Suspiria

in the Summer of 1986, me and a group of friends found a video shop that would let you take out 18 Certificate movies, despite the fact we were at best mid-teens and probably looked mid-tweenie. Masses and masses of badly dubbed italian horror movies. Lots of odd little films with drawings on the boxes. Rutger Hauer. This was a few years after 'video nasties' but that kind of nonsense didn't travel well to Somerset and you could still take out many of the banned list so, of course, we did. In amongst all the mongy horror and the right-wing rubble (Red Dawn et al), Suspiria stood out and still stands out (which is different to standing up - it doesn't stand up at all). We weren't horror theorists, simply gulped and swayed from one peak experience to another, one wide-open eye at a time but we still knew Suspiria was different; there was still a malevolence that creeped out of this film into you. It was silly but even the silliness was sublime. It was badly dubbed but that just added an extra level of ambiguity and a feeling of general loss.

The plot was a non-plot, a sub-plot, a series of asides and afterthought of course but that didn't matter because Suspiria is all about the music and the light. And the music and the light shines through blood red.

Here's the theme, which starts with bells and celeste and adds unspeakable whispering and hums and ends up with a full-band sprawl of verging electronic spazz-prog daftness:

Goblin - Suspiria
You're welcome.