The soundtrack to Dario Argento’s Suspiria is still one of the loudest, creepiest and most effective scores used on a piece of celluloid to date.

Argento’s demented fairy tale/Grand Guignol horrorfest is still just as creepy and unsettling as it was when I first spotted it playing on a drive-in movie screen in the 1970s. I had no idea what it was–I was too young at the time to know what I was missing–but Suspiria later made the rounds on HB0 and Showtime where it made believers out of creeped out kids all over America.

Check out the Goblin soundtrack on this trailer for the restored version of Suspiria. Argento claims a collaboration with Goblin on this one, but I truly believe that the credit for this belongs squarely with the performers themselves–Goblin may have gotten some coaching from Argento in the studio, but listen to the realization of these sounds and marvel. Goblin has had some decidedly gawdawful results when they aren’t on their game, but here they hit all the marks with skill and a precision that predates later sonic attacks along the same lines by Skinny Puppy by many years. Bravo!