Dario Argento is a director I must admit I just don’t “get”.  I found his supposed masterpiece Suspiria a badly-acted incomprehensible mess, but maybe that’s missing the point.

His movies don’t really care much about characterisation or logic, they are more about atmosphere and bloody set-pieces. Tenebrae (“Darkness”) is a ‘giallo’ thriller, featuring bad dubbing and several very gory murders. The plot revolves around American author in Rome Anthony Franciosa, who appears haunted by a serial killler inspired by his novels until – spoiler alert! – the killer is revealed to be the crazed author himself.

It is IMHO a pretty lousy movie. But it does feature one very memorable, fabulously constructed shot near the end.  Thinking Franciosa’s character is dead, a detective is framed facing the camera, but when he bends down to inspect a body, it is revealed that the killer is standing behind him, exactly hidden by his silhouette. Its a great shock moment – its just a pity that the rest of the movie that surrounds it is so mediocre!

This image is the French movie poster, which can be found for sale here. Interestingly, this was censored in some markets, with the bloodied throat replaced by an artful (and non-bloody) red ribbon choker, which makes not a jot of sense, but there you go.