I LIKE THEATERS

In the suburbs of Chicago (I grew up in Geneva), 1977 seemed to be a transition year for movie theaters in that there were a few "cineplexes” popping up here and there, especially in juxtaposition to malls – the Fox Valley Mall theaters, Woodfield Mall, the Yorktown Cinemas were expanding. But the stand-alone, in town, theater was still king in ‘77, if not becoming home to “edgier” or – better – “sleazier” cinematic fare. I used to haunt the Tivoli in downtown Aurora, which was just down the street from the venerable Paramount.

In the summer of ’77, the Tivoli was turning into a good old fashioned grindhouse, but with a bent for horror. The theater’s décor was fitting for the genre – plush, deep, blood-red curtains, burgundy seats and gothic artwork on the ceiling. My most memorable film that played at the Tivoli? Dario Argento’s “Suspiria,” an Italian-produced bloodbath that was amongst the surge of late-‘70s horror films that were moving in subject matter from the supernatural to the slasher. “Suspiria” – happily –was both. Even though I’ve seen the film numerous times since then, the theater’s bizarre décor accentuated the “Suspiria” experience, branding it into my subconscious, keeping bits of the original viewing in my memory some 30 years later.