Un Chien Andalou officially welcomed into the ranks of the Surrealists by the movement's leader André Breton, an event recalled by film historian Georges Sadoul: "Breton had convoked the creators to our usual venue [the Café Radio] ... one summer's evening. Dalí had the large eyes, grace, and timidity of a gazelle. To us, Buñuel, big and athletic, his black eyes protruding a little, seemed exactly like he always is in "Un Chien Andalou", meticulously honing the razor that will slice the open eye in two." Among the most enthusiastic viewers of the film were the wealthy couple Viscount Charles and Marie-Laure de
The Spiral Staircase (1946 film) romance," the film has been noted by contemporary critics for its prominent Gothic horror elements. It has also been cited as one of numerous progenitors to the slasher film, specifically due to its female-centric cast and point-of-view cinematography deployed during scenes in which the killer stalks his victims. Film scholar Amy Golden notes several significant visual allusions in the film, such as Luis Buñuel's "Un chien andalou" (1929) and Maya Deren's "Meshes of the Afternoon" (1943). Golden cites the film as a "quintessential example of 1940s horror." Writer Denis Grunes in 2007 suggested the film is "in fact a masked