Battle of the Netflix Stars #5

And the Halloween horrors just keep coming...

Bout #5: Battle of the Supposed Horror Classics

Movie:	The Changeling	Suspiria
Year:	1980	1977
Director:	Peter Medak	Dario Argento
Star Power:	George C. Scott, Melvyn Douglas	Jessica Harper, Udo Kier
Plot:	After New York composer John Russell loses his wife and daughter to a car accident, he picks up and moves to Seattle, settling in at a sprawling mansion. When John starts to believe that the house is haunted, he does some digging and learns that the presence is the ghost of a boy who lived there nearly a decade ago. He also discovers that what happened to the boy is part of a secret that could destroy a powerful political family.	American dancer Suzy Bannion travels to Europe to attend ballet school. On the night she arrives, she sees another girl hysterically fleeing the school. Suzy discovers that the mystery girl was murdered that same evening, and soon starts noticing that there are strange things going on at the school - like maggots falling from the ceiling and people disappearing. She soon discovers that the school staff are all a bunch of witches.
Pros:	No gimmicks, lame special effects, or gore needed. Just a great story boosted by solid performances.	Uhhhhhhhh....
Cons:	I can't really think of many, although I feel like the ghost suddenly became much more menacing and vengeful towards the end of the movie, which seems a bit inconsistent. But hey, I guess you never can really trust a ghost.	The acting was bad, some of the dubbing was really distracting, and the plot (or lack thereof) was lame. It was apparent from the beginning that the movie was about witches so there was really no "big reveal." Worst of all, the same 3 annoying songs kept playing over and over.
My Thoughts:	I would definitely put this in the "classic" category, not only because it is an engrossing movie, but because I saw SO many things that later horror movies (including The Sixth Sense, The Others, and The Ring) obviously "borrowed" from this one.	I actually became really angry while watching this. It felt like it was 5 hours long. Prior to viewing, I had heard so much about how Dario Argento is a "master of horror" and how this movie is so suspenseful, yadda yadda yadda. Whatever. Apparently, Argento's idea of suspense is filming someone walking down a hallway for 10 minutes while some really loud, repetitive piece of music blares away, only to have the person finally encounter something that anyone watching with half a brain already knew was going to be there. In fact, one of the songs features a ridiculous voice that keeps whispering, "witch," so there's certainly no suspense over what this movie is about!
Final Grade:	B+	F