An exciting story about a talented dancer named Suzie Pannion, where she went to Berlin to test the performance of internationally renowned dance company Helena Markus. But after the dancer's success, she discovers that another dancer is replacing her, despite her success. The dancer then accused the company directors of witchcraft. Already, a psychiatrist and a member of the band discovered dark secrets and looked real by investigating the depths of what was happening in the rooms inside and outside the studio.
It's always fascinating to watch; the thrills and spills are so classy and fast that the movie becomes in effect what horror movies seemed like when you were too young to get in to see them.
Argento works so hard for his effects -- throwing around shock cuts, colored lights, and peculiar camera angles -- that it would be impolite not to be a little frightened.
Its outlandish, confounding style [does] more than virtually any other film to create the exact sort of unsettled, panicky mood in the viewer that is at the heart of horror.
Mr. Argento's methods make potentially stomach-turning material more interesting than it ought to be.
Washington Post
June 05, 2002
One can't deny Argento's technical ability to manufacture jolts, but he seems incapable of contriving a dramatic context that would make the jolts more enjoyable by virtue of being more discreet and credible.
