Suspiria: Overrated, Boring, Annoying

It's not a traditional horror film. It's more like an adult version of a Grimm's fairy tale. Some don't care for it. I personally love the film. I love the color palate, the music, the sets. If you're looking for good acting or a great storyline, you've come to the wrong place. Its more like experiencing a bad dream. It certainly is not meant to be realistic in any sense. The blood looks like florescent paint. Rooms change color like a 70's mood ring. Things are illogical. If you notice during the first murder scene, the backround changes while the stabbing occurs... much like how scenes change in a dream. Unlike yourself, I started to appreciate the film even more on subsequent viewings.

Now.... if you REALLY want to see a bad film, watch Mother of Tears!!

"Sit down Mr. Muckle, honey."

It´s my favorite horror film, but it´s definetely not a film for everyone. And it DEMANDS various viewings to enjoy it (To tell you the truth, I hated it the first time I watch it, and now I consider it the best horror movie of all time). The film is intended to be nightmare, or more precisely, to look and feel like a child´s nightmare about witches. The film´s bizarre music score, distorted settings, unusual color palette and the characters´ strange motivations are not without a porpuse. It is intended to feel otherworldly and trippy, an assault on the senses, which does not appeal to a number of people. At the time, horror films were made to be as realistic as possible, and this was the total opposite. So you either love it hate it. I don´t expect you to love it, just to understand how some people do find the film to be a masterpiece.

The theater is like a faithful wife. The film is the great adventure, the costly, exacting mistress

The fact that Jessica Harper is "funny-looking" only adds to her charm, and it fits perfectly within the genre.

And yes, the soundtrack is obviously a product of its time, and may not have dated well for serious soundtrack fans. But I like it.

Of course the film is not "good". The plot is incoherent and cheesy, most of the acting is hammy, the effects lack subtlety. But I also understand how it can be a guilty pleasure for some viewers, with its fairy tale logic and oversaturated colours. Argento gave new life to camp horror when the genre was all but dead.

I just watched this for the first time, the other night.

At first i thought the score was incredibly overbearing and over
the top, but the more it played, the more it grew on me and by the end
i found it quite effective.

The colour palette truly is a wonder to behold. I have to agree
with others when they comment on how we just don't have movies
out there right now that are as colourful as this. The last one that i can
think of was "Speed Racer" which of course is pretty much reviled all
over the map (I quite loved it, though.)

I think there is alot of cheese here, and at times i think it is almost
certainly purposely there for the astute viewer to giggle at.

However, when the murders come they are always deadly serious affairs, and
I marvel at how Argento ALWAYS manages to catch you looking the other
way. In particular I'm thinking of the blind man and the friend. Both
of those scenes were masterfully handled and cut.

And that finale was just truly nightmarish. I'm not sure what it is about
reanimated corpses coming after people, but that has always gotten to me...

It reminded me a bit of that bit in "The Shining" when the corpse gets up
out of the bath tub. (at least that bit exists in the book. I am embarassed
to say that i STILL have never actually watched Kubrick's film all the
way through!)



Nobody rocks the cock like Krysta Now. And I mean nobody.

I find it hard to criticize 'acting' in Argento movies only because, well first of all, a majority of the voices are dubbed, and we all know how bad dub acting is. And secondly, all the actors and actresses are all speaking different languages and just kind of coming in with their lines in their own language at the appropriate time, which would be hard, considering the 'cue' is not even in a language you can understand. If you listen to Jessica's commentary (or interview, I forget where I heard it) she pretty much says it's a very weird experience on the set. Also, she rox because she was on the Gary Shandling show!!!

--Daniel W. Kelly, author of "Closet Monsters" and "Horny Devils."

Goblin.................not 'The Goblins'

[deleted]

Did you actually call this a review?

This is not a review this is a bunch of irrational blathering.

Firstly you talk about the Jessica Harper's looks which have nothing to with the film and I am sorry but how the hell do her "funny looks" make her performance hindered? and why do you feel the need to bring up the looks in the first place?

In a SUSPENSE film the story line is supposed to be slow and there is supposed to be a build up which is exactly what happens here. Point 2 debunked.
You sir are an idiot.

"It's not scary music. It's not even music. It's just moronic."

Elaborate and make sense then someone one day will take you seriously.
Goblin's score is unique and if you cannot appreciate this then I suggest you go and watch a more generic movie.

"But this movie is to me a text book example of how NOT to make a horror movie."

You're kidding me right?
I think one the Friday the 13th or Leprechaun franchises is an example of how not to make a horror movie, not this. It has been heralded a masterpiece but practically all critics and it is a favourite of the general public, you most likely think these things because you want to be different or don't want to "conform" when in actual fact you are conforming to non-conformity.

"Two Thumbs Down"

You are not Ebert, you sir are an idiot. Ebert would tear you to shreds in a few seconds.


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