Suspiria 25th Anniversary

Dario Argento's Suspiria is a landmark of not only the horror genre, but of cinema itself. Prior to Suspiria, Argento's directorial efforts had been nothing more than a series of well crafted thrillers; Gialli. Dario Argento made his directorial debut in 1969 with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, an accomplished who dunnit starring Tony Musante and Suzy Kendall. The Bird With the Crystal Plumage was not only responsible for kick-starting Argento's career, it also spawned a raft of imitations from the likes of Sergio Martino, Umberto Lenzi and Aldo Lado. After the functional Cat O'Nine Tails (1970) and Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971), Argento became more experimental. Following on from his misguided historical epic, Five Days of Milan (1973), Argento made the seminal Deep Red (1975)which would be the start of many collaborations with actress Daria Nicolodi (who would later co-write Suspiria) and the rock group Goblin. Suspiria, which was released in 1977, was a real departure for Argento. Firstly, The film was Argento's first to be set outside of his native Italy. Secondly, the labyrinthine plots that had anchored his previous films (with the exception of Five Days of Milan) had given way an entirely stylistic mise-en-scene. Suspiria, although fundamentally a murder mystery has the most basic of folk stories as a core. Suzy Banyon (Jessica Harper), is an American dance student that wins a scholarship at a coveted academy in Frieberg, Germany. Upon her arrival, Suzy discovers that the students are being picked off, one by one at the hands of a shrouded maniac. As Suzy investigates the murders, she discovers that the academy's faculty have more than a passing interest in the occult... Suspiria can be described as one of cinema's only attack on the senses. Argento's use of color is striking and unlike anything else seen prior or since its release. Goblin's manic score is the equivilent of having your head bludgeoned with an iron bar for 100 minutes! The score is integral to the experience of watching Suspiria and adds a great deal to the overall effect of the film. It's Argento's use of color and score that create a real menacing ambience that runs through the film like lettering in a stick of rock. In conclusion, although lacking a cohesive narrative, Suspiria is one of the few roller-coaster ride of a movie (a cliche often used by critics but is a true comparison) and is as much a masterpiece than what you'd find in an art gallery. Argento followed Suspiria with Inferno (1980). Inferno is the second installment in an as yet unfinished trilogy.

A pretty good documentary on the making of the horror movie classic "Suspiria" that has Director Dario Argento discussing the genesis of how he conceived the story, It also features most of the surviving cast and crew. Each share some interesting stories. And on a whole I did enjoy the documentary quite a bit, but at just under an hour you'd think that the thing would go into a little bit more detail than it had. This slight oversight keeps it from being more than it could have been. But as I said I still enjoyed the documentary and if you're a fan of Argento (and every TRUE horror fan should be), you'll enjoy it as well.

My Grade: B-

Nero-11's review, while quite well written, refers to the shocker "Suspiria", and not to "Suspiria 25th Anniversary" which is a making-of documentary produced to commemorate the anniversary of the release of "Suspiria".

"S25A", which is available on DVD as part of the "Suspiria 25th Anniversary Limited Edition" set, is a well-produced video packed full of information. Newcomers to "Suspiria" may find it helpful as a primer. It explains why some regard "Suspiria" as art, and what Argento had in mind when creating this unique film experience. Those familiar with "Suspiria" who don't like the film may find seeds of what went wrong among the interviews of "S25A". Fans of "Suspiria" may find "S25A" useful as preparation to seeing the film again, much the way fans of "Rocky Horror" listen to the album to prepare for a midnight showing of that film. In short, there's something here for everyone.

The video takes the form of interviews with clips from "Suspiria" used as illustration and interstitials. The interviewer is never seen or heard, and the subjects are allowed to discourse freely on their experiences. Surviving principal cast members Jessica Harper and Udo Kier (speaking in English) and Stefania Cassini (in Italian with subtitles) describe what it was like working on what was considered a bold experiment at the time, the difficulties of working with an international cast where the principals spoke English as a first or second language and the rest of the cast spoke only Italian, and their feelings about the film's fans. Argento and Nicolodi (in Italian with subtitles), while not interviewed together, are intercut to describe the process of developing the concept, how their expectations were changed by the necessities of distribution and the requirements of the studio, and how they brought it all to film (interesting to note that each appears to claim sole credit for the story concept!). Argento and the cinematographer are intercut to describe the look that Argento wanted and how they achieved it using unconventional techniques. Members of Goblin are interviewed together (in Italian with subtitles) and separately (some in Italian with subtitles, others in English) to describe how they developed some of the unusual audio techniques (interesting that some of them still seem giddy about their involvement in the project, even after a quarter century).

Scenes are pulled apart, special effects examined, discarded plot elements and rationale for what remained...there's a lot here, and it's very entertaining. I'm not a huge fan of "Suspiria" (and I found here the reasons why it didn't work) yet I thoroughly enjoyed this documentary. Highly recommended.

Suspiria 25th Anniversary (2001)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Excellent 52-minute documentary on the making of Dario Argento's SUSPIRIA. The documentary covers just about everything you could possibly hope for including the inspiration of the story, the director, the cast, the style, the music and of course it's eventual success all over the world. Argento, Daria Nicolodi, Jessica Harper, Udo Keir, Stafania Casini, Guiseppe Colombo, Luciano Tovoli and several Goblin members (Claudio Simonetti, Fabio Pignatelli, Massino Marante) are interviewed about their involvement with the film. Fans of the movie are really going to love this documentary because it really does answer so many questions about the making of the film. I think it's funny hearing both Argento and Nicolodi taking credit for the screenplay as the lady certainly gives her side that it was all her and the only thing Argento came up with was the death scenes. Of course, how true this is is anyone's guess. Other interesting stories is how the look of the film was influenced by Argento's love of Disney's SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS. It was also fascinating hearing how long it took to set up certain shots and the cinematographer Tovoli really gives one a great idea of the process of setting up the shots. Argento is also discussed in great detail as the cast members say he isn't too worried about the actors and how he often didn't describe their characters. The cast members also talk about their favorite scenes and discuss why they think the film was so successful in America as well as the rest of the world.