Dario Argento is the Total Film Icon at FrightFest 2012

Total Film is proud to announce that the Total Film Icon at FrightFest 2012 is Italian horror legend Dario Argento.

The fevered brain behind such genre-defining classics as The Bird With The Crystal Plumage , Deep Red , Suspiria , Inferno and Opera , Argento will be joining Total Film on stage at the Empire cinema in Leicester Square on the afternoon of Friday 24 August.

The Q&A, hosted by Total Film ’s Deputy Editor Jamie Graham, will talk through Argento’s remarkable 46-year career, from co-scripting Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In The West to his newly minted Dracula 3D starring Rutger Hauer.

Audience members will be offered a chance to ask Dario questions, and the Q&A will also be accompanied by a screening of an Argento classic on the giant, state-of-the-art screen at the Empire.

Graham says: “This is Total Film ’s fourth year in partnership with FrightFest , and bringing Argento to the UK is our proudest moment - a real honour. Nobody in the history of horror has offered images so undiluted, so nightmarish. A technical genius and a true auteur, Argento’s set-pieces take the art of screen violence to nosebleed levels.”

To book your ticket for this rare audience with the maestro of mayhem, head to the Empire cinema's FrightFest 2012 booking page from Saturday 30 June.

Keep an eye on all upcoming FrightFest 2012 news at www.totalfilm.com/frightfest

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.