The 1970's were a great time for horror movies. We had several of the greats in this decade like The Exorcist (1973), The Omen (1976), Alien (1979), and Jaws (1975), all exploded onto the movie scene and changed the way we watched movies. These movies also paved the way for several new types of horror movies in the 80's. However, one of the most anticipated horror movies of the 1970's, a movie that was marketed as significant as The Exorcist, was an utter box office flop. Though it didn't do as well as many of the other films of its era, it is certainly an important film that should be seen and studied for years to come. I'm talking about Nicholas Roeg's, Don't Look Now (1973).

I got to see this movie while in college. We were studying the great Nicholas Roeg, as Australian director who made the influential film, Walkabout. The opening 10 minutes of Don't Look Now are horrifying and one of the first times I was able to see a scene where every single shot has a specific meaning. You can see the progression of two children playing in the back yard while the parents sit in the living room doing research. A child rides his bike over a window pane just as one of the parents breaks a picture frame. You see a glass of water spill on a picture and Donald Sutherland (John Baxter, the father) run out of the house, just as you see his daughter sliding under a small pond in the back yard. It's amazing. The story then picks up a while later and the family is broken and the parents are absorbed with their work in Venice. While at lunch one day a couple of old spinsters are walking by the couple and one says, "Your daughter is happy and she wanted me to tell you." From there the mystery begins, and no one knows what or who to believe.

The entire build up of the movie is a bit slow. All in all it's not my favorite of films, but it's significance and importance to the art of movie making is an important one. Like I mentioned, every shot has meaning. Every glance off into the distance implies something. It has several threads to think about and they are woven together well. Very few flaws in the picture itself, but the ending is quite weird. In fact, that's why it failed in my opinion. After this huge and intriguing buildup, the ending seems to have very little to do with the rest of the picture. Until you begin studying it. Then the you realize the whole movie is about this exact moment and it's the rest of the movie that isn't as important. The trip that Roeg takes you on is totally and completely stated in the beginning, and not realized until the end.

Don't Look Now is slowly paced, but so is The Omen, and The Exorcist. He does it to draw out the little nuances that the movie provides. Everything in the movie means something. There is symbolism galore, and for a people who love film, it's a great one to study. You can learn so much by watching and rewatching it. I saw it again, not too long ago and I once again became inspired to try the type of work Roeg puts into every shot of the movie. It's certainly not for everyone, nor will everyone love it, but it is a film not to be forgotten. It should be used as a lesson plan for the importance of individual shots in movies, and the value of symbolism. All in all, I really respect this film, and I enjoy when I watch it every few years because I remember how much I love the way the movie was done.