Amazon.com video review:
Dario Argento's sequel to Suspiria, his first and to date only
American hit, is an even more incoherent nightmare fantasy. Laden with
symbolic imagery and fantastic explosions of death shot in candy-colored
hues, it's a bloody feast for the eyes. Mark (Leigh McCloskey), an American
music student in Rome, rushes home to New York after a frantic phone call
from his sister only to find an empty apartment and obscure clues about a
supernatural presence in her spooky building. It all has something to do
with the mysterious Mater Tenebrarum, one of the "Three Mothers" of
Argento's murky mythology, and the fun house of an apartment house she
inhabits, complete with a fully furnished underwater ballroom, miles of
secret tunnels flooded in red and blue light, and hidden passageways under
the floorboards. Meanwhile, there's a killer running around stabbing
beautiful women for who knows what reason, a crippled bookseller
attacked by rats, and a homicidal hot-dog vendor in Central Park. Why? It's
best not to ponder such mysteries--Argento obviously isn't as concerned
with
making sense of his meticulously staged murders as he is with lighting them
with just the right hue. Dramatically it's inert, a parade of quirky but
faceless victims dispatched with elaborate care, but it's beautifully
designed and executed, a spectacle of elaborate set pieces and magnificent
decor orchestrated with a complete disdain for narrative logic. --Sean
Axmaker
