“Bad luck isn't brought by broken mirrors, but by broken minds.”
-Dr. Frank Mandel
Directed by: Dario Argento
Starring: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci, Miguel Bosé, Alida Valli, Joan Bennett, Barbara Magnolfi
Trailer/Video: Okay, the trailer is pretty hokey. The movie isn't.
The premise: Suzy Bannion, an American ballet student, has arrived in Germany to attend a prestigious dance school. As she arrives there that night, see catches a fellow student fleeing the building. Said student is killed that night, and that’s just the start of Suzy’s problems.
My Familiarity With the Movie: Caught it on a list of “scariest horror films” years back.
Random thoughts as I watch it:
- This is an Italian film, set in Germany, and dubbed into English.
- CUTIE ALERT: Suzy Bannion.
- I’ve heard that everyone on the set spoke their native language, and everything was dubbed over later. That might explain the odd delivery of the dialogue.
- A jump scare leading to a seriously twisted murder (the shot of the blade actually penetrating the heart was a bit much, though)
- “Pat Hingle”? She was named after the guy who played Commissioner Gordon in Tim Burton’s Batman movies?
- Suzy fainting during class reminds me of how I felt working while sick the other day.
- Half the horror here is due to the music (composed by a rock band called “Goblin”, apparently)
- I’ve had lice in my comb before, but maggots?! Yikes.
- Aw, man. Daniel is killed by his own seeing-eye dog. That’s more sad than anything.
- Suzy’s as easily-woken as I am. (Not very)
- Death by razor-wire. Ouch.
- So, there’s been some hints of witchcraft, and now we hear about Helena Markos. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that she’s the Big Bad here.
- ...I just now realized that Suzy’s been so drowsy because her food’s probably drugged.
- Those colors, man.
- Yep. There’s Markos.
- And Zombie Sara!
- ...and it’s over.
The Good:
- The visuals. The school is very bizarre-looking, and the lighting results in entire shots being a solid color, but it works, adding to the surreal atmosphere.
- The music is chilling and haunting, with a theme song that’s guaranteed to get stuck in your head. (I know it did mine all day). Combined with the visuals, it leads to an odd, unsettling, nightmarish mood.
- The murders themselves are disturbing in both their brutality (especially Pat’s) and their creativity (like Sara’s).
The Bad:
- The dialogue is clunky and oddly-delivered. You mostly get used to it after a while, but occasionally there’s a line or two that brings you back. This is most likely because Argento originally wanted to cast children in the parts, and had to settle for adults, but didn’t adjust the script.
- The story’s got some plot holes, and leaves a lot unanswered, due to ending suddenly. I feel like parts of it won’t hold up for me under a second viewing.
- On that note, due to the sudden ending, it ends on an anticlimax. There she is, the source of all evil, Helena Markos! Oh, now she’s dead. That was quick.
Best Scare: Pat Hingle’s muder. Holy crap.
What Did We Learn Today? You don’t need to be able to see in order to enjoy guys in lederhosen slapping and hugging each other.
Recommended? It's very good. Worth watching at least once, yeah.
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