Profundo Argento, written by Alan Jones, is a wonderfully insightful coffee table book detailing the career and artistry of the Italian director Dario Argento. Argento is perhaps best known as the foremost director of giallo thrillers that feature bizarre murder scenes and impenetrable mysteries, but Jones takes care to illuminate every aspect of the Maestro’s cinematic life; from his early days as a script writer to his role as a producer of innovative horror films, it is all chronicled in precise detail. And what a chronicle it is! The chapters are divided chronologically by film, offering commentary on both the cinema itself and the people involved in its creation. This is possibly Profundo Argento’s greatest strength. Whereas a book focused too singularly on Dario Argento as an auteur phenomenon could lapse into the realm of the disingenuous, Jones wisely sketches a complete picture of Argento’s film-making by including interviews with his family, his film crews, his associates, and the actors that bring his peculiar visions to life. From Suspiria to the Demons series, it is all lovingly cataloged. There can be no doubt that Jones is uniquely situated as an authority on his subject; not only is he a close confederate of Argento, but he has been a long-time reviewer and fan of his work since the beginning. Nevertheless, Jones’s privileged position within the Argento universe does not cause him to fawn needlessly over the films or to step too lightly over Argento’s sometimes problematic directorial quirks. It is much to Alan Jones’s credit that he refuses to pull any punches with his subject. Jones wisely includes his original reviews of Argento’s films, a sure sign that he was unwilling to let the years be kind to works he found sub par upon first viewing. As an art object in its own right, Profundo Argento is an exceedingly beautiful book. The binding is solid and the pages are printed on high quality paper. The book contains many candid photographs, production stills, and advertising from all of Argento’s films, many of which are unlikely to ever see print elsewhere. Profundo Argento is also completely comprehensive: it even covers The Card Player, which has yet to see a general release in the United States. For fans of Argento’s work, or for fans of foreign horror in a more general sense, this book is the Holy Grail.

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