Dario Argento's Dark Glasses

[Matt H.]

I started to watch the R2 DVD and it doesn't have any English subtitle options! I went to Diabolik and they've changed the listing to include that it DOES NOT have English subs, only the Blu-ray does. It's been marked down to $4.99 whereas I had to pay $20. I feel a bit ripped off. Would you ask for some sort of credit?

Just wanted to give an update on this. I contacted Diabolik and they offered store credit plus shipping for the useless disc. Not sure if anybody else purchased this, but it's worth contacting them for a refund.

[Dom D]

It's not a complicated movie but still I'd wait for subs. Visually the movies not amazing so you won't be getting much off it that way. Plus, its probably the very last new Argento you'll ever get so best to watch it with dialogue. Just out of respect for the great man.

[Matt H.]

I started to watch the R2 DVD and it doesn't have any English subtitle options! I went to Diabolik and they've changed the listing to include that it DOES NOT have English subs, only the Blu-ray does. It's been marked down to $4.99 whereas I had to pay $20. I feel a bit ripped off. Would you ask for some sort of credit?

Is the movie hard to follow if I were to try and watch it w/o subs or is it too dialogue-heavy to even attempt it?

[agent999]

Well, that was all a bit inconsequential. I mean, it's not bad, but just so slight. I really hated the photography, another one of these modern keep the middle in focus but blur the fuck out of everything else things. The music annoyed the shit out of me, mostly out of place and not in a crazy Goblin-like way. I liked the central relationship calling back to Cat o'Nine Tails, but it's probably not wise to recreate one of the set pieces from Suspiria when you no longer have the budget or the skills. There's one left field bit of craziness at the start of the third act, but that was a bit fumbled. I have a hunch that the script was hacked apart to meet the obviously low budget and that this was far better on paper. It could have been worse.

[Darcy Parker]

Although it’s not great Argento (for me the last one in that category would be OPERA), SLEEPLESS is the last one he made that I like enough to occasionally return to it, even if it has some goofy elements I find worthy of comparison to NEW YORK RIPPER.

I will definitely check this one out when it becomes available to me.

Anything has got to be better than Dracula 3D, at least!

[Lorne Marshall]

Although it’s not great Argento (for me the last one in that category would be OPERA), SLEEPLESS is the last one he made that I like enough to occasionally return to it, even if it has some goofy elements I find worthy of comparison to NEW YORK RIPPER.

I will definitely check this one out when it becomes available to me.

[agent999]

Apparently that Italian BD has English subs even though it doesn't list them on the back cover. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=351609

Cheers!

[f.ramses]

Apparently that Italian BD has English subs even though it doesn't list them on the back cover. https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=351609

[Lalala76]

Italian blu

[Dom D]

Sounds like a positive review, Dom. Hopefully this will get a physical release in the U.S. since I don't subscribe to Shudder.

I think even more positively of it now I've had some time to sit on it. I put it on expecting to hate it after the last couple of his films and I think that coloured my viewing experience. I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Stylistically it's pretty dry but otherwise solid giallo. No cgi, lots of tearing latex and syrup.

[James Reed]

Sounds like a positive review, Dom. Hopefully this will get a physical release in the U.S. since I don't subscribe to Shudder.

[Dom D]

This is not the worst film in the world. If it had been made in the 70s it might even have ranked as a minor classic. It wasn't made in the 70s though. At one point my girlfriend walked past and watched for 30 seconds before saying 'can you even call ita giallo with modern cars?' Its a fair point, I wish this had 70s fashion and cool.

It does have the synth score of an older Argento and there's an almost half hour long stalk at the end that is reasonably tense. The triumvirate of the blind prostitute (she loses her sight because she shares Trumps view of the best way to eclipse watch), the orphan Chinese boy and the murderous seeing eye dog is a winningly loopy giallo construct.

Characters, motivations and actions make no sense but I consider that a plus rather than a demerit. Its very Argento on that front. The guy has lost a lot when it comes to staging his set piece scenes however. There's a scene where 2 cops get killed that is completely crazed but would have been so much better staged as a stalking rather than what we get.

It's the most Argento film since Nonhosonno though and I'm not sorry it exists which I tend to be for new Argento. A tentative recommendation for those with a fond, forgiving eye.

[Ian Jane]

Ok, so the new vBulletin software doesn't let you merge stuff the way the old software did but I've 'copied' the old thread into this one.

I don't love the way it looks/reads, but such is life.

[Matt H.]

The other thread is under the title BLACK GLASSES.

[Ian Jane]

If I search for Dark Glasses I only see this one - can you shoot me a link?