S. Michael WilsonSuspiria
February 2nd 2007 00:03
Suspiria on DVD (1977).
Directed by Dario Argento.
Written by Dario Argento and Daria Nicolodi.
Starring: Jessica Harper, Barbara Magnolfi, Udo Kier.
‘The Only Thing More Terrifying than the Last 12 Minutes of this Film are the First 92.’That has to be one of the coolest tag-lines ever to promote a film, even if it does imply that the grand finale of this masterpiece is somewhat less intense than the rest (it isn’t.)
It seems to me that horror movies often have the best soundtracks (though, that said, a lot of modern horror flicks have the worst soundtracks - what with all the nu-metal and such creeping its way onto the track-listing.) Perhaps it is because music is such a huge part of conveying a mood (a sense of crawling dread) and let’s face it – that’s what fright films are all about. Think of the stalking cellos in Jaws, the stabbing violins of Psycho, the burbling synth on Halloween, Diamanda Galas’ eerie cadences from Bram Stoker’s Dracula, heck even the ch-ch-ch-huh-huh-huh vocal effect from Friday the 13th is pretty effective. But even greater than these, in my opinion, are the big three: The Wicker Man (the original, with its mystical wiccan-pagan folk music), The Omen (Ave Satani alone wins it a place) and best of all….this film’s soundtrack, courtesy of Italian prog band Goblin (here credited as The Goblins).
A sweltering poison-broth of thundering percussion, dissonant chimes, harshly-strummed string instruments and eerily whispered and hissed vocals (wwwwwwiiiiitch) it serves, along with Argento’s fever-dream visuals, to underscore every scene with a sense of awful, quivering dread: be it something as grotesque as a blade being drawn across a young woman’s throat or as seemingly innocuous as a sudden rainstorm. Heck, even the taxi-ride that opens the film strains at the nerve-endings.
Add to this the completeness of Argento’s vision – the film utilises old and damaged film-stock in order that the colours appear distorted and weirdly saturated (something that the restored print maintains). Originally Argento thought to cast children in the lead roles but after it was decided that those roles should go to teenagers, he had all the sets scaled up (so that door-handles would seem too high, walls too towering) thus diminishing the actresses and making them appear even more threatened by their surroundings. Many of the scenes are filmed with the actresses speaking different languages (it was always going to be dubbed) and the impossibility of communication contributes to the sense of isolation experienced by the protagonist.
Originally Suspiria (the title refers to breath) was conceived as part of a loose trilogy: one that includes Inferno (fire) and a never-filmed work tentatively entitled Lachrymosa (tears). It tells of a young woman – Suzy Bannion (a wide-eyed Jessica Harper) – who attains a place in a prestigious dance academy. Upon her arrival (late at night) she sees a young woman flee from one of the doorways, pausing only to cry out something Bannion doesn’t quite catch. The camera then tracks the woman as she flees through a dark tangle of woods. It is a sequence that culminates in one of the most elaborate and nigh-on hallucinatory death sequences that I can recall – involving a knife, a noose and a vast window of coloured glass.
There is a dark secret at the very heart of the Dance School. Who is the mysterious headmistress that is never seen - but in one of the films subtlest and creepiest scenes can be heard snuffling and wheezing through an opaque veil of fabric? Why is the entire teaching faculty so downright creepy? What was it that the blind pianist knew that drove him to hysteria? (And another very grisly death sequence). Why are glaring old women shining mirrors at Bannion as she walks down the hall? What do the words ‘blue iris’ refer to? And what’s the deal with the whole ‘wwwwwwwiiiiiiitch’ thing on the soundtrack anyway?
In one of the creepiest asides: the film is said to be based on a genuine dance academy rumoured to be run by occultists (they were still in business at the time of filming).
Along the way we’re treated to a gourmand’s helping of carnage: We get death-by-dog, death-by-razorwire (a scene that was apparently pretty unpleasant to film, especially as the young actress didn’t know what she was about to tumble into), a tongue-lashing walking-dead girl, a shrieking charcoal-fleshed banshee and once again Argento indulges his fondness for women’s faces being pushed through glass windows. Oh, and maggots. Lots of maggots.
Worthy of mention – and something seemingly unique to horror movies – is that almost the entire cast is female (Udo Kier pops in for one brief scene – a role he thought was thankless until he realised he got more dialogue than any other man in the film). And yeah, there are some witches involved.
All told Suspiria is a dark and disturbing gothic fairy-tale. It’s a loosely-strung fright film that is about as Italian as it gets. It’s arguably Argento’s finest work and a must-see for lovers of nightmare cinema.
Incidentally: in the long-standing why-on-earth-would-anyone-be- audacious-enough-to-attempt-a -remake tradition of ‘The Wicker Man’, ‘The Omen’, ‘Psycho’ and (tragically) ‘Don’t Look Now’, Hollywood briefly set its sights on Suspiria. Fortunately it fell through. However a Japanese remake has been proposed: as an Anime.
Directed by Dario Argento.
Written by Dario Argento and Daria Nicolodi.
Starring: Jessica Harper, Barbara Magnolfi, Udo Kier.
‘The Only Thing More Terrifying than the Last 12 Minutes of this Film are the First 92.’That has to be one of the coolest tag-lines ever to promote a film, even if it does imply that the grand finale of this masterpiece is somewhat less intense than the rest (it isn’t.)
It seems to me that horror movies often have the best soundtracks (though, that said, a lot of modern horror flicks have the worst soundtracks - what with all the nu-metal and such creeping its way onto the track-listing.) Perhaps it is because music is such a huge part of conveying a mood (a sense of crawling dread) and let’s face it – that’s what fright films are all about. Think of the stalking cellos in Jaws, the stabbing violins of Psycho, the burbling synth on Halloween, Diamanda Galas’ eerie cadences from Bram Stoker’s Dracula, heck even the ch-ch-ch-huh-huh-huh vocal effect from Friday the 13th is pretty effective. But even greater than these, in my opinion, are the big three: The Wicker Man (the original, with its mystical wiccan-pagan folk music), The Omen (Ave Satani alone wins it a place) and best of all….this film’s soundtrack, courtesy of Italian prog band Goblin (here credited as The Goblins).
A sweltering poison-broth of thundering percussion, dissonant chimes, harshly-strummed string instruments and eerily whispered and hissed vocals (wwwwwwiiiiitch) it serves, along with Argento’s fever-dream visuals, to underscore every scene with a sense of awful, quivering dread: be it something as grotesque as a blade being drawn across a young woman’s throat or as seemingly innocuous as a sudden rainstorm. Heck, even the taxi-ride that opens the film strains at the nerve-endings.
Add to this the completeness of Argento’s vision – the film utilises old and damaged film-stock in order that the colours appear distorted and weirdly saturated (something that the restored print maintains). Originally Argento thought to cast children in the lead roles but after it was decided that those roles should go to teenagers, he had all the sets scaled up (so that door-handles would seem too high, walls too towering) thus diminishing the actresses and making them appear even more threatened by their surroundings. Many of the scenes are filmed with the actresses speaking different languages (it was always going to be dubbed) and the impossibility of communication contributes to the sense of isolation experienced by the protagonist.
Originally Suspiria (the title refers to breath) was conceived as part of a loose trilogy: one that includes Inferno (fire) and a never-filmed work tentatively entitled Lachrymosa (tears). It tells of a young woman – Suzy Bannion (a wide-eyed Jessica Harper) – who attains a place in a prestigious dance academy. Upon her arrival (late at night) she sees a young woman flee from one of the doorways, pausing only to cry out something Bannion doesn’t quite catch. The camera then tracks the woman as she flees through a dark tangle of woods. It is a sequence that culminates in one of the most elaborate and nigh-on hallucinatory death sequences that I can recall – involving a knife, a noose and a vast window of coloured glass.
There is a dark secret at the very heart of the Dance School. Who is the mysterious headmistress that is never seen - but in one of the films subtlest and creepiest scenes can be heard snuffling and wheezing through an opaque veil of fabric? Why is the entire teaching faculty so downright creepy? What was it that the blind pianist knew that drove him to hysteria? (And another very grisly death sequence). Why are glaring old women shining mirrors at Bannion as she walks down the hall? What do the words ‘blue iris’ refer to? And what’s the deal with the whole ‘wwwwwwwiiiiiiitch’ thing on the soundtrack anyway?
In one of the creepiest asides: the film is said to be based on a genuine dance academy rumoured to be run by occultists (they were still in business at the time of filming).
Along the way we’re treated to a gourmand’s helping of carnage: We get death-by-dog, death-by-razorwire (a scene that was apparently pretty unpleasant to film, especially as the young actress didn’t know what she was about to tumble into), a tongue-lashing walking-dead girl, a shrieking charcoal-fleshed banshee and once again Argento indulges his fondness for women’s faces being pushed through glass windows. Oh, and maggots. Lots of maggots.
Worthy of mention – and something seemingly unique to horror movies – is that almost the entire cast is female (Udo Kier pops in for one brief scene – a role he thought was thankless until he realised he got more dialogue than any other man in the film). And yeah, there are some witches involved.
All told Suspiria is a dark and disturbing gothic fairy-tale. It’s a loosely-strung fright film that is about as Italian as it gets. It’s arguably Argento’s finest work and a must-see for lovers of nightmare cinema.
Incidentally: in the long-standing why-on-earth-would-anyone-be- audacious-enough-to-attempt-a -remake tradition of ‘The Wicker Man’, ‘The Omen’, ‘Psycho’ and (tragically) ‘Don’t Look Now’, Hollywood briefly set its sights on Suspiria. Fortunately it fell through. However a Japanese remake has been proposed: as an Anime.
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Argento worked very closely with the DOP to get the right colour palette, as far as I know it was never damaged or old film stock, but utilised the 3-strip process which Technicolour used back in the day ...
So, have you checked out my Pleasure of Nightmares yet? I specialise in horror.