I saw Suspiria at the cinema around 1980/81 on a double bill with Cross of Iron and had no idea who Argento was at the time, but was totally impressed with the film ("The only thing more frightening than the first 12 minutes are the last 92.... I'll never forget that poster!). Anyway, that made me seek out Tenebrae and Deep Red during the pre cert years, and then Bird with the Crystal Plumage. When Creepers was announced in one of the mid-80s video mags (and, I think, Starburst) I was very excited, but I was very disappointed by the fact the film, when released, was not only the "short" version, but even that had been butchered by the BBFC. Despite a thumping soundtrack and some brilliant bravura sequences, the short version, as a whole, was a thorough disappointment. The best thing about the Palace release was the Graham Humphreys artwork (he also did the artwork for The Evil Dead pre cert release plus all those mentioned earlier in the thread, and continues to be a successful designer today).
Move forward a year or two to the halcyon days of late 80s video trading through the underground fanzine scene. Years before the likes of Watford and The Dark Side, these were the seminal years when fanzines like Cold Sweat, Trash City, Imaginator, In the Flesh, Absurd, Rats in the Cellar and Headcheese and Chainsaws were no profit photocopied zines produced by genre fans and full of rave reviews, articles and the occasional ads for uncut goodies.
I was trading with numerous contacts nationwide, plus guys in America, Australia and Europe, and an Australian guy sent me the big box Australian release of Phenomena... fully uncut. And what a difference that made! The film was suddenly "alive"! It made sense! It rocked!
These days I no longer have the Australian tape, nor any copies on tape anymore. I do have the US and Japanese laserdiscs, the UK and US DVDs, the Dragon limited edition DVD set of the Integral version (still sealed!), and of course the Arrow Blu Ray.
Its a masterpiece in my opinion, and Argento's best film.
 |