When you are sitting there watching a horror movie do you ever realize how beautiful it can be? Yes despite the blood and gore the cinematography or the sets of a film can be gorgeous. One off-shoot of the horror genre is quite good at this and that is Italian horror. One of the masters of Italian horror is Dario Argento and one of the classics of Italian horror cinema is Suspiria.
Film Plot: American Suzy Banyon arrives one night at a prestigious German ballet academy during a storm...and another young woman's flight from the same school. This girl, Pat, flees to a friend's apartment and is then attacked by some unseen dark force which results in the death of Pat and her friend. It seems Pat's death puts in motion a string of strange events that Suzy must try to uncover with only one sure clue: something about an iris.
Soon, maggots start raining from the ceiling, footsteps in the night and strange noises of whispers and snoring begin to haunt Suzy and her roommate Sara as a former pianist at the school is attacked and killed by his own seeing eye dog. When Suzy starts becoming sick, Sara believes that witchcraft might be to blame for the recent events and her roommate's sudden illness. When Sara is killed, Suzy is now left alone to face the dark forces within the school before they destroy her.
I find it very hard to describe Suspiria without giving so much of the plot away because the film is one of those movies that you just have to watch to know exactly what is happening. Turning away for even a single minute robs you of Suspiria, plot wise and visually. The film is gory and glossy and even though the film has no nudity it has plenty of porn...scenery porn that is with its use of primary colors and of course it is also expected to be grandiose thanks to setting it in a ballet academy and filming Suspiria in both Germany and Italy.
Suspiria is also notable in that it has a very dominant female cast with little or no dialogue from the male actors and characters which will make it a film that woman can grasp and men can enjoy. Lead actress Jessica Harper does a great job here as Suzy Banyon and if you want another great performance from her, try finding Phantom Of The Paradise on DVD (just as I'm trying to do.)
Short and sweet I know but if you haven't seen Suspiria I don't want to spoil it for you and if you have seen this film, you should already know how good it is or bad (depending on your view) it is. Since October is as good a month as any for horror, I recommend viewing Suspiria this Halloween.
Next Blog: April Fool's Day
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