Suspiria

A German ballet school for girls is the setting for mysterious deaths, in this 1977 horror story, written and directed by Dario Argento. "Suspiria" is a visually stunning film.

The images contain objects we recognize, like people, buildings, and interior decor. But the objects seem vaguely menacing, and less real than surreal, as though they symbolize ideas, repressed desires, or subconscious fears. The vivid, rich colors, strange camera angles, deep shadows, and bright light piercing through darkness, all contribute to the impression that the viewer is trapped in someone else's nightmare.

One haunting segment of the film takes place in a huge, and strangely empty, public square, at night. A blind man and his German shepherd dog stand in the middle of the square, surrounded by imposing buildings of neo-classical architectural style. Some professional reviewers of this film have suggested that the public square is a veiled reference to Hitler and Nazism. Indeed, one could argue that the film's subtext is an indictment of fascism.

"Suspiria" is not for everyone. It is unsettling, and at times grisly. The plot is weak, and plot elements are not really explained. The acting is largely irrelevant. And while the background music is suitably gothic, it is also frantic and monotonous.

The best approach to this "art-house" film is to ignore the superficial plot, and focus instead on the fabulous cinematography, and the gothic images as conceptual metaphors.

An American girl goes to Germany to a prestigious ballet boarding house, only to find out its controlled by a coven of witches. The movie has good style and atmosphere, but that's about it. There is no memorable story, and it feels disjointed and random. I don't care about any of these characters, since there is no development. The best thing about this film is the bright colors and the last 20 minutes were pretty tense and actually quite creepy. The kills are also pretty gory for the time. So yeah, Suspiria has good style and atmosphere, but lacks a story and characters. The only character I will remember from this is the blind piano player and the nasty dance instructor, everyone else is forgettable. It is worth a watch just to see the creepy dance academy and all the strange colors, but that's about it.

All I ever heard was how brilliant this movie was. I was so excited when I finally got my copy in the mail and all I can say is, "What a disappointment". First the positives. Argento's use of bright colors and dark settings is a sort of eye candy that keeps you attentive. The murder scenes are rather gory though not too realistic looking by today's standards. The one excellent aspect of this film is the score. Absolutely creepy. Which Argento over uses to the point of ridicule. What the film lacked the most was substance. I know its an over used term but "All style and no substance", describes this film to a tee. The acting was less than mediocre to say the least. Like most cult films, a minority will rave on about how great the film is but an unbiased opinion will only tell the truth. The truth is, its really nothing special.

Tonight I watched Suspiria for the very first time and during the first 20 minutes or so I literally had no idea what I was watching. The movie has a strange way of using its music and how it decides to show what's happening on-screen. The movie at first felt like a cheap attempt to scare the audience, but oh man, Suspiria is anything but that!

The design of the school and all of the lightning choices are all great. During the entire movie something just feels off, and that leads me into one of my huge positives: The atmosphere. This is by far one of the most unsettling and creepy movies ever made, and why is that? I'll try to break it down.

As previously mentioned the design and lighting plays a big part in creating the atmosphere and so does the music/sounds played during the movie. A lot of scenes are strangely put together like this one scene where two characters are swimming in a pool and discussing something that happened earlier on. In the middle of this scene the camera switches to a new angle from above, almost like somebody or something is watching them.

There's also a lot of violence and disturbing imagery throughout the film, and it still holds up for the most part. I won't go into details, but there is one scene near the very end that actually really disturbed me, which nearly no movie has succeeded with.

My only real problem with the movie was some not so great acting from a couple of side characters, because it was pretty distracting. Everything else was great, though. A solid 8/10!

Rating: 7

The movie employs flamboyant use of color. I would call it an Italian Shining had it released after The Shining (1980).

The Good - Use of color! The movie has excessive use of dramatics. The soundtrack, colored lighting and the use of gore is prominent throughout. The cinematography, use of imbibition colors makes this movie *eye-catching*

The Bad - Color is the only praise worthy aspect of this movie. Although the movie lays emphasis on gore and is intriguing till the end, the plot is fairly laid out and the acting falls weak. I would simply call this film an art movie which experiments with Horror.

Still, Suspiria has a legacy which topples the movies of the current era. It is definitely in my list of must-watch movies!