Dario Argento's THE MOTHER OF TEARS

[Dr. Tongue]

I AM SO FREAKING PSYCHED FOR THIS. Argento's long awaited finale to his "3 mothers" trilogy, which began in 1977 with Suspiria, and continued with 1980's Inferno, is going into production soon, aiming for an fall 2007 release. What excites me most is that Dario is apparently going back to his more theatrical style of the 70's and 80's insted of the more realistic style of his recent films. A script review has turned up:

[b]Alan Jones writes:

"Hi, Nick. Just back from Cannes where I picked up the MOTHER OF TEARS script. And you know something it’s actually very good. The credits on the screenplay read Jace Anderson, Dario Argento and Adam Gierasch in that order. I have no intention of revealing anything too major in the following synopsis so you don’t need to worry.

Set in modern-day Rome, it begins with the church grave of legendary occult fighter Oscar de la Vallee being unearthed by bulldozers. Chained to the coffin by crucifixes is an urn that is sent to Rome museum art restoration student Sarah Mandy (Sienna Miller in talks to play the part according to Cannes hype).

Unsealing the urn with her friend Giselle she finds a red satin robe encrusted with jewels, a golden dagger and three demonic terracotta figures. They all belong to the Mother of Tears (Mater Lachrymarum as per De Quincey, spelt Lachrimarum in the script) reborn through Giselle cutting her finger while opening up the urn. The three deformed demons spring to life and eviscerate Giselle, garrotting her with her own intestines, in a spectacular set piece clearly meant to rival the SUSPIRIA opening.

This puts Sarah on the run from occult forces through a panic-stricken Rome, awash in a rash of crime and suicides, to uncover the truth about her mysterious spiritual past, and face the cruellest Mother of all at the vast Palazzo Varelli. The story is full of marvellous moments (the Mother of Tears bleeds jewels that scorch the skin), outrageous gore (one character becomes a demonic buffet while still alive, someone gets chopped pieces, assorted deaths by medieval torture instruments) and terrific special effects (the Mother licking the tears off crying faces with a giant tongue, Sarah’s guardian angel appearing in powder blown from a compact).

It connects to SUSPIRIA and INFERNO in very intriguing ways – the Tanz Akademie students, ornate wall decorations revealing secret passages, and the pivotal clue “What you see doesn’t exist and what you can’t see is truthâ€

[Lord Hastur]

:rockon: I'm so charged!!!

This is gonna be the "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!"!

[Chop Top]

A set report from Alan Jones:

[b]‘MAGIC IS ALL AROUND US’


I witnessed Italian Horror History being made on November 15, 2006. In a distinctively Dario rococo decorated apartment on the Corso Govone in the swankiest of Turin neighbourhoods, three generations of Argentos came together as one. Finally. There was Dario and Daria Nicolodi, joking and laughing, doting on their grand-daughter Anna-Lou as all three lovingly watched Asia act out one of the key scenes in THE THIRD MOTHER, the hugely anticipated sequel to SUSPIRIA and INFERNO. When Daria took her first, admittedly, hesitant steps on set, it was like royalty had arrived. The atmosphere was incredible and every single person in the crew was clearly conscious of what a momentous occasion was actually happening before our very eyes. After decades of arguments over the authorship of SUSPIRIA, the subsequent infighting, recriminations and relationship fall-outs, here were the key players in the saga together again at last. And with their world famous actress daughter, continuing the beloved horror mythology they created in the presence of grand-daughter Anna Lou, who looks a dead-ringer for Daria. I admit I was so overcome, I cried. And then laughed, because in context of this sequel being about the Mother of Tears, it seemed entirely appropriate. Director of photography Frederic Fasano (SCARLET DIVA, DO YOU LIKE HITCHCOCK?) noticed my emotional response and just said one word “Magicâ€

[Dagarah72]