Dario Argento's Suspiria has always given me an unequaled feeling of unease. It's at times ultra violent, surreal, beautifully shot, phantasmagorical, bizarre, unsettling, excellently paced, bone-chillingly scored (by the brilliant Goblin) and brilliantly paced. As a long time horror fan, this was one that still gives me the chills when I see it again.
Another under-appreciated gem is Lucio Fulci's magnum opus, The Beyond. Long thought of as solely a gore director, hack imitator, etc, people normally gloss over his ability to capture the surreal and supernatural and mix it in with a healthy dose of atmospherics that were very unique. The epitome of this style was demonstrated in The Beyond. Yes, he wasn't renown for particularly great screenwriting or casting, but the man could lay on the imagery and inject it with a feeling of the strange and otherworldly. The film almost is drenched with the stench of hopelessness and chaos. When the shit hits the fan it comes in droves, beautifully articulated in jaw-dropping bone and gristle set pieces and an almost artistic look at the impending doom that the movie sets up. It's awesome.
A little flick called Dead End also gave me the willies when I saw it. It expertly used imagery and ideas that have given the common populace goosebumps for years by merely thinking about them and turns them into a trip into the unknown for the unsuspecting family that serve as it's protagonists. Although anyone with any common sense can see the ending coming a mile away it does nothing to rob the film of it's achievements in giving people the friggin' creeps.
Kudos to whoever mentioned John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness. Love The Thing as I do. I still think his masterpiece was Prince of Darkness, even troubled by a lacking budget the ideas and direction were fantastic...and that ending!
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