Rating: 4.5/5
Restored Uncut edition
Quandum ubiquae, quandum semper, quandom ad omnibus creditur est
Suzy Bannion travels to Germany to attend ballet school. When she arrives at the brooding red school, she sees another girl flee from it. That girl stays at a friend’s place, trying to explain what happened to her, but someone stabs and hangs her, it’s arms monstrous with filth
When Suzy finally arrives at the school, she meets the unhinged personalities who run and occupy the school. While initially offered an apartment off-campus, one of the school matrons found a place for her in the school. She declines but then passes out during class, and the matrons settle her in the room at the school
Maggots rain from the ceiling, supposedly growing in the food supply, forcing those in the girls’ dormitories to sleep in the gym. They hear a signature snore of a matron who is supposedly out of town
As classmates and teachers die, Suzy works to figure out what’s going on. In the process, she learns of the school’s hidden origins and the occult arts
This movie is so goddamn beautiful — no one makes every frame feel neon like Argento. Inspired by the colors of Disney’s Snow White, they gave the film the same hyperreal technicolor process used for The Wizard of Oz, which pushes the reds to the extremes
The Goblin score is so intense, keeping you on edge and ready to fight — and the theme is up there with Halloween in its maddening catchiness
Phenomena is still my favorite Argento, but this one is high up for me