So, I decided to tackle Dario Argento's Suspiria because it's been awhile since I've seen it and ranks as probably one of the best horror films you've never seen. (And it's Halloween time, so why not?). I love to introduce people to new, good movies, so for my 125th review, I thought I'd give you one from the darker side of the street from the cult movie section.
First, Suspiria's plot is pretty simple. Jessica Harper plays Suzy Bannion, a dancer who has transferred to a prestigious ballet school in Germany. She arrives during a horrific thunderstorm, and when she comes to the door, another student rushes out babbling incoherently. This student is later horrifically killed at a hotel where she takes shelter. The next day, Suzy comes to the school and is greeted warmly by the school's headmistress Madame Blanc. Madame Blanc also has a German assistant headmistress named Frau Tanner, a severe Teutonic woman who looks like she belongs as a guard at Dachau, not a ballet school. Strange events and crimes begin to happen to Suzy and people associated with the school. Suzy suspects all is not what it seems and eventually finds out the school is being run by a coven of malefic witches who are intent on killing her.
Suspiria, Latin for sighs, is co-written and directed by the great Italian horror film director Dario Argento and is generally considered his masterpiece. It's easy to see why. This film was one of the last ever to be shot in Technicolor, and uses a color saturation process (also used in The Wizard of Oz and Gone With The Wind) that causes a very stylized, hyper-colorized palette that does not look quite real. This film is filled with bold, primary colors (especially red), slashes of light and creeping shadows that form a very creepy atmosphere. In fact, this film is all about atmosphere and would not be very effective or memorable without it. Argento's masterful use of anamorphic lenses (which distort pictures slightly), light, color and shadow, combined with a 70's-creepy score by the band Goblin, gives the film an otherworldly, some say, not unfairly, hallucinogenic aura which suits the subject matter quite well. The overall feeling we get is that we are standing inside the Gates of Hell when we are in the school and it succeeds quite well because of the bold color schemes. In fact, this movie has the best use of color, shadow and lighting I have ever seen next to Gone With The Wind. Everything is so deliberately placed that it forms a sumptuous visual feast. It takes away from what would have normally been kind of a Grindhouse schlockfest and makes it a movie that demands to be seen alongside any great director's work. It's that good.
The multi-cultured cast recited their lines in their native languages (English, German and Italian). Because of a bad sound recording, much of the dialog was relooped (recorded again in post-production over the original soundtrack, usually meant to spice up bad performance tics or remove extraneous noise-just in case you didn't know...) or dubbed in post-production. Obviously, the cast knew what was happenening in the story and they react to each other accordingly, but the relooping process makes the voices sound like they don't belong in the world they were shot. They sound like they're in a studio, which takes us out of the reality of the film somewhat. The in-studio performances are a little wooden as well. In fact, most of the acting is a little melodramati, like most Italian productions of the time. This detracts from a realistic portrayal of events in the film, but oddly adds to the off-kilter atmosphere that pervades the entire film. It works and doesn't work at the same time.
The film is a bit of a product of its timeframe, 1977. Around this time, there were a lot of popular films focusing on occult themes (The Exorcist and The Omen being the most popular and notable), especially in the Grindhouse movie circuits. Suspiria has one foot firmly planted in the Grindhouse film genre, but also stands with the other foot squarely in films that are really good. Argento's efforts in this film are too good to be dismissed as Grindhouse banality. While the film is not particularly complicated, and in fact is kind of abrupt and even a little incomprehensible in parts, it is just too well-made to be dismissed. While it is ponderous by today's hyper-kinetic standards, it is not a "boo" movie, unlike so many horror movies of today. Argento tries for real horror here, with mixed results. The climax is just incredibly creepy and is pretty good, but the story up to that point can drag in places, but also genuinely scares in others. This is a film, if you haven't seen it, that should be experienced if you like good, scary creepy stuff. While there is some gore, especially at the beginning which starts the movie with a bang, that is not the focus of the film like today's slashers. As I said, Argento tries for the more difficult task of being horrifying rather than shocking. It is really good and I think if you are a fan of horror, this may be one of those hidden gems you missed.
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