We will not mess about here. When I first viewed Dario Argento's Suspiria, 1977. I was at the time somewhat underwhelmed by what I believed was a film full of inconsistencies, unintentional comedic clumsiness that the director never intended. I was fourteen going on fifteen and the year was 1981. I was viewing the film with a number of friends so I imagine the nights proceedings would be at times not of a total concentrated full viewing commitment. plus the influence of others being around often as a tendency to distort things at times. This was an evening of horror entertainment which included, Don Coscarelli's Phantasm, 1979 and Lucio Fulci's, Zombie Flesh eaters, 1979. In retrospect and many decades later I am now thinking, “what a night?” The two Italian directed films seemed daft and often silly at the time. Coscarelli's Phantasm being the exception to that rule on that particular night I noted. To those present Phantasm just had a greater kudos, it seemed to connect better with us as an audience of foolish teenagers as compared to both Fulci's gory zombie nonsense and Argento's daft film about a ballet school being a front for a witches coven. Phantasm seemed to defy the two Italian directors horror movie conventions. It was undoubtedly the biggest success of the night for my youthful guests and I alike. I wonder now looking back whether we associated more with the Mike - Michael Baldwin character in Phantasm simply because he was in essence an intense young guy suffering from teenage angst and attempting to commit to what we young teens imagined they could more associate with if thrown in to such a mad world of fighting unexplained metal spheres, monsters and bogeymen. It was all about the opportunity provided to fight the evil of Coscarelli's nightmare creations. Guns, women and fast cars and the opportunity to become the unsung hero, a perfect adolescent formula that suited better. Listen we all loved the madness of our other two features but it was the gore factor of both Argento's work and more so Fulci's mad zombie effort that appealed and little else at the time. It had been word of mouth that had led us to 'Flesh eaters' in particular. This films already growing notoriety had undoubtedly already made an impact on the video viewing public for historical reasons now obvious to those around at the time. In essence this night had represented more the obtaining of a badge of honour. To observe these films was more an initiation, for it was the dawning of the 'nasty' era and often that mattered to a audience of immature lads seeking more than just the fear factor of the films themselves. It was about a bravado and youthful excitement and anticipation that often ruled the head rather than the heart. It was not until roughly several months later that I finally realized both the error of my ways and my distorted judgement on the importance of both Lucio Fulci and more so, Dario Argento as a director and finally facing the realization of how important Suspiria was as a full throttle horror movie experience.

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