It’s Christmas time in small house and a child’s song is playing. Two figures struggle and a child screams. A bloody knife is dropped to the ground.
Many years later in Rome a psychic named Helga Ulmann (Macha Méril) is holding a conference. She tries to read the minds of her audience when she realizes that someone in the audience is a murderer. Later Helga is in her apartment trying to write down what she saw when someone breaks into her apartment and murders her. At the same time Marcus Daly (David Hemmings) is taking his drunken friend Carlo (Gabriele Lavia) home and sees Helga being murdered. Marcus runs up to the apartment to help but is too late.
Marcus decides to look into the murder. He heard music playing somewhere and he’s sure that he saw something. He ends up teaming up with reporter Gianna Brezzi (Daria Nicolodi) to investigate. Later the killer tries to get to Marcus he hears the same music and manages to lock himself in a room so that the killer can’t get him. He later plays the song to psychiatrist Professor Giordani (Glauco Mauri) who tells him about a folk tale associated with the song. Marcus starts looking to the story.
Dario Argento has made many horror films throughout his long career but his best work are the films he made in the 1970s and 80s. Suspiria is usually considered his best, it’s even been remade this year but I’ve always preferred his 1975 giallo horror film Profondo rosso aka Deep Red. There always a couple of scenes that always make me jump and I kind of love the weird way the plot evolves and the soundtrack by Goblin is excellent. My original post is here.
