12 WTF Horror Films You Need To See Before You Die

Dario Argento’s reputation takes another knock with Mother Of Tears, the final part of the filmmaker’s “Three Mothers” trilogy following Suspiria (1977) and Inferno (1980).

The first hint that this belated concluding chapter won’t measure up to its predecessors comes during a botched sequence where the opening of an urn causes the walls to shake before a quartet of witches (in masks and burlap sacks) eviscerate a museum curator and, as their pet monkey looks on, strangle her with her own intestines. Something Bad has been unleashed, but Argento’s budget means he has to stage Armageddon as economically as possible, resulting in a montage of women baring themselves in public while men take clubs to parked cars. If the sudden appearance of gangs of loud and obnoxious young girls signifies the end of the world, we really are in trouble.

It’s all something to do with Mater Lacrimarum, the Mother of Tears herself, who turns out to be a beautiful naked witch in hastily applied mascara. As bizarre as this is, it gets stranger: when Argento’s heroine, played by his daughter Asia, takes her mid-Armageddon shower, Dario doesn’t flinch or cut away – he moves his camera in for a better look. Having previously decapitated daughter Fiore in Phenomena (1985) and shot his ex-wife in Opera (1987), the man’s films truly are a (Manson) family affair.