127. Dario Argento Part 5: Three Mothers, One Dracula & a Pair of Dark Glasses.

The Dario Argento retrospective reaches its final chapter, and after five decades of black gloves, elaborate murders, supernatural nightmares and increasingly questionable career decisions, Steven and Sean arrive at the 2010s and beyond to discover whether the maestro still has anything left in the tank. This time around, we tackle The Mother of Tears (2007), Giallo (2009), Dracula 3D (2012) and Dark Glasses (2022). And while neither of us is about to pretend we've stumbled across another Suspiria, there are some genuine surprises along the way. The Mother of Tears proves far more enjoyable than either of us expected. It has its flaws, but there's enough imagination, atmosphere and sheer Argento thrills to make the final chapter of the Three Mothers trilogy a surprisingly welcome return to form. Then comes Giallo, which manages the seemingly impossible: a film about a serial killer that is mind-numbingly boring. Its characters are so relentlessly uninteresting that even the murders struggle to wake us up. Dracula 3D fares little better, although Sean is willing to concede that there is a certain so-bad-it's-good charm lurking beneath the digital cobwebs. Steven remains entirely unconvinced, refusing to grant the film even the dubious honour of being entertainingly terrible. Thankfully, Dark Glasses provides a modest but welcome upturn. It's not vintage Argento, but its pacey story, straightforward plotting and refreshing willingness to simply get on with the bloody thing make it an encouraging late-career effort. And then, finally, we rank them all. In a lengthy reverse-order countdown, Steven and Sean reveal their personal rankings of Argento's entire filmography and, at the very top, we finally discover the answer to the question we've been building towards for five episodes: What is Sean's favourite Argento film? And what is Steven's? Five decades. Five episodes. One retrospective. One director. Countless black gloves. Join us for the final bloody curtain call for Dario Argento.