“Mother of Tears,” the final installment of Dario Argento’s witch trilogy, lifts the horror genre to the most supreme artistic height.  This movie just might scare the crap out of you.  It gets into your head and pushes your eyeballs out from the inside. 

Asia Argento is superb as Sarah, the lead character.  It thrills me that she is such a balls-out kind of actress, and I enjoy her in everything she does (particularly “Transylvania,” not a horror film, but excellent).   In the DVD extras, she talks about how she is the princess of horror, and it’s true, but not just by birth.  The movie starts with Sarah doubting the supernatural world, looking at artifacts through the eyes of science.  Little does she know, these relics bring the Mother of Tears, the third, and most terrible witch, into power. As Sarah finds herself trapped by fate, she must not only accept it, but also somehow defeat it.  There is innocence and beauty in her reactions as the world falls apart. 

The mother (Moran Atias) is amazingly cast.  She is gorgeous and brutal, never so much as when she licks the tears off a suffering woman’s cheek.  Women are something to be feared, and their sensitivity makes these witches more awful.  They go after the things that are cherished: love, tenderness, and youth.  Oh yes, children die in this movie.  Several, in fact.  However, Argento repulses you without making you completely break down over it.

There is so much to say about Argento’s films.  I’m not here to write a thesis, so I’ve restrained myself.  “Mother of Tears” is, like “Suspiria,” truly unnerving, beautiful, eerie, and deeply affecting.  This is no fluff, nor does Argento ever resort to cheap scares.  Instead, he invites you to follow him into the depths of fear and revolt.  Go with him.  And when you come back, kiss someone you love.