It took several viewings of Suspiria and Inferno for me to finally embrace them as fully as Dario Argento's gialli.
Dario was a pioneer with his horror ladies. Whether they are innocents or killers. What makes most of his early women so terrific is that they just are. Daria Nicolodi's grating reporter in Deep Red makes that otherwise excellent film an utter chore to get through. We're forced to sit through her annoying performance. She is only early era Argento woman to take me out of the movie thanks to how phony she is.
Irene Miracle and Jessica Harper's fairy tale women who come up against some very evil witches.
In rewatching Inferno, I lose interest when Irene's too-inquisitive Rose dies. She was such an interesting character, someone who just could not keep their curiosity contained. Miracle radiated that fatal curiosity and she was instantly likable. Here's a gal who could transcribe an old book written in Latin with just a English-Latin dictionary. She is written off as a poet (by a drab Mater Tenebrarum no less), and yet there is something captivating about following Rose on her journey. I suppose a good reason why my interest sags after Rose's demise is due to Leigh McClouskey's wooden portrayal of Mark Elliot. I often wonder how much better the film would be if Mark and Rose switched roles (retaining Rose's excellent under water dip, of course.)
I also think Veronica Lazar wasn't the most convincing Mater either. The lovely Ania Pieroni was approached to portray Mater Tenebrarum, but she refused for reasons unknown*. She was briefly seen as Mater Lachrymarum and was so perfectly wicked.
Inferno has some truly wonderful concepts and ideas. It's a terrific film until Rose leaves us. Then it's okay.
Suspiria really grew on me thanks to the psychedelic primary color palette and the fantastic first 13 minutes. Jessica Harper is very Snow White here. She's terrific as Suzy Banyon, the hapless dancer who makes the mistake of enrolling into that damned Dance Academy in Frieberg, Germany.
Suzy's slow realization of the horror she's surrounded by is more stylized and fairy tale-like than Inferno. She takes some time to fully understand and explore the nightmare world around her which is probably why she triumphed in the end. The film works beautifully because of this. Argento nailed the kind of hallucinogenic Grimm slant he was going for and his cast went full throttle.
Props to the set decorator for the witches' secret hall behind the door with the three flowers. I love that corridor with the golden sorcerous script on the black walls, the mesh curtains,you truly get a feeling of utter dread.
Suspiria is dark fantasy fun with a formidable giallo-like slay in those opening scenes. These witches under Mater Suspiriorum mean business and it's a hoot watching them work.
I suppose this means I have to sit through Mother of Tears again. :D
* And yet Ms. Pieroni was okay with playing the babysitter in Fulci's House by the Cemetery? I don't get it. Maybe she was afraid to portray an incarnation of Death?
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