I just saw this for the first time. I always knew of the rave reviews and it has been mentioned in almost every horror film documentary I've ever seen and figured that for a horror fan like myself, it was imperative to see it.

I see why it got it's classic status, but I think it's a tad overrated and I had my expectations just a little too high. Argento has a certain style I appreciate, but I feel ambivalent about it. Almost like I'm supposed to like it as opposed to it just being my guttural reaction.

This movie was hard to follow first off. The sound quality is very poor making it difficult to follow. I later learned it was because the sound was dubbed in much later and was evidently shot without sound. But nonetheless it's distracting when the sound gets out of sync with actors mouths. That explains it, but doesn't make it any easier to follow the movie. At times it's far too loud, others so quiet I couldn't turn up the tv loud enough to understand the mumblings of the actors. Then the sound effects and background scoring is suddenly jarring at high volume and not in a good way.

I get the dream-like state of Argento's personal style and this movie definitely has it. But it's a little disconnected at times making it hard to understand and at times I felt like "What did I miss?" "When did that happen?". It doesn't flow very well in my humble opinion. It reminds me of being very drugged with painkillers to the point of being half awake, half asleep and some things just being unreal and later on when one comes to, is wondering what was reality and what wasn't. It's just unsettling, not frightening.

The film making in general for this is good. I loved seeing the spectacular European contemporary sets and it has surreal moments that completely feel like a nightmare. The "special effects" are without doubt a very dating quality to the movie, but I sort of enjoy the "red paint" blood horror movie era.

The acting is good and I wouldn't complain about it most of the time. It certainly has an old-fashioned 70's era horror film feel to it which personally I enjoy. I'll probably watch it again at some point just to be thorough, but I'm not sure I'd add this one to my personal collection.

In short, I can completely appreciate it in it's own time and culture as a good piece of film making, but I wouldn't describe it as "scary". More unsettling and disturbing and bit suspenseful but lacks a big climax. The plot is a lot like Rosemary's Baby, which is one of my personal favorites.
I just saw this for the first time. I always knew of the rave reviews and it has been mentioned in almost every horror film documentary I've ever seen and figured that for a horror fan like myself, it was imperative to see it. I see why it got it's classic status, but I think it's a tad overrated and I had my expectations just a little too high. Argento has a certain style I appreciate, but I feel ambivalent about it. Almost like I'm supposed to like it as opposed to it just being my guttural reaction. This movie was hard to follow first off. The sound quality is very poor making it difficult to follow. I later learned it was because the sound was dubbed in much later and was evidently shot without sound. But nonetheless it's distracting when the sound gets out of sync with actors mouths. That explains it, but doesn't make it any easier to follow the movie. At times it's far too loud, others so quiet I couldn't turn up the tv loud enough to understand the mumblings of the actors. Then the sound effects and background scoring is suddenly jarring at high volume and not in a good way. I get the dream-like state of Argento's personal style and this movie definitely has it. But it's a little disconnected at times making it hard to understand and at times I felt like "What did I miss? " "When did that happen? ". It doesn't flow very well in my humble opinion. It reminds me of being very drugged with painkillers to the point of being half awake, half asleep and some things just being unreal and later on when one comes to, is wondering what was reality and what wasn't. It's just unsettling, not frightening. The film making in general for this is good. I loved seeing the spectacular European contemporary sets and it has surreal moments that completely feel like a nightmare. The "special effects" are without doubt a very dating quality to the movie, but I sort of enjoy the "red paint" blood horror movie era. The acting is good and I wouldn't complain about it most of the time. It certainly has an old-fashioned 70's era horror film feel to it which personally I enjoy. I'll probably watch it again at some point just to be thorough, but I'm not sure I'd add this one to my personal collection. In short, I can completely appreciate it in it's own time and culture as a good piece of film making, but I wouldn't describe it as "scary". More unsettling and disturbing and bit suspenseful but lacks a big climax. The plot is a lot like Rosemary's Baby, which is one of my personal favorites.