Suspiria
August 28th 2011 23:09
Director: Dario Argento
Screenplay: Dario Argento and Daria Nicolodi (inspired by Suspiria de Profundis by Thomas De Quincey)
Production: Italy
Year: 1977
Sub-genre tags: supernatural, witchcraft, trilogy
Logline: An American newcomer to an exclusive European ballet academy gradually comes to realise that the staff of the school are actually a coven of malevolent witches.
Tagline: Once you've seen it you will never again feel safe in the dark.
Core cast: Jessica Harper (Suzy), Stefania Casini (Sara), Alida Valli (Miss Tanner), Joan Bennet (Madame Blanc), Udo Kier (Dr. Mandel)
Memorable moment: Suzy arrives at the dance academy in the pouring rain and sees a girl fleeing in a state of hysteria, saying something important that Suzy can't make out because of the heavy sound of the rain.
Curious Facts: Suspiria means "sighs" or "whispers". Dario Argento's original idea was a ballet school for young girls not older than 12. However the studio and producer (his father) denied his request because a film this violent involving children would be surely banned. Dario Argento raised the age limit of the girls to 20 but didn't rewrite the script, hence the naivety of the characters and occasionally childlike dialogue. He also put all the doorknobs at about the same height as the actress' heads, so they will have to raise their arms in order to open the doors, just like children. This was the first Italian film to make use of the then newly invented Steadicam.
Intensity levels:
Blood & gore: medium
Fear factor and/or frights: high
Likelihood of bad dreams (disturbing content): medium
Horrorphile’s two cents: The use of light and shadow, the vivid pulsating colours (think artist Goya on acid), the throbbing dissonant Goblin soundtrack ... The dance academy becomes a kind of black hole sucking those that eavesdrop, those that pry, those that dabble where they shouldn’t, into the depths of Hell.
Click here to read Horrorphile's movie review.
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