Lack of confidence = wasted potential?

I enjoyed Masks well enough, but I felt that Marschall's film lacked the necessary confidence to stand on its own two feet. The extended Suspiria tribute that dominates the first act really sucked the air out of the movie for me, as it set a good movie up against the best, and left it with no chance.

The sad thing is, I felt that Marschall's plot was strong enough once we were past the Argento worship: the anti-psychiatric theatre angle had a lot going for it. When you look at how hippie communes disintegrated in the early '70s there's a lot of scope for the type of psychological horror that was being aimed at here. It's just a shame that it got muddied with intimations of witchcraft and a weak script.