Review of Suspiria (1977) by Allan C — 15 Jul 2018

Writer/director Dario Argento's modern day horror masterpiece still holds up as a brilliant and disturbing piece of filmmaking. With a strong emphasis on visuals, musics, and atmosphere, the film tells the hallucinatory tale of Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper), an American ballerina who joins a prestigious European ballet school, but begins to suspect the school is harboring some sort of secret following a series of mysterious events, not the least of which is a series of bloody horrific deaths.

"Suspiria" is probably one of the scariest films ever produced and certainly has the most frightening horror film score of all-time, which was composed by Argento and the prog rock band Goblin.

Prior to this film, Argento has mostly made Giallo thrillers (ultra-violent Hitchcockian type of thrillers) and had not done much in the way of supernatural horror, but he does an amazing job with the genre.

What makes this film so scary is not so much the story, which is certainly serviceable, but it's Argento's direction, the wild production design, the stylish photography, and the over-the-top frightening music that make the film so memorable.

There is no way anyone can watch this film and not have it burned into your memory as something wholly unique. I will concede that this film will not be everyone's cup of tea and that there will be many who will watch this film and find it off-putting and/or ridiculous and even an endurance test, but I find this film to be an amazingly unique surreal nightmare and an example of "pure cinema.

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