Trevor

If I had to pick two words to describe it, I guess they'd have to be "atmospheric horror".

Mondo Kane

I was first introduced to Suspiria sometime during the mid/late 90's (It being my first Argento film, as well) Unfortunately, I made the mistake of first watching the movie on one of those 15-inch TV/VCR combos and the "Atmospheric Horror" was definetly lost. Needless to say, I didn't turn out to be a fan of the movie.
But all it took was a DVD, a 53-inch Panny, and 5.1 surround sound to make me realize that I had been missing out one of the most memorable experiences the horror genre has ever provided.

But If I still had a nitpick against the movie, it would be the dubbing/phoned-in line delivery. So yesterday, I decided to watch the movie in French with captions (No english subtitles provided on the BU Disc) and the horror felt as strong as ever. At least Helena's voice sounds more threatening in French!

Trevor

I agree, a visual feast, very weak English dubbing. If my DVD had subtitles, I would have listened to it in Italian.

In fact, it would be fine without any dialogue, just the visuals, sound effects, and great soundtrack.

Late comment, but a great idea on the title thing Darth.

TRC

Anyone else watch A Nightmare on Elm Street yet? It's been awhile since I've seen it in its entirety. I've also been watching some of the sequels including part 3 which I had never seen before. Spoilers for both movies in the comment below:

Trevor

Spoilers don't work on the email notifications, so you're ending analysis just came to me as I'm watching the film.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I loved the first, liked the second, and the third is one of the worst for me. Mainly because it's where it was turning from a horror movie to Freddy's a popular kind of guy. It was trying to be two things at once.

When the fourth movie came out it had completed the change. It wasn't great but it knew what it was.

Dimension X

I first saw Suspiria on cable some time in the late '70s. Never been a huge fan, but I like it well enough to own the DVD.

Is there not a trailer for Suspiria that shows the girl (Pat Hingle? I got a chuckle out of that name) falling through the stained glass ceiling? I remember seeing it on cable back when I first saw the movie, but the trailers on the DVD don't show this scene.

I'd forgotten that Udo Kier was in Suspiria (or maybe I just never recognized him before because his voice was dubbed). He's the second actor from Shadow of the Vampire to "pop up" in another film I've watched in the last couple of days. The other one was Willem Dafoe (who had a bit part in The Hunger).

After Suspiria, I watched Phenomena for the first time (don't know how I'd never seen that one before). While it's certainly no classic, I actually like it more than Suspiria.

I skipped Nightmare on Elm Street since I watched it in one of the previous challenges.

caligulathegod

I was watching the mouths in Suspiria and it seemed to me the actors were mostly speaking English. Almost all Italian films are shot post-sync and I've seen this one >30 times so maybe I'm just used to it. I don't see how watching it in another language would help. The DVD looks great upconverted but I am dying for this on Blu-Ray. I saw it on 35mm in a theater 2 years ago (I've seen it 4 times in a theater), and spent the whole movie watching all the textures, like the flocked red wall paper in the school, that you just don't see on DVD. I've always loved this film. Could be my crush on Jessica Harper, though.

Mondo Kane

The ending-credits even say that the film was shot in english, but due to the sub-par efforts in making the movie look like it was "Authentic" in english, I perferred to absorb the movie in an alien language (This might tend to help to make the movie more horrific for those who haven't seen the movie 30+times)

poster mayhem

It's certainly not hard to have a crush on Harper, ah Phoenix so wonderful.

Trevor

She is beautiful. Phoenix?

Doc Moonlight

^
A reference to PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE.

Numes

I'll just post what I put in my list post.

One...Two...Freddy's coming for you. I saw this movie over at a friends house when I was maybe 10 or 12 and it really freaked me out. I remember not being able to sleep at all that night. A true horror classic. As I'm sure many know, it was Johnny Depp's first movie.

I don't really find this movie very scary anymore. I'm not quite sure why, I think it's just because I know what's going to happen.

Did anyone know that they are remaking this in 2010? I'm not sure what I think about that.

Scare Factor (2008): 3.5/10
Scare Factor (1988): 9.5/10

caligulathegod

I'll have to try watching Suspiria in Italian. Seeing it as many times as I have, I'm sure I can take it (I used to use it as my Demo disc back in my Laserdisc Pro-Logic days). Part of my pleasure is Jessica Harper's voice, though. I even love Shock Treatment almost entirely on her singing. Phantom of the Paradise has the added benefit of Paul Williams lyrics (which are very distinctive).

Chad

It took me ages to finally realize it was him because of that. And i wonder if Argento's ever commented as to why they dubbed his voice with an American one when the film takes place in Germany ...especially considering he's German!

Cardsfan111

I think the original NOES stands head and shoulders above the sequels. I like the mystery behind the Freddy character in the film. He's not yet the always-wisecracking villain we've grown to know after watching the rest of the series.

caligulathegod

If I recall, they only had him for that day and they always shoot silent and record dialog later.. He wasn't available for the later ADR.

NoirFan

A bit behind here, as I was away for the weekend. Shadow of the Vampire was great fun, and I thought the fusion of black and white "on set" footage with color was very effective. My only issue was with the pretentious, long winded opening credits. What was the point of all those closeups of cryptic, random images completely unrelated to the film? Suspiria is a mesmerizing experience as long as you don't attempt to get to caught up in the machinations of the plot, as the film makes little sense. Wonderful use of color and that great Goblin score are big pluses. Nightmare was a nifty concept for a horror film, and Freddy had yet to turn into an unholy (and unfunny) fusion of Benny Hill and Milton Berle.

Trevor

The more I think about Nosferatu, the more I want to get the remake and MoC release. As soon as a good price is found, they'll be in my collection. 80 page booklet!
37 movies into this challenge, and Nosferatu is still the only film that actually scared me.
Thanks for the reminder. Need to peruse that website to see if I want to keep that BB set (with it's $50 sideshow giftcard) or not.
Catching up on comments myself. I agree that the opening is a bit strange. I listened to the director's commentary, and don't think he commented on why they choose that opening.

Trevor

I think just because the english dub is so bad for the most part, that perhaps a foreign language would be less distracting.
Thanks. I wouldn't mind seeing more of Miss Harper, I'll seek this one out.
Yep. Usually I don't care much for audio/video, and would just as well watch my films on a tinny sounding 5" black and white or a 60" plasma with DTS sound. But this is definitely one film more appreciated with a good AV set-up.

Trevor

Agreed.
Never saw the sequels for the most part, a few minutes here and there on cable, maybe one of the sequels in the theater. They never looked all that impressive to me. Still considering the box set for $23 at amazon right now, but trying to resist.
Still slightly scary to me, but I know what you mean. There are many films that terrified me as a kid that don't come close to doing so now.
Those comments seem to confirm to me to perhaps avoid the boxset. I really enjoy the first film, but the snippets I've seen of the "Benny Hll Freddy" just turn me off.

Trevor

Somehow pretty much avoided all the Dead films until about a year or two ago, and have now watched the original a few times.

Watched my 30th Anniversary Edition version, and holy crap, what were they thinking making those additions? Awful! I'll have to find a better version, or perhaps just wait for BluRay.

Cardsfan111

I watched the 1990 version. It was ok, I probably should have made more effort to obtain a copy of the original.

Trevor

Youtube, google video, etc

poster mayhem

The recent 40th anniversary edition put out by Dimension is fantastic and it's loaded with extras that are worthy of the film. I can't imagine the print looking much better than this.