SUSPIRIA (1977)
Starring Jessica Harper and Stefania Casini
This damn good piece of Euro-splatter was a worldwide success and garnered Argento a huge, international cult following that is carrying on in full swing to this day.
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Goblin:
Suspiria -- Original Soundtrack
Goblin:
Profondo Rosso (aka "Deep Red") Original Soundtrack
Goblin:
Volume IV (featuring music from "The Church," more)
Goblin:
Tenebre Original Soundtrack (Import)
Goblin:
Best of Goblin -- 2-CD Set Featuring "Suspiria,"
"Deep Red," "Dawn of the Dead" and many more
Goblin:
Phenomena -- Original SoundtrackA loud and creepy rock score by Italian band Goblin, exquisite cinematography, garish sets, taut editing and gratuitous gore make what would otherwise be a dull film more than watchable. Argento got so graphic with the opening murder scene that he shows a knife penetrating a beating heart! The film blew audiences away when it was released, but it's not nearly as scary or unnerving as Argento's previous film, "Deep Red."
An American dancer (Harper) arrives at an elite European ballet school, only to discover that it's run by a witches' coven. The school is supposed to be the best in the world, but if you watch the students in action you can tell that they can barely dance. Even worse than the dance choreography is the plot (or lack thereof). But elegantly filmed killings and Argento's garish, dreamy rock-video style more than make up for it.
Watch for Udo Kier ("Flesh for Frankenstein," "Blood for Dracula") as a psychiatrist. Those familiar with his other film's should find the European actor's dubbed American voice is quite amusing.
Argento's films quickly went downhill after this one, although "Tenebre" is in some ways a better movie. For style, however, "Suspiria" is a very, very hard pic to beat. The film opens with a spectacular, ballet-like (perhaps part of the theme of the film) killing of two women. The sets are spectacular. The photography is spectacular. The music is spectacular. The atmosphere is spectacular. Indeed, this movie's style is so on the mark that it arguably influenced many mainstream films that followed it, even perhaps MTV(!).
So many different versions of this film have turned up on tape it's hard to keep track of them. Look for the unrated edition for more gore. The really good news is that the versions are all in high-fi stereo. In fact, this was one of the very first films released in quadraphonic sound, a pretty daring maneuver back in the monophonic film community of the 1970s.