favorite movie #90 - halloween edition: eyes without a face

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #90 - Eyes Without A Face (1960) - A truly unique movie that finds its horror in the possible, the familial. The evil scientist (Pierre Brasseur) is a guilt-wracked doting father who wants to restore his daughter to her former beauty after his reckless driving resulted in her disfigurement. The "Igor" (Alida Valli) is a faithful, grateful patient who will do anything for the doctor who helped restore her own scarred face. The monster (Édith Scob) is an innocent girl, whose burned and scarred face is destroying her — from within and without. Director Georges Franju doesn't avoid showing the horrors, in gory detail, of the face transplant operation. There are times the viewer will want to look away. It is an uncomfortable, haunting film to watch. But it is also unforgettable — especially the many shots of Scob's eyes, behind her mournful mask.

favorite movie #89 - halloween edition: suspiria

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #89 - Suspiria (1977) - Dario Argento's Suspiria may be a giallo film, but its primary color palette is red, red, red. The horror thriller features Jessica Harper as Suzy, a young American ballerina who attends a dance academy in Germany. That is just the framework for hue-saturated set pieces which feature veteran Hollywood star Joan Bennet, Alida Valli and one ingenious, gruesome, and gory death after another. The film is ostensibly about witchcraft and devil worship, but it plays more like a nightmarish fairy tale. The young, mostly female victims are drenched in either blood-red lights or the real thing. It's hard not to think of the "horrors" of coming of age and a woman's intimate relationship with blood. Whatever Suspiria is about, it is so arresting to watch it could have been interesting even if it had been a silent movie. The moment Suzy walks through the sliding doors at the airport and into the stormy night, her adventure, and ours, begins.

Suzy (Jessica Walter( is not in Kansas anymore

Suzy's roommate Olga (Barbara Magnolfi)

Suzy's friend Sara (Stefania Casini) tries to warn her that the school is a strange place

Young and handsome Udo Kier, post-Warhol