
with the police on his back for leads , he decides to take a personal interest in the case and he soon becomes drawn into a mystery where all is not as it seems . 
the film benefits enormously from a fine central performance by franciosa . 
he brings grace , charm and a deceptive benigness to his character which provides an interesting foil to both the violence of the books he writes and the unfolding real-life horror around him . 
the film is awash with a fascinating psychosexual tension . 
argento peels back the facade of showbiz and jetset lifestyles to reveal an amoral , ambivalent , shadowy world where desire in all its forms has become a dangerous business . 
tenebrae is perhaps the most multi-layeredthen skip the next three paragraphs . 
about an hour into tenebrae the story takes an unexpected twist which , properly handled , could have proved ingenious . 
we witness the murder of the serial killer himself by a man who , we later discover , is none other than the author peter neal . 
he is insane , apparently . 
the murders then continue for the remainder of the film as neal decides it's time to settle some personal business involving his neurotic wife . 
he is finally revealed to us as this " second killer " in the film's bloody climax . 
but argento muffs the twist , both technically and narratively . 
you see , we are supposed to be tricked into thinking that during