So many interesting comments here on vampire films and Dracula films.

I have never been able to stomach Coppola's Dracula (which certainly is not Bram Stoker's Dracula any more than Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein).  I think the appropriation of the author's names in both of these cases starts me off on the wrong foot since those who haven't read the books think these movies are accurate depictions of the novels.  Although changes to plot in other movie versions annoy me to no end, the total disregard and misrepresentation of the author's themes are what get my ire up with Coppola and Branagh.  And that's just for starters...

My favorite "Dracula" is Christopher Lee, and the Jess Franco version was the closest depiction of both plot and the character of Dracula (aged but physically powerful in the earliest scenes), but the film deteriorates miserably about mid-way through.  The final scene follows the novel closely, which I haven't seen in any other version.  I would love to see the Louis Jourdan version, though.

In the meantime, given the drawbacks of the other films, I have to settle on Dan Curtis' version as the most reasonably faithful, respectful, and well-done version I've seen.

Prof Stokes, I've read the Saberhagen novel too, and I agree with you that it's well done.  Dracula from Dracula's point of view, but not in a way that eliminates Stoker's themes but instead provides a counterpoint.  I read another "sequel" to Dracula but didn't care for it (the author started a Dracula/vampire series).

I haven't heard of the novel "The Historian" ... will have to check it out.

"Eye of the Devil" airs Wednesday afternoon on TCM.  In my time zone (central), it's at 4:30 p.m.  I won't attempt to adjust the time for Eastern or Pacific time zones for fear of getting it wrong.

The final scene of this movie appears to me to have inspired the final scene in "Night of Dark Shadows."  Without wanting to give too much away, just think of the mansion (or chateau in "Eye"), the car about to depart from it, and someone going back inside ...

One of my favorite things about this movie are the many dream/trance/hypnotic states that thread the movie from nearly the first scene to the last.

Thanks for the much-needed laughs, guys.

I met a female psychiatrist once (an M.D., as others have pointed out) who also had a Ph.D. in another subject area, something like Sociology and Statistics, though I'm not certain.  Maybe the Ph.D., if it was in one or both of these areas, related to epidemeology (?).  She was also a Jungian therapist, which requires a completely separate line of training.  And her business card described her as a diplomat of some kind, although I think that relates somehow to being board-certified in psychiatry.  She was in her early 30s at that time.

I think the "violence" factor in the scene you're talking about is all audial.  The sound of Willie screaming is what makes it violent.

That and the violence in Frid's voice, as I recall.  That was realistic.

mscbryk, if you can find a copy of "Deep Red" somewhere, I would personally recommend that over re-watching "Suspiria."  "Inferno" in second place.  "Suspiria" in third.

Very subjective, I know, but I find these better movies overall!  Just remember that the logic (especially in "Inferno") is dream logic, not realistic logic.  "Deep Red" handles the theme of obsession very well, possibly on a par with "Vertigo."

I am glad others are troubled by the extreme violent deaths depicted in Argento's films.  I was reading some online customer reviews of his movies that chilled my blood even more, and that was comment after comment about how disappointed viewers would be with "Deep Red" because there were so few gruesome deaths in it, and other comments by people who relish in the depictions of deaths to a degree that to me sounds borderline psychotic.

The only way I've been able to stomach such scenes is the fact that they are so stylized; in other words, they are "acted out" in a choreographed, staged, and artificial way.  They are cinematic more than realistic (I hope).  Argento claims in interviews on the DVDs that the deaths are meant to be like nightmares and so he exaggerates them.

Any thoughts?  Does this make the violence more acceptable?

What about comparisons of the "violence" in "Dark Shadows" - the TV show vs. the movies?

I prefer the more stagey, obviously "fake" deaths of the TV show to the violence and blood of the movie versions.

The most violent scene I can think of in the TV series is Barnabas beating Willie with his cane - yet nothing was really shown, as I remember, was it?

last weekend i found a four dollar copy of suspiria at the flea-market.
i had never seen it but heard alot about it.suposedly the ill-fated 2004 version of d.s. was stylistically inspired by it.plus it featured joan bennett so i took it.

the person i bought it from warned me not to watch it alone because it was so scary.now i didn't find it all that scary but loved the style and mood of it.the super-saturated color palette and musical score gave it a very distinctive feeling.and the sets and locations were eerily beautiful.

joan bennett didn't have as much presence in it as thought she would.she was almost a cameo.but i did think she had aged alot since d.s. and the movie was filmed only a few years after d.s. left the air.they revived liz's beehive hairdo for the film which was a nice touch.
according to the bennetts,an acting family the reviews for joan were not kind(one critic likened her to a "wax-work princess margaret" and another "a programmed grand-mother doll").

I was interested to see this post because I just finished watching Argento's "Profondo Rosso" ("Deep Red"), which is sometimes said to be his masterpiece (although the same has been said of "Suspiria," I believe).

I've now seen three of Argento's films, and "Deep Red" is definitely far scarier than "Suspiria," in a nail-biting suspense way, whereas as "Suspira" is probably more intriguing than frightening.  Joan Bennett did seem like she was just reciting lines, like she hadn't spent much time preparing for the role, though she was still fun to watch.  "Suspiria" definitely isn't the high point of her acting.  I've also seen "Scarlet Street" in the past year, and she gave a top-notch performance in that film, probably 50 years earlier.  Bennett's performance wasn't the only subpar performance in "Suspiria," in my opinion (remember the outdoor scene where the actor is obviously reading cue cards?).  Performances are far better in both "Inferno" and "Deep Red," with those in the latter being especially outstanding, in my view ... there's really not a weak link, from Daria Nicolodi and David Hemmings down to the smallest parts (which prove to be more significant in the film than one first realizes).

I am very discomfitted by the in-your-face deaths in Argento's movies, but his films are original, unique, and are an experience unlike any other.  I actually like "Inferno" better, in which the dream/nightmare logic is more readily apparent.

"Deep Red" takes an old-fashioned type of murder mystery storyline and gives it a complete makeover visually and in its overall treatment.  I really like the stylization of his films, and "Deep Red" is even more stylized than "Suspira."  For example, he is creating artificial or hyperrealistic sets, where the people in the background are frozen like mannequins.  I think he may be taking a cue from Hitchcock but going with it to an extreme that would never be acceptable in a Hollywood studio film.

Although the music in the films is similarly unique, like Gothick says, that aspect can get on my nerves.  But then Argento would say that every aspect of his films is designed to get under the viewer's skin.

I've been favorably impressed with Wikipedia entries, but I had no idea that just anyone could edit the articles!  I thought there must be some safeguards in place whereby someone had to prove their credentials ... what's to stop some prankster or ill-informed person from distorting facts or deliberately introducing errors?  Some of the "reviewers" on imdb and amazon are bad enough (though there are plenty of very well-informed and intelligent posts on those sites, too) ...