Review

Suzy Bannion is an American ballerina who arrives in Germany to study at a prestigious ballet school. Her arrival doesn't bode well as it's a dark and stormy night, and another chick is fleeing the school. Fleeing chick soon meets her demise in a particularly brutal fashion which further puts the downer on Suzy's future prospects of being a world renowned dancer. Considering the dance classes going on at the school during the movie, Suzy really shouldn't have had high hopes anyway to be honest.

The school is run by Madame Blanc (get it?), Miss Tanner, a Germanic person drawn with pretty broad brush strokes, and a number of other weirdoes. Not long after Suzy starts classes she gets hypnotised by a prism of some sort and loses all energy. Madame Blanc takes the opportunity to move Suzy out of her shared apartment and into the school, all the better to drug her nightly for no apparent reason. A few more deaths go down, the obligatory Argento maggot storm (the dude really digs that), and Suzy's best friend Sarah gets wrapped in plastic razor wire. Can Suzy discover the secret of the school before it gets her as well? - A nigh on high art movie ensues. You should be dancing, dance the night away.

Suspiria is perhaps Dario Argento's best known movie in the English speaking world, and was the first part of his "Mothers" trilogy. For those interested, Inferno (1980) and Mother of Tears (2007) make up the rest of the trilogy. Suspiria also marked Argento's move from the giallo genre he helped form and into out and out horror. What Argento brings to the table with Suspiria is the murder set pieces, use of colour that marked his giallo body of work, and also an ambition to make horror as an art form. Did he achieve his objective? Lets break it down and shake it all around.

Guess the first thing that one should mention in terms of Suspiria as a film is that the plot is secondary to the visuals. There's not much new plot wise, some holes in the movie, but in terms of making art Argento hits it out of the ball park with a film brimming with menace, striking colours, and an abundance of simple scares. For the gore hounds there's also some pretty well-conceived death scenes, though you might be slightly put off by the blood work on display.

Beautiful to look at, art deco and stunningly bold colours

Argento simply went crazy with this movie and has made something that should be on everyone's top twenty best ever horror flicks. Right from the get go where Suzy is walking through an airport departure lounge, the Italian Maestro is hitting high notes with his scene composition, integration of music, and imagery. Who else could make an exit door seem menacing without actually doing much beyond a camera angle? Argento inserts a pneumatic door closing device as his first indication that this isn't no giallo movie; for some reason that sent a chill down my spine and I really can't put my finger on why. Suzy's taxi ride to the ballet school is a study in how to use light, rain, and even shadows to build atmosphere without anything really happening. From there Argento simply keeps things moving all the way toward the closing credits, no wasted scenes and zero in the way of lagging. His plot is interesting enough to keep you interested even though in terms of major scenes they are few and far between.

The Director mesmerises his audience with the use of colour and colour tinting of the camera lens. Suspiria is awash in deep reds, tranquil greens, and clinical blues. Argento ensures we get the atmosphere he builds by washing development scenes with the same colours via camera tinting. If things start to look blue then something nasty is coming at you; what that might be always surprises as Argento is coming at you from multiple perspectives.

The use of murder set pieces is high on Argento's agenda, and he applies everything he learned from his giallo movies. Every death scene, - and there are none thrown in to appease the lowest common denominator, they all advance the plot - is filmed in detail with the sole purpose of shocking the audience. Argento matches Hitchcock's Psycho in this aspect of Suspiria. The movie isn't one you are going to get comfortable with, as Argento keeps things simmering away throughout.

To sum up before we look at a couple of weak points, Argento presents a movie that is stylish and absolutely wonderful to watch. If you dig Fellini then this might just be the horror flick to appease your darker nature.

There's possibly quite a few elements to Suspiria that could be viewed as weaknesses, and they all have to do with plot devices. Suzy saw the first victim leave the school on the night of her murder, and she mentions this to the police officers talking to Madame Blanc. Surprisingly, the police seem totally uninterested in her evidence and don't even bother interview her. Sorry, that just doesn't ring true. Suzy seems just too ready to believe in witches for mine, and what the hell was the schlock the psychiatrist was babbling on about meant to convey to us? Sure it adds some background, but come on, witches are in it for the money wtf?! Kind of throws new light onto bankers really, and that'll explain things for readers Downunder. The Commonwealth Bank is run by a coven of witches, you read it here first. Anyway, if you catch the flick add your own plot holes, there are a few tossed into the mix.

Jessica Harper (Suzy) was a fine casting choice and delivered a solid if not spectacular performance. Harper managed to mix in the tough with the vulnerable to deliver a lead you could readily get behind. Bad choice on shoes however, all that running around in high heels can't be good. Stefania Casini (Sara) backed up Harper with a fine best friend role but kind of disappeared into the background at stages. Joan Bennet (Madame Blanc) was slight miscast for mine and couldn't carry it off, while Alida Valli (Miss Tanner) was simply superb as the butch dancing instructor.

Look for a cameo performance by a young Udo Kier as a manic doctor.

In terms of T&A, guys get a whole bunch of girls in tight leotards, and gals get some dudes in, uhmmm, tights. Everyone sort of catered to then.

Goblin got down and nasty with the score here and were really ahead of their time. We get odd instruments used to highlight tense scenes, crashing drums as the action picks up, and real creepy voice parts that amply back Argento's atmosphere. Well worth a purchase if you can find the CD.

Argento came at me with every trick in his bag and I couldn't get out of the way of his runaway truck of a film. The movie grabbed me by the throat and simply wouldn't let go. Visually impressive and stunning in use of sound to ramp up the thrills and chills as Argento hit overdrive with some of his scenes. Okay so the plot was a bit weak, hence my rating, but overall I was shouting "hell yeah" as the end credits rolled. The best horror movie I have seen so far this year, and the cream on top of my jelly doughnut is that I have two more Argento films in my viewing pile.

Full recommendation on Suspiria; if you're a horror fan then this is must-see stuff, go out and buy the DVD today then come back and thank me. With this film Argento shows how to make horror that you will remember long past the closing credits, and I'm not even going to make an attempt at a pun to finish off.