paulclaassen

Just as Suzy Bannion arrives at the prestigious ballet school in Germany, a young girl, Pat Hingle, mumbles strange words as she flees from the building. The next day, Pat is found murdered. Miss Tanner, the head instructor, and Madama Blanc, the deputy headmistress, are keeping the girls calm, but we soon get a feeling all is not what it appears to be.

Suzy starts feeling very weak, and confides in Sara, who also believes there to be something sinister going on at the school. Suzy learns the school was established by Helena Markos, who supposedly was a witch.

Back in the day I'm sure this must have been a frightening movie, but today - and after the 80's revolutionized the slasher genre - 'Suspiria' doesn't hold so well anymore. That fake blood looks all too much like paint! I'm glad I finally watched it, but this is a bit too dated for me.

Don't get me wrong, this is still a good movie. And I absolutely loved the colourful interiors and decor. The use of the colour red is very prominent, and looks really good on screen.

Maude Chambers' husband disappeared a while ago, and circumstances left her with no option than to turn her home into a tourist home. Being a former funeral home, the basement is still filled with coffins and other creepy stuff.

Heather, Maude's granddaughter, comes to visit to help her around the house as guests start arriving. Among the guests are Harry Browning and his mistress Florie. Being very religious, Maude does not approve of them. Mr Davis has been staying at the house for a while (and it is later revealed his wife had an affair with Maude's husband before she, too, disappeared).

Rookie cop Joe is concerned about there not being any leads on the disappearances of several people in town over the past few years, and is determined to catch the culprit when more bodies are found. Meanwhile, his brother Rick starts seeing Heather.

Billy is a mentally-challenged man who works as a handyman for Maude. Ahh, and then there's the black cat that keeps following Heather (not that the cat serves any purpose, apart from adding creepiness to the film). Speaking of which; Maude might look like an old-fashioned, religious lady, but it soon becomes clear she harbours a secret.

'Funeral Home' is more of a mystery thriller than a horror. It served as an interesting whodunit murder mystery until the final 'what the hell' few minutes ruined everything. Pity, it was going so well...

I honestly didn't know what Schizoid means and had to look it up. Schizoid is a mental health condition that causes people to have little interest in social relationships

Julie and her soon to be ex-husband Doug works for the same newspaper. She writes a column, Dear Julie, where she offers advice to readers. She attends group therapy sessions at Dr. Pieter Fales' house. (I can't recall of they ever mentioned why she was in therapy.) Soon after their latest session, one of the participants is killed.

Julie receives a threatening letter, but the police doesn't take it seriously, and can't do anything "unless something happens". She confides in Pieter, with whom she has a love interest. Pieter's daughter, Alison, does not approve of Julie. She is an annoying, spoiled brat whom I didn't care about at all.

'Schizoid' is one of the early 80's slasher movies, and thankfully slashers improved since then. Although the film features good actors, the film just didn't appeal to me. I can't really put my finger on why exactly I didn't enjoy the movie as much as I wanted to. I guess I found it a bit difficult connecting with the characters. Maybe there simply isn't anything memorable here. It felt like an episode from a whodunit murder mystery TV series; one I wouldn't have missed had I not seen it.

I also blame the editing. The one minute a victim was being followed and the next being stabbed. It felt as if I missed something in-between, and there was very little in the form of suspense. 'Friday the 13th', for example, released the same year, saw victims fleeing in panic, and the music score and atmosphere enhanced every moment, resulting in very suspenseful kill scenes. This is where 'Schizoid' lacked. In fact, it lacked on almost every level - except maybe the performances from the lead actors.

'Schizoid' will go down as a forgettable 80's slasher movie (for me).