Suspiria (1977)

I’ve long heard of Dario Argento’s “Suspiria” as one of the Best Horror Movies Ever Made in film snob magazines. Its Italian pedigree only added to the allure. My verdict: One of the craziest, blood-chilling movies I’ve ever watched. The plot is not just simple, but a sketch: American ballet student (Jessica Harper) takes a plane to Munich, Germany, grabs a cab and heads out to her new school: An ultra-European, gothic dance academy. In pouring rain, she arrives at the school only to watch a hysterical girl flee in terror out the front door. Nevertheless, our heroine enters on. That same night, the fleeing girl is attacked, suffocated on a window pane, stabbed, strangled, smashed through a stained glass ceiling, and then hung. That’s 10 minutes of film. The rest of the 80 minutes is a hell ride with mad dogs, maggots, and a barbed wire murder so nasty, it cannot be described. Filmed in wildly bright Technicolor on eye-throbbing sets, this wild, bloody artistic stunt blew my mind. The proceedings are fueled by the single most disturbing and bizarre film score I’ve ever heard, created by the director and Italian prog rock band Goblin. A