Suspiria (1977)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Suspiria (1977) – D. Argento

 I don’t usually go for movies with gore or slasher-type killers but writer-director Dario Argento brought something different to horror in the 1970s. Influenced by Mario Bava, Argento uses garishly coloured sets and lighting and takes the giallo (Italian pulp mystery fiction) as his genre of choice. But with Suspiria, Argento moved more clearly into supernatural territory. Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) is the American ballet student who arrives in Germany to study at the Tanz Academy led by headmistress Madame Blanc (Joan Bennett, star of many Fritz Lang films of the ‘40s) and strict teacher Miss Tanner (Alida Valli, star of The Third Man and Hitchcock’s Paradine Case in the ‘40s). She arrives on a rainy night and sees another student fleeing the school (subsequently murdered).  Although she originally wishes to stay off-campus, after a strange hallway encounter that leaves her woozy, she is moved to a room in the main building with the other students, including Sara (Stefania Casini), who becomes an ally.  Argento uses weird camera angles and tracking shots to add to the ominous feel of the place (and a maggot infestation makes it worse). Rumours swirl and eventually Suzy heads to the local psychiatric hospital/university to ask about witchcraft (to a sadly dubbed Udo Kier). What she learns makes her even more suspicious about the leaders of the dance academy, particularly when Sara disappears. Of course, we soon discover that witchcraft is real but Argento manages the mystery elements of the plot expertly (a talent he was later to lose), even as the whole thing resembles a dream… or nightmare.  A spooky masterpiece elevated by an amazing score by the rock band Goblin but punctuated with some bloody violent set-pieces (enter at your own risk!). The 2018 remake with Tilda Swinton pales in comparison but is altogether a different beast.