horror | Lorelei By Starlight

Ever since I first watched Deep Red I’ve been big fan of Dario Argento. I like the giallo genre in general. Something about the blend of elements – the overall style of the films, the mystery/slasher/supernatural, the subtle eroticism, violence, and darkness – works for me. So, over the holidays I decided to watch through the Three Mothers trilogy.

I had seen the first, Suspiria (1977), a couple times before, but watched it again to have it fresh in my mind. I had not watched Inferno (1980) or Mother of Tears (2007), so these were new to me. While there were things that I liked about all of the movies, there were a few things that stood out to me. Most of this probably has to do with the timing of when the movies were made. The first two were only three years apart, but the last didn’t come until 27 years later, which is a really large gap for a movie in a series, and the time between definitely showed.

The history of the Three Mothers story is that there were three powerful witches bent on gaining money and power. They each took up residence in a different city – Freiburg, Germany (the Mother of Sighs); New York City (the Mother of Darkness); Rome, Italy (the Mother of Tears) – and commissioned an architect to build houses for them. There are three signs associated with identifying the houses of the witches: a strange, bittersweet smell, a portrait of the mother housed underground, and a third key to be found underneath your feet.

So, here is what I saw – the first two movies are closely paired with many similarities:

lighting – both make use of brightly colored accent lighting in reds, blues, yellows, and greens. This lends a particular feel to the darkness that infiltrates the rest of the films, and enhances the use of stained glass windows that appear throughout both films. In Suspiria stained glass serves as a dramatic way to expose the murder of one of the dancers.

rainy cab rides – both protagonists arrive at their destinations on dark, rainy nights, after riding with some kind of weird cab drivers.
the use of disabled characters – in Suspiria there is a blind pianist and in Inferno there is a book seller suffering from partial paralysis. Both of these characters are victimized.
architecture – the architecture in both films creates a gothic element (while not, at least from what I remember from art history class, being technically gothic in design) and lends a brooding feeling. In Suspiria the building is a dance school while in Inferno the building is an apartment building.

death by glass – both movies make use of this in different fashion
killer animals – cats, rats, bats, and a dog. Both movies have groups of animals that are overtaken by demonic forces and then go on to kill. In both cases, the disabled characters are killed by possessed animals. In Inferno there is quite a bit of animal related violence – cat on rat, man on cat, cat on man, etc.

Suspiria had the advantage of having Jessica Harper (from the Rocky Horror spinoff Shock Treatment) and Joan Bennett (from Dark Shadows), along with Udo Kier (who is actually in Mother of Tears, too). The feel of this film is dark and dreamlike and there are several shocking moments and a death scene that will stay with me forever (death by room filled with snarls of razor wire).

Overall, I felt that the quality and feel of Suspiria was superior to Inferno, but I still thought that there were some interesting aspects in this movie. For example, I liked the opening of this movie where in trying to identify the odd odor surrounding her apartment building the girl explores a bit underground, and drops her keys in a sort of puddle that turns out to be an opening to an underground room that has been flooded. In this room we see evidence of the portrait of the Mother of Darkness. Additionally, I liked that there was an unpredictable nature to who the actual protagonist was – the focal point changes throughout in an interesting way.

Mother of Tears differs greatly from the others in that none of the similarities of the first two appear. (We don’t see the extreme colored backlighting, death of disabled characters by possessed animals, etc.) The plotting in this movie is more well defined, but there is also an extreme focus on violence – whereas the first two films see violence visited on individuals in secluded locations, in this film demons possess the general populace creating havoc in the city. There are also roving bands of witches that are gathering for the “rise” of the Mother of Tears. The building in this movie – rather than being actively inhabited and working as the main setting for the film – appears to have fallen into disuse, except for some homeless people sheltering in the basements. Our protagonist has the benefit of her mother’s ghost as a guide and she has some of her own, white witchcraft to call upon to help her. There are a lot of interesting “surprise!” moments – like surprise – demons!, and surprise – baby murder! The deaths in this movie are more extreme as is the sexualization. I think the most amusing part of this movie, to me anyway, was what I have deemed the “red half-shirt of power” – a relic garment that apparently bestows power upon the Mother of Tears when she puts it on.

So, basically, this last movie has more plot – but also more gore, and gross-out factor. Oh, and only one, solitary possessed monkey.

Overall, I wish, that the third had stuck more closely to the format of the first two – to me, they were more along the lines of traditional giallo, whereas the last branched out more into horror. I did, however, enjoy watching these three movies so close together.

When the stars are right , Cthulhu speaks its Name, which is also its Call, and we who have made of our minds suburbs of the great city of R’lyeh hear it. We hear it, snaking through the twisted streets and warped alleyways we have carved in our own heads. The Name moves like sentient smoke through a consciousness made R’lyehian. We hear it, and breathe it in, and allow it to enter us in unfathomable ways, and we know (44).

I recently had the good fortune to read the most recent book by Scott R. Jones, When the Stars Are Right. If you are a Lovecraft fan in search of spiritual guidance, this book is most definitely for you. Jones has deftly interwoven an academic quality of Lovecraftian knowledge with philosophical and spiritual interpretation, and added a dashes of wry humor throughout that will bring forth nods of approval from the true R’lyehian. However, there is more to this book than first meets the eye, and one need not necessarily be fully committed to the R’lyehian faith in order to find value here.

So, what is this book about? Well, it’s NOT a biography of Lovecraft or a dry academic study of his world or writing. Instead, Jones has taken the time to actually consider the different Great Old Ones in their pantheon and determine their position and influence upon the spiritual nature of our lives. While you may think, at first glance, that this book is a parody of similar types of spiritual books for other more mainstream religions, this book has some seriously good discussion of the unknowable nature of what came before, what will come after, and the important parts in between. The book is constructed of a series of meditations on different aspects of a R’lyehian religion. This book is full of thought provoking passages, and I found myself continually taking notes and underlining. For example, on the search for understanding the Great Old Ones:

The R’lyehian breaks down the pathetic wall (because, like all walls, it demands to be broken down) and launches herself upon those black seas to sail or swim or sink as the tides decide, for the Great Old Ones are to be experienced, felt as living realities, embraced, merged with. We cannot know them as they know themselves, but we must try nevertheless (22).

on the hunger that creates Time:

Not for nothing is Shub-Niggurath portrayed in much of the Mythos-related fiction as a deity of vast appetite, for she is the embodiment of the First Rule of the Universe: Everybody Hungry. This hunger manifests in various ways: for food, territory, information, experience. All these things must be consumed, in whole or in part, and all to feed the First Hunger itself: the hunger for Time, or the Future, a hunger that can only be sated through sex and procreation (33).

on the qualities of Cthulhu that are significant and advantageous, such as dreaming, waiting, and – the one I found most interesting – sorcerous consciousness:

The R’lyehian is non-Euclidean in her adaptability: of persona, of action. There one moment, as a creative, compassionate, or ambivalent member of human society, and gone the next, donning and exo-personality that allows for slipping off between dimensions, performing incomprehensible feats … Multiple personality disorder not as a disease (or even disorder, for that matter) but as a lifestyle choice, as fashion statement, as a suite of tools and skins for navigating strange angles (52-53).

Jones covers a variety of aspects related to spiritual belief, including practice, artistic renderings, sex, death, and beyond. Throughout it all, there is an engaging balance of serious examination and entertaining aside, an explanation of the spiritual thought that helps you think through your beliefs and actions and answer the question, “Are you keeping it R’lyeh?”

I absolutely loved this book! If you are looking for a way to start off the new year right, you should definitely check it out. It will help you ramp up your spiritual practice and prepare yourself for that day, when the stars align, and when the Great Old Ones return for our glorious destruction … or, you know, just help you be more thoughtful about your life on a daily basis.