Johanna Cassi is not having her best day when the film begins. It appears she's being chased by something, and within a few minutes she's dead. We then cut to a taxicab going down a city street (Buenos Aires in this case) and in the back seat of the cab is a brunette who looks remarkably like the woman we just saw die.

This is Jennifer Cassi, played by the same actress, Gina Philips of Jeepers Creepers, and as soon as the cab stops in front of an old, imposing looking mansion, I began having Suspiria flashbacks. If this happens to you when you're watching this movie, I suggest you get them out of your head, because you may be disappointed, since this film has nowhere near the level of demented, almost fever-dream artistry of Dario Argento's classic, but that's forgivable in the long run, because this is a something of a different animal, although it shares some plot and thematic elements.

The filmmakers here are obviously aiming for a more subdued atmosphere (Rosemary's Baby is mentioned as an influence on the tone in the commentary track), a more pastel-like color palette, and far less bloodshed.

Jennifer arrives shortly after the death of her sister, for reasons ranging from emotional (to attend the funeral) to financial (she plans to sell the family home) and medical (she suffers from a variety of health ailments and is looking for a rest cure). Once she arrives at the family residence, however, it's pretty apparent why she left home because this family is a little weird.

The two surviving family members in the house are Aunt Emma, who wanders around looking cadaverous and mumbling nonsense, and the Grand Matron of the family, Mary Ellen, played by Faye Dunaway, whose character obviously has some control issues.

Maybe there's some kind of karmic thing happening here, since Dunaway played Joan Crawford, an actress who ended her career playing the whacko old bat in a slew of sci-fi and horror movies, and now here she is, playing the whacko old bat in a horror movie. (She is, however, the best looking crazy old bat in a horror movie this side of Olivia DeHavilland -- time, or maybe her plastic surgeon, has been incredibly kind to her.)

Anyway, the first bit of control Mary Ellen exercises is that she demands that the attic be kept locked. This being a horror movie, you know that door is going to get opened before too long, however. And Mary Ellen is not too happy with the idea that the house be sold out from under her.

Before too long, Jennifer begins having nightmares in which a shadowy figure lets a raven into her room, which proceeds to peck her stomach open. When she awakes, she is not feeling too well, and a visit to the doctor reveals that one of her kidneys is missing.

This was a touch I particularly liked in the movie, that the supernatural occurences seem to happen in dreams, but end up having repercussions in the waking life of the character (perhaps this touch is a little homage to Nightmare On Elm Street).

Another familiar element that is employed here is the character of an old man who might be crazy, but may also just be the only one who really knows what's going on. If this were a movie from the 1930's Edward Van Sloan might have played the character of the gravedigger who used to be a doctor, but was banned from practice due to some of his irregular beliefs. This old man just might be Jennifer's last chance to beat the demons that are literally eating away at her life.

This could have been a classic late-night kind of horror movie if it had just gone a little further. I couldn't shake the feeling that the movie was too subued, that the filmmakers were holding back when they should have really just opened the door to hell and let it break loose. There's a good kind of holding back (as in Val Lewton's classic chillers from the 1940's or the aforementioned Rosemary's Baby) and then there's the kind of restraint I felt watching this movie, which leaves the movie feeling kind of slight and skeletal.

As it is, it's a good buildup to a conclusion that doesn't really knock your socks off. (In fact, there is a moment in one of Ms. Dunaway's last scenes that is so cheesy I audibly groaned when it happened.) I don't want to give away too much of the ending, but it does touch on some aspects of Poe's best stories, but instead of plunging you right into the maw of madness the way Poe's tales manage so ingeniously, it feels more like it's observing that abyss from a safe distance.

The extras include the red-band trailer for the film (which is presented in 1.66:1, while the movie itself is presented in full screen). The compositions didn't feel particularly lopped off (and there's also no mention that the film has been formatted to fit your tv before the movie), so its possible that this was shot in 1.33 and then cropped for theatrical showings. The trailer is okay, but there were some better trailers included on the disc (like the red-band trailers for Undead and Infection) as well as previews for far, far worse pictures like Alone In The Dark.

The other big extra is a commentary with Faye Dunaway, producers P J Pettiette and Claudie Viguerie, and, for part of the track, actress Gina Philips. Pettiette comes across as the most knowledgeable about the film (Viguerie is fairly quiet), while the actresses, particularly Dunaway, seem confused at times by what's happening onscreen. Although it was kind of cool to hear Dunaway say she's a fan of Takashi Miike. But a lot of the track talks about the difficulties of making a film in Buenos Aires with an Argentine crew, and the differences in the work ethics of the European and South American cultures. It's interesting, but also a little dry. Kind of like the movie itself.