I just watched ‘Horror Europa’, a documentary by Mark Gatiss made in 2012 for BBC4. You can watch it on youtube if you are so inclined: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brEzdZnoMzY
Anyway, MG talks about the history of European horror films and lists his favourites. One is by the legendary Italian horror director Dario Argento. It’s called
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Italian: L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo), made in 1970. In the documentary, there’s one specific scene MG emphasises:
Watch the documentary or the original film to get the context (the man is a helpless witness to a brutal murder).
It reminded me heavily of these shots from THoB (Henry Knight’s conservatory):
When I remember the THoB commentary correctly, MG even crouched behind that counter, directing Tovey in this scene.
I think the visual parallels are striking. Quoting Argento in the most scary episode of Sherlock is a nice touch (and a tiny bit geeky…)
