Monday, May 30, 2016

Suspiria (1977)

I think it's safe to say that Dario Argento's "Suspiria" is pretty much universally regarded as one of the top dogs of Italian horror and nothing short of a masterpiece. Striking atmosphere, creepiness and some savage gore - though I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, I'm sure.

An American girl flies into Germany to attend a prominent dance academy, but is greeted by a girl inexplicably fleeing the school in the middle of the night. We see as this girl makes her way in the pouring rain to a dormitory where her and a friend are brutally murdered by an unseen assailant. Back at the academy, the newcomer is noticing some unsettling situations transpiring, involving the blind pianist's seeing-eye dog attacking people, maggots falling from the ceiling and a furtive directress with a peculiar snore... Turns out there's some occult-type shit going on with the witchy instructors and anyone who catches on to this is slaughtered by preternatural killer...

As it's known, the vibrant color scheme and 'art deco-ish' backdrops are essentially what people take away from "Suspiria" and what has garnered it it's iconic status more or less. And rightfully so - the movie looks awesome. On top of that, you've got some graphic kills - the stand-out, of course, being the stained glass window brutalization - and there's the dour, memorable score by Goblin. "Suspiria" is a just a creepy flick with a grim and strange story, enveloped in a radiant neon color aesthetic while delivering on some nice, meaty violence. There's very little to not appreciate about "Suspiria".

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