Back to School: Suspiria

We've written up Suspiria before, it's really a striking movie to watch, but's it's also about one of the worst school experiences you could POSSIBLY have...

First night: Suzy Bannion flies from America to Germany, immediately takes a cab to the campus of her new dance school only to be left standing in the pouring rain and the dead of night pounding on the school's door while being refused to be let in. While attempting to enter the building, another student flees the school, nearly knocking Suzy to the ground, and runs straight into the woods. Defeated and confused, Suzy takes her cab back into town to find a hotel for the night.

Later that night: Pat (the fleeing student) has found refuge at another student's apartment in town; but unfortunately for her, it's no sanctuary. While trying to collect herself in the bathroom, Pat hears noises outside the window, and what happens next is one of the more cinematic (but still bloody) kills in the horror genre:

The school year only get's better from there: Suzy returns to the school the next morning only to discover what she witnessed the night before were the last moments of her classmate's life. Suzy eventually teams up with her dorm-mate to investigate the increasingly suspicious reactions from the school's staff, as the students disappear/turn up dead at an increasingly alarming rate. 

Recommended for: Anyone attending art college, studying abroad, or attending school in New England... 

Dangerously Close

Not without it's charm, this movie didn't have any of the overly crazy elements many other Cannon movies embrace. Actually, this one's ending caught me off guard because it was sort of reasonable...

The plot unfolds something like this: A group of rich boys have taken it upon themselves to rid their beloved school of a recent rash of petty crimes. Acting on the unfounded idea that the poorer students are responsible for said crime, the gang tracks down some of these less fortunate classmates and literally terrorize them. (Of course, the irony that they're "fighting" crime with terrorism is totally lost on them.) Meanwhile, students have been going missing and the whole school believes the vigilantes to be responsible. But are they really responsible, or are they just the victims of vicious-rich boy stereotyping?

Things to watch for: A twist ending you can likely see coming but plays pretty well anyway, with a twist reveal that you couldn't possibly see coming. Loads of dudes too old to play high schoolers playing high schoolers anyway. The main antagonist/co-writer obviously writing some choice scenes for himself. Some nice commentary on the fine line between vigilantes and criminals.

Things to look away for: Some step-sibling incest/sexual-assault scenes (that thankfully stop short of nudity).

“That Guy!” moment with: Miguel A. Nunez Jr. (The Return of the Living Dead, Action Jackson, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning)

What we learned: Filming your acts of terrorism against your fellow classmates might not be the best idea if you want to keep those acts of terrorism secret...