling tram with no witnesses to the grisly crime. An inspector intends to recreate the crime in order to catch the culprit. This is the most memorable and probably the best of the films in this series, this idea was birthed from an excised scene originally meant for The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. It’s a fascinating concept that would’ve benefited from more of Argento’s signatures that, unfortunately, would not have been allowed on television anyway. Directed by Dario Argento.
-THE DOLL (La Bambola) follows the police as they try to find an escaped mental patient. We, the audience, do not know the identity of the patient, and we are introduced to several people who could be the patient. A simple workable concept that doesn’t get interesting until the very end when all the pieces come together. The ending is excellent and uplifts the whole thing. Directed by Mario Foglietti.
-EYEWITNESS (Testimone Oculare), which follows a corpse that has disappeared from the crime scene. Roberta, who finds the body, starts to question her sanity. It’s maybe the weakest of the films, likely from behind-the-scenes troubles from director Roberto Pariante, causing Argento and Cozzi to step in and complete the piece.

Altogether, Door into Darkness is a mixed bag, but I’m so happy to have them in my collection, and I can see myself going back to them frequently during the spooky season (which is really any season for this viewer). There are elements of each film that are incredible, but you can also see where the television format hampered production, and there are plenty of mentions about RAI’s insistence that they not be too dark, which begs the question why they even wanted to partner with a notably dark artist.

One note: often, Italian films of the era would feature a lot of dubbing to allow for films to be played worldwide, but keep in mind that a number of the features in this set were not intended for international release, and thus feature subtitles but no dubbing options. Not a big issue, but I’ve always found the dubs in these instances to be rather charming, and I thought it worth mentioning.

NIGHT SHIFT:

On the third disc is the complete collection of Night Shift (Turno di notte), a small form television series that ran 1 season from 1987 to 1988 and comprised 15 episodes. The series was produced by Argento and revolved around cab drivers working the night shift and frequently solving murders. The episodes were directed by Luigi Cozzi and Lamberto Bava.

Night Shift is quite literally the biggest surprise of Dario Argento’s Deep Cuts. This series has a fantastic vibe to it that makes it very watchable even though it mostly functions as a traditional procedural. That being said, there are a number of recurring elements, including a glowing phantom taxi that the various drivers encounter throughout the series. It’s ludicrous that the cab drivers are this good at solving crimes, but the tone of the episodes is excellent, resting somewhere between feeling like a giallo and a David Lynch series. It’s easy to believe that these drivers would’ve encounter Agent Cooper and the people of Twin Peaks had it been geographically possible. Night Shift is the kind of hidden gem I had hoped to find in this collection, and I’m heartbroken that we didn’t get more of it.

DARIO ARGENTO’S NIGHTMARES:

The final disc contains a collection of segments called Dario Argento’s Nightmares, which were small videos that played on the RAI TV show Giallo, hosted by Enzo Tortora. Giallo ran from 1987-1988, and Dario Argento had several regular elements, including interviews, behind the scenes segments from his films, and Nightmares, which were reported to be horrific and bloody 3-minute pieces based on the weird nightmares of Argento, usually being a death scene. They are a fascinating part of Italian TV pop culture, and given the limited budget, they function as a neat artifact in the legacy of Argento. I don’t see myself sitting down to rewatch Nightmares as often as the other pieces in this set, but it’s welcome material nonetheless.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

DOOR INTO DARKNESS:
Both The Tram and Eyewitness have audio commentaries with Nathaniel Thompson of Mondo Digital and Troy Howarth, author of Murder by Design: The Unsane Cinema of Dario Argento. Neither commentary is life-changing, but I firmly believe that both offer plenty of insight into the making-of, connections to Argento’s other works, and with Eyewitness, more on the troubled production.

NIGHT SHIFT:
There are a few interviews on the third disc generally devoted to Night Shift, including ones with Argento, Luigi Cozzi, Lamberto Bava, Dardano Sacchetti, and Actress Antonella Vitale, who appeared in the show. These are fine interviews but there’s not a ton of extra fascinating information found.

DARIO ARGENTO’S NIGHTMARES:
Included with Nightmares is a feature referred to as Giallo Argento, which appears to be an archived episode of Giallo, though I’m not sure if it is an actual episode or just a collection of notable Argento moments. The collection doesn’t give much info on it, but like Nightmares, it functions as an interesting time piece.

ADDITIONAL SPECIAL FEATURES:
DARIO ARGENTO: MY CINEMA: This documentary feature is presented in two parts, directed by Luigi Cozzi and covering Argento’s career is rather broad strokes. It’s a fine documentary that covers a lot of Argento’s major releases leading to his production of The Phantom of the Opera, but it’s more of an introductory lesson than a deep dive.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Dario Argento’s Deep Cuts is a fascinating and peculiar set because most of what’s on these discs feels like special features, and that’s not a bad thing at all. It’s a hodgepodge of career moments from Argento’s time in television, and there’s some really great stuff here, all thrown together for Argento purists. There are items in this collection which haven’t been seen in decades, and I’m so happy that Severin Films put this amazing collection together, especially in a time of struggling physical media. This is for fans of Argento only, as newcomers should likely start with his more popular and classic features, but anyone interested in the history and world of Italian horror or world television should get a kick from this 4-disc love letter to the horror maestro. It’s one of the most unique releases of the past year, and I think every viewer will come away with a different favorite (mine definitely being Night Shift, can’t wait to watch it again). For me, this is a more-than-welcome addition to any Argento fan’s physical media collection.

-Kyle A. Goethe