COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN (Day 24): Our Lady of Sighs

While I can appreciate and enjoy several films of the era, I can’t say that I love the European horror film scene of the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s.  Take names like Bava, Franju, Fulci, Lenzi, Rollin, Franco and, of course, Argento and you have an idea of how much work was produced over the period.  And while not all of the movies were good, there were several gems.

In fact, in my efforts to look into the many, many films featuring a witch theme the internet provided me with several Best of and Top 10, 25 and 50 lists of such movies.  And the one movie that topped most lists was Dario Argento’s SUSPIRIA, which is the first of a trilogy that he called “The Three Mothers”.

This came from Suspiria de Profundis, a book which, in part, asserts that just as there are three Fates and three Graces, there are three Sorrows: “Our Lady of Tears”, “Our Lady of Sighs” and “Our Lady of Darkness”.  And it involved the idea that these three ancient witches were alive and still up to their horrors in modern day cities.  The other two movies in the trilogy are INFERNO and MOTHER OF TEARS.

LOOK AT ALL THAT BEAUTIFUL COLOR

Of Argento’s films, I suppose it is his best work in the genre.  It’s a work of powerful images and haunting sound.  With a score provided by the prog rock band Goblin, it definitely relied heavily on the music for much of the frantic mood of the picture.  And visually, it seems to thrive on busy sets, bright and colorful lighting techniques and strange, shocking imagery.  It was one of the final feature films to be processed in Technicolor.

And, what do you know, Dailymotion.com has it right now—the complete and surreal SUSPIRIA… for free… for now:

Suspiria by FilmGorillas

----------------------------------------------------------

Beware, dear reader, a remake is in the works—brace yourself!  Not sure who is involved, so it could be either good or bad.  

And so, on to the music of the night… which is to be Donovan’s psychedelic SEASON OF THE WITCH!  Most fans believe that Jimmy Page was responsible for the haunting guitar on this hit as he often worked with Donovan during this time, but it is inconclusive as his name was not on the session notes…