If you’re lazy and noncommittal like we are, you probably missed the limited window in which the Coolidge Corner Theatre actually had tickets on sale for Saturday’s midnight screening of the Dario Argento giallo masterpiece Suspiria which, despite having just been fully restored and remastered in 4K, they are screening an uncut vintage print of the film on loan from The Chicago Cinema Society.
Frankly, it’s hard to say how rare and exquisite an experience this is, and as such, it should have been on our radar from the very start. It sold out over a month ago, and given that we barely know what day of the week it is, we most definitely didn’t grab seats as well. So what do you do? Wait for video? Try to barter your way in with freshly baked home goods and a bottle of your own vintage toilet wine? Cry?
Well, you don’t have to do any of those things after all, it turns out. The Coolidge has just added a double feature of Suspiria and Inferno, Argento’s other masterpiece and the former film’s sort-of sequel, on Tuesday, October 17th at 7 p.m., a somewhat more work-friendly time of night.
Here’s a great summary about Suspiria from the Coolidge’s website, where you can also find a description of the print provided by the Chicago Cinema Society:
A tale of witches at a famous German ballet school doesn’t necessarily sound like it would be fodder for one of the most memorable horror films of all time, but in Argento’s hands he weaves a straightforward tale of an American dancer, Suzy (Jessica Harper), who is thrust into a world that she can’t quite comprehend, into an hallucinatory nightmare. Fellow students begin to get killed all around her and in trying to figure out why she begins to uncover rumors that a coven of witches actually run the ballet school and they are in a pact with the devil. She begins to loose her grip on reality and as she plummets into experiencing first-hand the demonic powers of black magik, Argento places his viewers into Suzy’s fragile psyche to push us all around the bend.
With a luscious photographic palate not seen since the death of Technicolor and one of the most memorable scores in horror film history (thanks to Goblin) Argento was able to surpass even the best of moments from his previous classic giallo films (‘Deep Red’, ‘The Bird With The Crystal Plumage’). Add a slew of great gore effects (a knife plunging repeatedly into a beating heart is just the first) and you have a film who’s tag line actually lives up to its hype: ‘The only thing more terrifying than the last 12 minutes of this film are the first 92.’
If you have even a moderate interest in horror cinema or even just movies in general, buy a ticket right the fuck now.
‘SUSPIRIA’ and ‘INFERNO’ :: Tuesday, October 17 at The Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard St. in Brookline, MA :: 7 p.m., all ages, $12.75 :: Tickets :: Coolidge event page :: Still taken from MoviestillsDB.