• Argento borrows from Bava, Hitchcock and Polanski (not to mention a whole heaping of German Expressionism) but this is it- a full-fledged masterpiece of the highest order and surely one of cinema’s most beautiful films
  • Splendid Eastman Colour 35mm
  • Argento’s 6th film- he never touched this level (or really was that close) before or after
  • Horror sub-genre “Giallo” (gore, eroticism, emphasis on visuals over story/dialogue, dubbing, paranoia, beautiful women, elaborate deaths)
  • We have the florescent lighting and the rock score by Argento and the band Goblin set it apart- apparently Argento played it full blast on the set of the film to petrify the actors and create atmosphere
  • Luciano Tovoli is the DP- from Antonioni’s Passenger– apparently he and Argento were inspired by some of early Disney’s (Snow White in particular) color schemes
  • Grand set pieces (the school, hallways straight from Murnau or Caligari
  • Art Deco influence
  • So many standout visuals—we have the neon lighting which colors the rain/storm set piece in the opening—shot reflected in a puddle
  • Much of the film is Harper walking in the dark in horrifying suspense, with stupendous visuals, and that score pounding in background
  • I mentioned some of the influences- but Argento clearly influenced a generation after him- Lynch is probably the first that comes to mind- but how about the coloring via lighting from Peter Greenaway, Nicolas Winding Refn, Spring Breakers from Harmony Korine
  • I think that score is superior to 1978’s Halloween and that’s saying something. I also see a bit of that bass in the wonderful score to Apocalypse Now particularly when Sheen arrives at Brando’s camp on the boat
  • Stain glass windows and wild expressionistic wallpaper
  • Reds, blues, greens, but also gaudy golds, too
  • Elaborate deaths’
  • Red gymnasium is a standout set piece
  • When Harper’s character is talking to Udo Kier its absolutely sort of a Hutch moment in Rosemary’s Baby with Maurice Evans with them looking up the history of these characters—the character in Rosemary is even called “Adrian Marcato” and this is Helena Markos
  • It’s absolutely packed with some of the best visuals of the decade, horror, or Italian cinema history- it’s actually so loaded that you have to pause and appreciate them because there’s another one coming directly after
  • A Masterpiece