Suspiria

Summary

Introduction by film scholar Troy Howarth – author of Murder by Design: The Unsane Cinema of Dario Argento:

With Deep Red, Argento felt as if he had said everything he had to say in the giallo genre. Looking to expand his horizons, he looked to Daria Nicolodi for advice. Together they concocted a story about witchcraft in a girl’s ballet school. Nicolodi would later claim that the story was inspired by real life events which occurred with her grandmother. The official source of inspiration was Thomas De Quincey’s Suspiria de Profundis, though the actual storyline bears little relation to that particular tome. Even so, De Quincey’s mythology allowed Argento and Nicolodi to create a modern myth involving “the three mothers,” three powerful witches who hold sway in three different countries. Suspiria focuses on Mater Suspiriorum, the mother of sighs, who has taken up residence in Germany. Nicolodi wrote the role of heroic Suzy for herself and was incensed when Argento offered the part to Jessica Harper; it was the beginning of the decline in their relationship, and indeed the personal drama very nearly lead to Argento taking his own life during the filming. Personal problems aside, Suspiria was Argento’s biggest, most ambitious film to date; the box office returns on Deep Red allowed Argento the clout to get some financial assistance from 20^th Century Fox, who also distributed the film under the International Screen Classics moniker. Argento pictured the movie as a modern fairy tale for adults in electrifying, unnatural colors, with a terrifying and unrelenting soundtrack. For the score, Argento naturally turned to Goblin, who arguably outdid even their work on Deep Red. To realize the elaborate visual scheme, Argento was fortunate to have production designer Giuseppe Bassan (a veteran of Deep Red) and cinematographer Luciano Tovoli. Tovoli hit upon the idea of printing the film with outmoded 3-strip Technicolor technology, allowing him to separate and manipulate the colors, thus making them even more vivid in their intensity. Argento also decided to subvert audience expectations by assaulting the viewers with an opening act that left audiences gasping; nothing else can quite match it for its ferocious intensity, but the entire film remains captivating thanks to its immaculate imagery. In addition to Harper, whose doe-eyed innocence was just right for the role of Suzy, the stand-out is the great Alida Valli, who brings a shark-like grin to her role as the imperious and predatory teacher, Miss Tanner. Suspiria proved to be a box office smash the world over and it remains Argento’s most popular film. He followed it up with the second part of the projected trilogy—the dreamlike Inferno (1980)—but it took him quite some time to circle back to the three mothers by capping off the series with Mother of Tears (La terza madre, 2007).

Review

I was a twenty two year old college kid when I walked into Vinyl Fever in Tallahassee, Florida to grab some CDs and DVDs. Pillaging through the bins, a film struck my eyes. It was mixed in with every other DVD and it cost me about seven or eight bucks. The film was called Suspiria. I had heard of it before on a horror film countdown show, and the price seemed right. I also had been an enthusiastic foreign film fan so it seemed up my alley. I went back to my apartment and a friend of mine from the same complex came over and we popped it in. It blew both of our minds over the course of 98 minutes. 

Suspiria came just two years after his genre defining giallo film Deep Red. Working with Daria Nicolodi on the screenplay, the film that resulted is one of the most colorful and visceral horror films ever made. Every camera trick that Argento had learned to this point comes into play with some of the most inventive setups ever executed in his filmography. Within the first ten minutes of the film beginning, the audience should know that this film does not plan to emulate anything that came before it, but instead to provide something completely new and exciting. Suspiria is a beautiful technicolor nightmare that every film fan deserves to experience for themselves.

The plot of the film revolves around ballerina Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper.) The narrative introduction to the film tells us that ballerina Suzy Bannion has been accepted to a prestigious dance studio in Germany. Given the great opportunity Suzy accepts the invitation and flies to Germany. The film begins with Suzy arriving at the airport and taking a ride through the dark woods to the academy in driving rain. She keeps the cab there while she approaches the door to the studio. Upon arrival at the gigantic red mansion where the studio exists, she sees a blonde young woman fling open the door and yell a couple sentences at her, before running off into the woods. Suzy calls on the intercom to let her arrival be known, but is turned away. Confused, Suzy hops back into the cab and drives off. Out of her cab window she can see the young woman running through the woods as if something is chasing her. The young woman makes it to town and is let into a beautiful and strange residence. She claims she just needs a place to bed for the evening. The ancient evil that she has feared is still stalking her, and she is brutally killed in one of the most famous giallo death sequences of all time. The next day, Suzy returns to the dance studio to begin her three year sojourn of dance studies. Suzy grows suspicious of her surroundings as horrible events plague the studio.

For years, Suspiria was the film that I sought online in a high definition copy from when I first purchased a Blu-ray player. I looked for the film online frequently (obsessively?) and was consistently disappointed that it had not been given a full makeover while numerous titles so much less deserving arrived on the format. When I saw that Synapse Films was releasing a new 4K restoration of the film on a limited edition steelbook along with a remastered soundtrack by Goblin, I purchased it immediately for the full asking price of 49.99. I didn’t think twice about it. I could not have pulled my wallet out fast enough.

Suspiria is Dario Argento‘s most popular film and is considered by many to be his greatest artistic achievement. Suspiria is best described as a supernatural giallo film (in the sense that the film for much of its runtime is a mystery that involves an unseen killer.) Argento had experimented with plot elements that touched on the supernatural in Profondo Rosso, but with Suspiria the plot relies on supernatural elements. The film fits well in the horror genre whereas his prior films had been thrillers with surprising and horrific elements. For myself, Suspiria will always be my favorite film by the director. With Suspiria, Argento made his mark on horror in the same way that Stanley Kubrick made his mark on science fiction with 2001:A Space Odyssey (and later made a similar impact on horror with The Shining.) When I watched the film with my best friend, we talked about how the film is visually just as compelling as some of Kubrick’s best work. Make no mistakes about it, this film is a well calculated work of art. Working closely with cinematographer Luciano Tovoli (who had recently worked on Antonioni’s The Passenger) Argento set about making the most colorful horror film ever made at that time. The film has incredible set design that drapes the movie in pinks, reds, velvety blues. He uses strange lighting to cast the film in heavy blues, reds, yellows, and greens. I would rank Suspiria’s cinematography alongside works by Roger Deakin and Vittorio Storaro. It is a virtuosic display that has been emulated by other directors, but in my humble opinion, never equaled. Once you get past the drastic color choices you will note the eye for architectural detail that is very reminiscent of an Antonioni film. This is not uncommon in Argento’s films, but it is certainly pronounced here. 

Then there is the music. One of the greatest (and most influential) scores ever made, Goblin (under the supervision of Argento himself) recorded a sweeping synth-lead loud drum-heavy moaning score that envelopes the whole film and then this beautiful theme that sounds like it is being played on a music box. It is absolutely amazing. They had already proven themselves on Argento’s Deep Red, but their work here is even more enigmatic and impressive. This film’s score has been a major influence on what we see today and helped to influence John Carpenter’s theme for the film Halloween. Goblin would go on to do the score for another fantastic horror film, Dawn of the Dead and would contribute music for numerous Argento films.

The film is mysterious, a bit ridiculous, gory, beautiful, frightening, and something to behold. This is my personal favorite Dario Argento film and one of my favorite films ever made. That said, it is brutal as hell… so if you are not going to be okay with some extreme violence, this movie will probably not resonate with you the same way it did with me. This film introduced me to the giallo genre (even if in a non traditional way) and Argento’s work, and I am thrilled to own it with one of the most amazing 4K transfers ever released on the Blu-ray format. All good things come to those who wait.

Video

This new transfer in 4K from the original uncut Italian 35mm camera negative by Synapse Video uses an MPEG-4 AVC encoding of the film in 2.35:1. Supervised by director of photography Luciano Tovoli, this is probably my favorite 4K restoration I have seen this year. This is a stunningly detailed restoration. Clarity and depth of field are unmatched. All of Argento’s strange fish eyed angles hold up. All of the beautiful blues, greens, pinks, reds, yellows, velvety blues look absolutely the best they have ever looked. This is something that was meant for this substantial of an upgrade. This is one of the few times where I can say that the end product was definitely worth the wait…. and the wait was painful. Fans are going to lose their minds when they see this. It is absolutely impeccable.

Audio

Synapse Films have provided a few options – the first is the original LCRS sound mix in English DTS-HD MA 4.0 based off of the original recordings not heard since the theatrical release in 1977. This setup may sound strange, but it actually sounds phenomenal. The soundtrack by Goblin has been given the full treatment and immersion is fantastic. Every time you hear the whispers and Argento scream “Witch!”it is effective and wonderful. This is the way the film was meant to be heard. It’s a revelation. It sounds much better than the Italian DTS-HD MA 5.1 track which does not sound nearly as good. My recommendation – stick to the English and the presentation is the best it has ever been.

Supplements:

•Exclusive Steelbook packaging and collector’s o-card sleeve, featuring artwork from Malleus, Van Orton Design, Juan José Saldarriaga & Chris MacGibbon

•Three disc [Two Blu-rays + One CD] limited collector’s edition (only 6000 units)

•Two audio commentaries by authors and Argento scholars, –

Derek Botelho and David Del Valle – David Del Valle (noted film historian and commenter) and Derek Botelho (author of Argento Syndrome) discuss the film. An enjoyable track with some great information and easter eggs.

Troy Howarth- author of numerous books on Italian horror including So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 years of Italian Giallo Film. I have enjoyed Troy’s previous tracks and he does a great job here. Troy is a fountain of knowledge about all things giallo and his perspective on this film is a great addition to the disc. (Editorial Note: We are so thankful that Troy also wrote the introduction to this piece!)

•Do You Know Anything About Witches? – Suspiria visual essay written, edited and narrated by Michael Mackenzie. 

•Suzy in Nazi Germany – Featurette on the German locations from Suspiria that shows how Argento used locations in Munich with ties to Nazi Germany.

•A Sigh from the Depths: 40 Years of Suspiria – All-new retrospective on the making of the film and its influence on cinema featuring interviews with film historians Rob Galluzzo, Derek Botelho, Sean Keller (co-writer of Giallo) Rebekah McKlendon, and more. This is an engaging discussion with people who obviously love the film.

•Olga’s Story – Interview with star Barbara Magnolfi – the actress who played Olga shares her memories of working on the film.

•Original theatrical trailers, TV spots and radio spots

•Special Collector’s Edition Booklet containing an American Cinematographer interview with Luciano Tovoli, liner notes by Derek Botelho and restoration notes by Vincent Pereira & Don May, Jr. Cover artwork by Matthew Therrien Illustration

•”International Classics” English “Breathing Letters” opening credit sequence from U.S. release version

•Alternate All-English opening and closing credits sequences, playable via seamless branching

•Exclusive CD remaster of Goblin’s Suspiria motion picture soundtrack, containing additional tracks not included on the original 1977 soundtrack release

Overall Scores:

Video – 5/5

Audio – 5/5

Supplements – 5/5

Overall – 5/5

Suspiria is not just a horror film, it is an important work of art that has influenced countless directors, writers, musicians, and authors. It uses a simple fairy-tale style framework to make one of the most beautiful and original horror films ever made. This is one of my favorite releases that has ever been released on Blu-ray, and if you can stomach the graphic violence, I highly recommend adding this to your collection. This new 4K transfer of the film is jawdropping and arguably one of the best looking 4K presentations ever seen on the Blu-ray format. I can’t wait to watch this one again and introduce it to somebody who has never seen it. Highly, highly recommended.

Portions of this review originally appeared on Blu-ray Authority.