04/05/10 - Suspiria

Suspiria (1977, 92 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076786/

Suspiria is a horror movie I'd been wanting to check out for a long time now. Directed by a horror legend in Dario Argento it is usually regarded as one of his best. Seeing as how I'd never seen anything by Argento, I was excited for this.

The film follows Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) as she enrolls in a ballet academy. Unfortunately for her, she discovers that the ballet academy is actually a coven of witches. The only other character that is pretty prominent is Suzy's friend Sara (Stefania Casini) who meets her demise via the witches because of her eavesdropping.

The thing that stands out he most from Suspiria to me is the colors and the music. There is so much red in Suspiria that it's unsettling. But that's a good thing. This movie isn't supposed to allow you to sit comfortably and watch the entire thing from start to finish without so much as a squirm. Instead, Suspiria starts off with a brutal and disturbing murder (coupled with an atmosphere that is just as disturbing) and never lets up. Apparently the film was done in a Technicolor process that probably gave it the extremely bright and vivid look. Similarly, the soundtrack is incredibly memorable. Featuring the band called Goblin I wouldn't hesitate to rank Suspiria's soundtrack up there with some of the best ever. It easily contributes to why this film was so memorable and great in my mind. The music was not only fitting but it was also relentless. I'd also like to mention that the bug scene where all the bugs were falling from the ceiling was a great surprise that was perfectly fit into the movie. It came out of left field somewhat but it completely worked to add to this strange atmosphere. I read in one review (read: this might not be true) that Argento wanted Suspiria to be very much like a dream. I think he succeeded here without a doubt.

The story itself though is mediocre in my opinion. I found the main character a great character. She was the perfect blend of the "strong feminine" type and the "helpless beauty" type which I think is important for the lead female in a horror film. I feel Harper did a great job in her role. However, most of the other characters were forgettable. I didn't really care that Sara died or that the other female died at the beginning (though I think this death was mainly there to be a shock and to be brutal). Similarly, the evil witches never really proved all that threatening in my mind as they never really did enough for me to see Suzy want to kill them. I mean, I'm glad she did and all that because Suzy seemed pretty cool and of sound mind, but they never freaked me out.

Overall, I gave this film a 7/10. I'll mainly remember it for the cinematography and the amazing soundtrack. It was clearly better than some of the other horror films I've watched recently and it's definitely made me want to check out the other two films in Argento's witch trilogy.