It's been the better part of 15 years since I last saw Dario Argento.We've exchanged the occasional email and Christmas card, but seeing him on the last day (June 7) of Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors at NYC's Javit's Center was amazing. Dario was as sweet and intense and eccentric as ever... I truly can't believe that he's a few months shy of 70 and I first met him close to 25 years ago.
As I've said many times and many places, Dario changed my life: If I hadn't seen Deep Red at the Victoria Theater in 1976, I would never have written my master's thesis on Argento's films.
If I hadn't written that thesis, it would never have become the book Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento.
And if Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds hadn't been published (thank you, Anthony Blampied!), perfect strangers -- from filmmaker James (Saw) Wan to horror fans of every age, both sexes and all manner of interests -- wouldn't be telling me nearly 30 years later that my book changed their lives. Life is funny that way, isn't it?
So molti ringraziamenti Dario! And thank you Bill (Maniac) Lustig, Stuart Gordon, Tobe (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Tom (special effects pioneer) Savini and all the other horror legends I saw today, and thank you everyone who came up to me after the Argento panel to say you loved Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds.
And look for the new, updated edition next year from University Of Minnesota Press!
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