3. Suspiria (1979) - We All Burn
Suspiria - it's a film only a few people have even heard of, let alone seen, which is a shame because once you get past the 'it's about witches' label, it's ultimately a great story about growing up and self-discovery. The iconic opening scene where there's buckets of blood, falling glass and a shocking hanging is iconic as a truly scary scene of young women being killed and created a template for an entire generation of subsequent slashers who killed pretty young things in inventive ways. In the gothic finale - to be fair, the whole thing's 'gothic' - young heroine Suzy has seen her friends die and her whole life be turned upside down as she finally battles the mysterious teachers and headmistress of the dance academy she's been attending. Her dead friend is reincarnated as a zombie and comes to kill her - Suzy defeats her and sends a ritualistic dagger into the chest of evil queen witch Helena Markos (brilliantly known as Mater Suspiriorum, the Mother of Sighs or Sorrows), killing her. It's a triumphant end for a lead heroine who for a large majority of the film had remained passive in the face of the emerging and present ancient evil - the shock of killing Markos is so great that the entire academy bursts into flames, killing the coven and allowing Suzy (the only student at the academy that evening) to escape, emerging from the burning building a former dancer turned unlikely champion of goodness. Her final moments watching the building burn as vicariously thrilling as we revel in the dying anguish of the cruel coven and in Suzy's heroic salvo.