Tag Archives: best italian horror

When Irons Attack: Dario Argento’s ‘Opera’ (1987)

Posted on by
Reply

Want to see a woman get hit square in the back by an iron from a homicidal killer in an Italian horror movie?  Here ya go!

Hahaha!  That’s funny.  Until she dies a horrible death of course, which I’ll talk about in a minute.  That clip is from Dario Argento’s underrated 1987 giallo film, Opera (aka Terror At The Opera).  Soak it in folks, because this was Argento in his prime.  And Opera is full of vintage Argento, especially the scene I eluded to involving the wardrobe seamstress Giulia getting back-smacked with the iron while Betty (interesting Italian horror movie name btw) is forced to watch her die with needles taped under her eyes.  Good times!

Speaking of good times, Giulia accidentally swallows the bracelet that the killer is after while she’s dying.  Let’s just say that when he shoves the shears down her throat to try and retrieve it (all to a killer metal soundtrack I might add), I was squirming in my seat.  The good news for us, the viewer, is that he doesn’t succeed and has to cut through her throat to finally get back what he’s after, with effective sound effects to boot.  Hooray!  Watch the full scene below.  It’s in Spanish btw – so my apologies if you don’t speak Spanish.  Ay Dios Mio!

Monday Bloody Monday: ‘Dog Bites Blind Guy’ From ‘Suspiria’ (1977)

Posted on by
Reply

What is it with Italian horror movies killing off blind people?  In 1985’s Demons, a poor blind guy bit the dust by having his non-seeing eyes smooshed in.  The precursor to that happened in 1977’s Suspiria, when Dario Argento thought he would set the gold standard for blind people cruelty and let a guide dog take a chunk out of his sightless master’s jugular.

So, on this special edition of Monday Bloody Monday, we’re going to all gather around and watch that scene from Suspiria.  Two things come to mind when I revisit this moment by the way.  First, german shepherds are awesome dogs.  And second, what the hell happened to Dario Argento?  It’s sad to watch a fantastic movie like this and then watch his attempts at filmmaking nowadays where he has Dracula turning into a giant praying mantis.  But I digress.  Now let’s watch a blind guy get his throat ripped out by a dog.

Sunday Bloody Sunday: Barb Wire Death From ‘Suspiria’ (1977)

Posted on by
Reply

Note to self:  If I’m ever running away from someone that I might think is a killer and I climb up top to a window and proceed to go through it – I need to check below and observe is there is a massive amount of barb wire before jumping down.

Seems like common sense, but not quite the case for Sarah in 1977’s personal classic of mine, Suspiria.  There are a lot of things I love about this movie (the colors, the music, the blind guy) but I can’t help but laugh every time I watch Sarah plunge to her imminent ‘barb wire death’.  I think what makes it so comical is the fact that there is SO much of the barb wire on the ground when she jumps down.  Could she seriously not see any of it?  But whatever the case, it’s a scene that is more than worthy of being on this week’s Sunday Bloody Sunday: