Suspiria

Dario Argento's 1977 Italian giallo masterpiece operates on pure sensory assault. The plot — an American ballet student discovers her academy is run by a coven of witches — is secondary to the experience. Goblin's prog-rock score attacks your nervous system while Argento drenches every frame in candy-colored blood and impossible lighting. It's not scary in a conventional sense. It's scary the way a fever dream is scary — irrational, inescapable, and beautiful.