I am afraid of being let down by a film that has been hyped my whole life. How does a film live up to that hype? It rarely does. I am trying to be open-minded here. If I don’t like it, it’s not because I have any idea of what to expect. I just know it is supposed to be very colorful.
We have a young lady at an airport trying to get a taxi and it is pouring out. She’s in some country that isn’t America. She doesn’t speak the language well either. She is very pretty at least. Natural beauty ages magnificently. This is quite the hellacious downpour. I know that Goblin did the music, and I have no idea who they are or why it’s important, but it is usually mentioned in reviews. I know this girl is going to a ballet school. When she gets there, a lady runs out in a weird panic of sorts. This girl’s name is Suzy She is the lead. The lady that ran out, I don’t even know what her game plan is. This is not the dubbed version, so subtitles plus typing is a bitch. Sigh. The lady that ran out runs through the forest and gets to a hotel perhaps, and takes the elevator. I don’t know.
It seems as though Pat has been kicked out of a school, and is going to sleep on this girl’s couch. I apologize if this is a jumbled mess. Suzy is frightened by the wind opening the window, and she is really focusing on that window and the clothes hanging out there. They are black garments. She holds a lamp up near the window, sees vibrant green eyes and then an arm busts through the glass and starts to push her face into the window and the other girl is screaming for help, and that’s how I knew her name was Pat. Pat is getting worked, lots of stabbing. Repeatedly stabbed in the chest. Then she falls through this beautiful skylight and is lynched. The other girl is freaking the fuck out. The other girl is dead from everything falling. OK…….
We have a blind guy near the building that I think Suzy was trying to get into. We, and Suzy, are introduced to Miss Tanner who is an instructor, and Madame Blanc, a well-known ballerina I guess. Blanc knows Suzy’s aunt. Blanc tells her about the death the night before of a girl expelled. She can’t stay there, but she can stay with a 3rd-year student and that price will be deducted from the cost of school. Blanc is talking to the police, so that seems kinda important. The courses last 3 years, and every year, you have to pass an exam. Blanc goes back to the police and they ask to verify if Pat left at 11 at night, and Suzy intervenes, always wise. She tells them that they saw a girl leave at 11. This corroborates with their story. We meet ugly Pavlo, he has false teeth and only speaks Romanian. Tanner introduces Suzy to the girls in the dressing room that has no nudity in…..asses. Hey, we have another American here, and she speaks Italian too. Fucking hell. Olga is the name of the girl that Suzy will be living with. Sara I think is the other American, she tells Suzy to get used to how everybody is all about hitting you up for money here, Olga takes offense and things get catty. Some dude brings Suzy her things to Olga’s and she invites him to stay for a bit, but he acts uneasy, he has to get back for dinner.
Alright, I may just watch this, soak it all in and then try to summarize what I just saw because typing with subtitles going is a fucking chore at 1:30 AM. Deal? Oh, well even if you don’t agree, too bad.
So, Suzy gets sick and is moved out of her place with Olga to the school itself so she can get rest and whatnot. Tanner worked her pretty hard, but Tanner is awesome. Blanc was concerned for Suzy’s well being and the doctor had her on a bland diet and wine with meals. OK, that’s not bad. There’s a weird infestation of maggots due to a delivery of bad meat. Sara and Suzy get close, Sara is highly emotional but nice enough. Sara is suspicious of what happened with Pat, and Suzy does research on this and hears of witchcraft and whatnot. At some point, Daniel’s seeing-eye dog bites Blanc’s nephew, so he is unceremoniously given the boot. So he leaves and he’s walking in this very wide open area and his dog is very upset. It gets all creepy and then his dog bites Daniel in the throat and kills him. Sara notes some weird snoring at night and Suzy wonders why the footsteps go right in to the building as opposed to left to leave. Sara has notes from Pat about her theories on something about witches in the school. Sara ends up getting killed in an awesome scene involving razor wire.. This all leads up to Suzy finding the old OG witch and she kills her. Lots of pics incoming.
End film
This is a very beautiful, artsy looking film. The film is definitely style over substance. In some ways, the style is the substance. Consider all the “horror” scenes, and how they are amplified by the visuals. You add to that, the soundtrack by Goblin, which is perfectly suited for what this film was trying to accomplish. Whether you like these 2 aspects in the visuals and audio, will determine how much you enjoy this film. The story is nothing that is going to blow your mind in 2015. Maybe in 77 the story was pretty good. I am not complaining about the story by the way, but it’s not the selling point. This is like Avatar and Titanic in that, if you take away the visuals and soundtrack, you are left with a mediocre story, or in Avatar’s story, rather abysmal.
This may be the most hyped horror film that I had yet to see. I have some classic monster films to tackle, and a few Hitchcock, but this has always been brought up, so I am glad that I saw it. I think if I could get a good price on a blu ray, I would buy this. For now, it appears that there isn’t a North American blu ray release yet, which is weird to me. I liked this, and it is something that will stick with my memory because of the visual. The opening death of Pat, as well as the eyes in the dark, they were very haunting. If you don’t like this film, I totally understand, but you really should stick it out for 90 minutes. You may walk away appreciating it.
Final rating: 7.2
All the pictures used in this blog are for review purposes. They are the property of:
Seda Spettacoli (production) (as Seda Spettacoli S.P.A. Rome)
Please go find a copy and support the creators.