(98 min, 1977)
Writers: Dario Argento , Daria Nicolodi
Stars: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini and Flavio Bucci
Haunted Wonderland
A young American dancer, Suzy, travels to Europe to join a famous ballet school. As she arrives, the camera turns to another young woman, who appears to be fleeing from the school. She returns to her apartment where she is gruesomely murdered. Meanwhile, the young American is trying to settle in at the ballet school, but hears strange noises and is troubled by bizarre occurrences.
“Suspiria” made by famous director Dario Argento in 1977 is one of the most remarkable horror movies. Its visual side with vibrant colors is so fascinating you can't take your eyes off the screen. The music by Goblin is eerie and builds up the suspense to extreme levels, sounding a lot like a creepy lullaby which would put you to eternal sleep. The insane visuals, with different shades of red, blue and yellow glowing from the screen and unique soundtrack are perfect for the story, filled with mysterious foot steps, whispers, screams and desperate cries for help. All you have to do to be scared during this film is to turn it on, turn off the light and make sure the speakers are working.
The setting of ballet school is genius – innocent ballerinas, wearing white are mercilessly killed by mysterious stranger. The scariest part of the movie is its atmosphere and because of omnipresent evil even outside the doors of the ballet school the characters can't feel safe. It's not important why the things we see happen are taking place, as the characters in the film we have to accept they do and focus on observing the events carefully. The film has amazing sequences of murders which are bloody, but in a fashion that's quite far from reality. It's more of, to use modern example, “Kill Bill” kind of violence, but the build up to it is truly chilling. The most notable example and the scariest scene of the movie is the scene which later inspired one of the killings in “Saw” series and I'm sure when you see “Suspiria”, you'll know what scene is on my mind. Because of the long run time and the theme playing in the background the intensity of it is almost unbearable. The violence and the creativity in which victims' lives are ended is also frightening.
