Horror fans rejoice. The master is back. After a string of films ranging from so-so to abysmal, Italian horror legend Dario Argento has returned to ‘70s and ‘80s fighting form with his latest work, The Mother of Tears.
The much-anticipated fright flick opened TIFF's Midnight Madness program and didn’t disappoint the throngs of Argento-philes in attendance.
The Mother of Tears, like many Argento films, is heavy on the director's trademark stylized murder sequences and light on elements that usually make or break a picture, like say, sensible plot or engrossing dialogue. But let’s call a spade a spade. This isn't high art. It's a crowd-pleasing schlock fest. And oh what a glorious schlock fest it is.
MOT is the final installment in Argento’s Three Mothers Trilogy, which includes the 1977 cult-smash Suspiria and its follow-up Inferno. Even though MOT belongs to a "trilogy" there's no real background knowledge required.
A mysterious urn is unearthed in Rome and turned over to a local museum where Sarah Mandy (played by Dario's daughter Asia Argento) and a colleague break the object's seal thereby restoring powers to the ancient dark witch Mater Lachrymarum - the Mother of Tears. Evil witches from across the globe descend on Rome and their supernatural powers possess the city’s citizens and turn the streets into a violent, chaotic bloodbath. Cue the grizzly set pieces.
MOT has a standout collection of Argento's bloodiest and most horrific stock-in-trade death scenes each more brutal than the next. Eyes are gouged out and organs are extracted in nasty fashion. One of the heroines perishes when a blunt object is inserted into the most, ahem, private of places. This on the heels of a nudy lesbian scene, of course. Even children aren't spared with one youngling tossed from a bridge and another gobbled by a pack of hungry evil-doers.
Almost forgot to mention the sadistic-as-fuck monkey and the T&A witch orgies.
Between the visceral murder sequences, Argento crafts some truly frightening moments that left even the most jaded, seen-it-all Midnight Madness fans gasping in terror and squealing in delight. Adding to the surreal nature of it all was a mid-film fire alarm at the Ryerson Theatre which likely left TIFF organizers red in the face seeing as it was the world premiere.
MOT isn't without faults. The typical complaints about Argento's previous work resurface. This includes laughable dialogue that isn't intended to be funny, ridiculous dubbing jobs, workshops in overacting (hello Udo Kier) and plot holes galore. Par for the course, really. But Argento fans can breathe a sigh of relief. Even the to-be-expected shortcomings, the cult director has given his starved fans a gift they’ve craved for a long time. He’s laid down his best work in 30 years. Welcome back, maestro.