European horror is unlike that of North America as there is not the same obsession with sequels as over here. While there are plenty of Eurohorror movies that may appear to be sequels, usually they are in name only and are merely just cash-ins on the title of a previously successful movie. That being said, there are two series that do stand out when one thinks of Eurohorror. The first is Amando de Ossorio's "Blind Dead" quartet and the other is Dario Argento's "Three Mothers" trilogy. The thing to note here is that de Ossorio made all four of his movies in the early 70's. Argento, on the other hand, started things off with the classic Suspiria in 1977, followed it up with Inferno in 1980, and then waited 27 years before concluding things with Mother of Tears in 2007. When this was first announced, I was happy that he was finally going to close the series he is best known for but I was also deeply concerned that he would not be able to recapture the style and mood that made the original two so special. The 70's were a unique time and it is almost impossible to duplicate some of the aspects of filmmaking in that era. Argento understands that and rather than trying to recreate the past, he sticks to what he does best by giving us some of the most inventive and gory kills of his career. This took me completely by surprise with some set-piece moments that I never saw coming.

Asia Argento (Dario's daughter) stars as Sarah, an art student who becomes involved in the mythology of witches when she is working late at an art gallery and opens a mysterious chest with a colleague. Before you know it, demons are unleashed, a monkey is running around, and people are getting strangled with their own intestines (and this is only the first few minutes). From here on, Sarah tries to unravel the mystery of the occult and sets out to destroy the last remaining witch, the Mother of Tears. Along the way, she encounters a variety of people most of whom reach unfortunate ends in a variety of brutal ways including throat slittings, eye puncturing, limb chopping, and even a brief Cannibal Holocaust-style impaling. There is also an extended chase scene involving a train station, some cool-looking catacombs, and Udo Kier. While the story is fairly straightforward, this is more of an old-school Argento flick that is all about the killings and the style.

This movie was nothing like I thought it would be. I was reminded many times of classic Eurohorror movies where the death scenes were totally shocking because there was no big build-up as is the trend these days. People were simply alive one minute and dead the next. There was no pussyfooting around in this flick; just a series of intensely violent death scenes while Asia tries to track down the head witch. Everything was paced quite well and I was excited to see how Argento would top himself throughout the flick, especially after the completely over-the-top death of Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni (who Argento fans will remember from Opera). In addition to all of the gore, there was some interesting camera work in the form of slow tracking shots as well as a super-long shot of Asia exploring an abandoned house right before the climax. Another surprise was quite a bit of nudity, which is uncharacteristic of Dario, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, my only complaints were some unfortunately cheesy bits featuring Daria Nicolodi that made me think of Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars (but poorly executed) and the ending which felt rushed and employed some CGI that would have been better off left out. It seemed as though Argento and his crew wanted to have a big extravagant finale but were not quite sure how to do it. Sometimes less is more but this is a minor gripe.

If this movie has been made a couple of years after Inferno, it would have been considered a classic Argento film. The problem is that he waited too long and this kind of movie is just not made anymore. We are used to a different kind of horror movie now and we can be overly critical of bad dialogue or slow pacing where we would not have cared twenty years ago. This movie took me back to a time when little mattered other than a few good death scenes and a couple of camera shots that made me think about how they pulled it off. If you know what I am talking about, put yourself in that place when you are watching this and you will have a great time. (Josh Pasnak, 10/7/08)

Directed By: Dario Argento.
Written By: Dario Argento, Jace Anderson, Adam Girasch.

Starring: Asia Argento, Cristian Solimeno, Adam James, Moran Atias.

Picture Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: Dimension Extreme provides a terrific print with no flaws that I could pick up on.

Extras: First up, we get a 30-minute featurette on the making of the film that features interview segments from Asia, visual effects supervisor Lee Wilson, and the Mother of Tears herself, Moran Atias. This was cut together with some behind the scenes footage along with quite a bit from the premiere of the film in Rome where a number of fans and critics are interviewed about Dario and his work. I would have liked to have seen a little more on the practical effects especially since long-time Argento collaborator Sergio Stivaletti was involved but it was still an interesting extra. Next, is an 8-minute interview with Dario about the film and the trilogy. We also get a pair of trailers for the movie. Last but not least, there are a few trailers that precede the main menu. This is notable because one of them is for Larry Bishop's much anticipated biker flick Hell Ride which looks hella cool! Hope it lives up to the hype.