Madman in the Attic

I became slightly obsessed with Italian horror director Dario Argento about five years ago. I don’t know how it happened – we were only ever casual acquaintances before.  I can’t say it was love at first sight. My first taste of his work was  Suspiria  way back in the late eighties. This encounter took place at the wonderfully seedy Scala Cinema in London’s Kings Cross. The cinema is now a night club, and you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere seedy in this rejuvenated district. I thought the film was fun, but I didn’t really get what all the fuss was about. Of course, I may have been distracted by the drunks, punks and pot smoking patrons that littered the floors and seats of the Scala. Whatever the reason for my lacklustre response, there was no second date – not until that fateful evening five years ago when Dario and I just seemed to click. I started warming towards him during  The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970). This was Argento's directori...