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

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

"Close Encounters of the Third Kind" is my (close) favorite films of all time, and regularly races to the top spot on most occasions, besting 1962's "The Manchurian Candidate." It is brilliant, the first film I saw that got my wheels spinning in my head on what film as art can mean, and how it plays with our minds and souls. And about aliens.

Steven Spielberg's 1977 film is a religion to me, the story of a family man (Richard Dreyfuss) who doesn't quite fit into the world, suddenly sucked into the drama of the arrival of aliens in America. Meanwhile, a small boy (Cary Guffey) and his mother (Melinda Dillon) also have visits from the extra-terrestrials, with the child being sucked from his home in a tour-de-force scene of light, smashing appliances and John William's knock out score. The world government moves fast to cover up the visits.

Every time I see this film I'm fascinated about a new aspect, and I've seen this film easily three dozen times. One glorious time on the big screen in Charlotte. My latest obsession -- the use of language in the film, the constant need of interpretation among the Americans, Mexicans, Spanish, Indians and a host of other races, but the aliens cut through all that and are heard and understood through music.

The finale at Devil's Tower, Wyo., still gives goose bumps (especially when I caught this at that theater) as the mother ship -- a floating fortress of lights like an oil refinery -- arrives in a thundercloud and one man finally finds where he belongs. Not here.

The kicker: We have nothing to fear from those outside our world, it's ourselves that are the enemy. I could go on, but I haven't the time. A+

Pete's Dragon (1977)

"Pete's Dragon" is one of those films I saw countless times in elementary school, back when films were a school treat and shown in the gym or cafeteria on small white screens with a 16-mm projector. (VCR? What's that?) I loved it as a kid -- I remember wanting my own dragon and I had many nightmares about evil Mrs. Gogan (I had no idea it was Shelley Winters under all that nasty redneck makeup) trying to stuff me in a sack. And the film has held up, for the most part. The special effects and details are annoyingly dated, and young Pete (Sean Marshall) must be smacked. By law. But, it's full of joy, love and humor and not a scent of irony or the cynicism that ruins many children's films today. Best of all, it has Mickey Rooney as a kind drunkard (now that's a fantasy) who sings and dances. Rooney is a national treasure. Jim Dale is a hoot as another villain, Dr. Terminus (love the name), a traveling con artist. He's such a treat, I found myself rooting for him this time around. Guess, I don't want a dragon anymore. B