Whilst I have seen the 2 episodes of Door Into Darkness that Dario Argento directed a number of times,I for some reason have never got round to taking a look at the 2 non-Argento eps,which led to me deciding that it was time to take a look at the first ep in the series.The plot:Moving to a new apartment in a seaside town with their baby,young couple Luca and Stefanie find all the lights to have blown up.Lighting up a candle,the couple start to search round the apartment,and find water to be spilling from the celling.Going to talk to their new male neighbour,the couple find the door wide open,with no sound of anyone inside.Checking that everything is OK with their new neighbour,the couple enter the apartment and hear a running tap.Finding the tap,the couple are horrified to discover that their new neighbour has left the dead body of a murdered girl in the bath.View on the film:For the first half of the ep writer/director Luigi Cozzi boils up an icy haunted house atmosphere,as the lone candlelight sways with every blown fuse and drop of water dripping down the apartment wall.Sending Luca & Stefanie (played by the very good Aldo Reggiani and Laura Belli) into the neighbour's apartment,Cozzi puts a stop to the haunted house mood,and takes things into a Giallo route.Whilst he does display some stylish touches in his directing, (with "the lighter" scene being filled with tension)the screenplay by Cozzi fails to build up any feeling of mystery or dread,thanks to Cozzi going for a twist ending,which along with making the new parents look very stupid,was one that I correctly guessed a good 30 minutes before the reveal,which leads to this being a slightly disappointing neighbourly visit.

Luca (likable Aldo Reggiani) and Stefanie (fetching Laura Belli) are a young couple with a baby who move into a remote seaside apartment late at night. Unbeknownst to the couple, the neighbor (excellently played by Mimmo Palmara) who lives upstairs has just murdered his wife. Writer/director Luigi Cozzi does a fine job of creating and sustaining a considerable amount of slowly building suspense and milks the creepy and sinister atmosphere for all it's worth. Reggiani and Belli make for solid and sympathetic leads. The casting of Palmara as the killer is especially inspired: He's a bespectacled and gray-haired middle-aged guy whose deceptively bland and nonthreatening outward appearance masks his frightening capacity for brutal violence. The cut-off coastal setting evokes a powerfully unsettling sense of isolation and vulnerability. Elio Polacchi's cinematography offers lots of suitably spooky shadowy lighting and makes good occasional use of a jumpy and invigorating hand-held camera. Giorgio Gaslini's eerie and ominous score also hits the shivery spot. A sturdy and satisfying show.

Door into Darkness is Italy's answer to Alfred Hitchcock Presents and is delivered by Italy's answer to Hitchcock; Dario Argento. This first instalment of the series, titled 'The Neighbour' is directed by Dario Argento aficionado Luigi Cozzi and handles the idea of a madman taking his insanity out on innocent people. We follow a young couple and their baby as they move into a new apartment block. Strangely, this is done at night; and the story really picks up when, while watching Frankenstein, the pair discover a leak in the ceiling, apparently coming from the upstairs neighbour's flat. Seeing as this short film is made for TV, it's hardly surprising that it doesn't offer as much as films that Argento has been involved in usually do. There's barely a drop of blood, the story is very concise and the production values aren't exactly high; but this is made up for by excellent directing, some nice acting and a great sense of tension that runs throughout. Director Luigi Cozzi has clearly taken influence from the Italian Master, and this is felt as he directs the action through a number of different angles and draws suspense from the very basic plot line. On the whole, The Neighbour can't be considered as one of the best things to come out of Italy during the seventies; but for what it is (a made for TV short film), this isn't bad at all. Not to mention the fact that the entire Door into Darkness series has huge cult value, and is therefore a must see for any fan of Italian horror!

Dario Argento's popularity was sealed in Italy when he was tapped to create a series for Italian television. The four episode series which mimicked "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" had Dario himself introduced each episode. The first episode "Il Vicino di Casa" or simply "The Neighbor" stars Aldo Reggiani (The Cat O' Nine Tails) and Laura Belli (The Nun of Monza) as a couple with a newborn baby moving into their first home. Things don't start out too well for the couple when their vehicle gets stuck and they are unable to free it. Walking the last few meters in the dark the couple lament about their new home but are unaware of the horrors that lay ahead. Finally they reach their place, quiet and secluded not to mention in the dark. Well they make themselves as comfortable as possible and after putting the baby to sleep they sit down to watch a "Frankenstein" film on their battery-powered TV. They later notice a wet spot appearing on their ceiling. The couple decides to go upstairs to find the source of the leak but upon searching their neighbors place they discover a secret that they may not live to tell.All the usual trappings of the giallo genre are on display here. Interesting camera-work, funky music and a bit of suspense but this segment written and directed by Luigi Cozzi (The Killer Must Kill Again, Starcrash) is average at best. The limitations of the TV format hinder the segment a bit but it does manage to create some atmosphere and even a little suspense. The camera-work was pretty good and the acting was good as well but I think the Giorgio Gaslini (Deep Red, Five Days of Milan) is very weak at times and overall a bit poorly integrated into the film."Door into Darkness" is an accentual for Argento fans and must for giallo enthusiasts.