Through the Viewfinderthoughts of a photographer

….an amalgam of lighting, music and sound effects create a visual symphony of terror!

Born in Rome, Italy on September 7, 1940, director Dario Argento grew up in a close knit household where family members told folk tales by Hans Christian Andersen, Edgar Allan Poe and the Brothers Grimm. Elements of these frightening bedtime stories would later become fodder for his horror films.

With SUSPIRIA (1977), Argento reaches the acme of his creative works. Combining his stylized use of color, innovative sounds and rapid cutting, SUSPIRIA would go on to become one of the touchstone horror films of the 1970’s. Emphasizing mood, lighting and color, Argento is able to create a nightmarish world filled with angst and duplicitous characters.

As the film opens, American teen Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) is arriving in Germany to join a ballet academy. It’s here that we’re treated to a host of Argento’s techniques. Suzy arrives at the boarding school late at night, amidst a driving rain storm. Vivid blue lighting emphasizes the rain drenched, deserted streets around the ballet school while the frenetic music of Goblin punctuates the soundtrack.

Greeted by the dour school headmistress, Suzy is told “…we don’t teach you to dance here…we presume our students know how to do that!”.  Of course it’s not long before, one by one, strange, grisly murders start occurring. Argento punctuates his well crafted, yet repellant, murder scenes with bright poster colored lighting and the heart pounding percussion music of Goblin.

One of the most chilling murders involves a character, who, while running from The Killer, stumbles into a room filled with coils and coils of sharp razor wire (the type they run around prison walls). The visual experience is so captivating (and disturbing) that we have little time to consider why someone would store miles of razor wire in a room at a ballet academy. Rather, we just bask in the terror of this contrived situation, empathizing with the character, who is trapped like a fly in a spider’s web.

Another gripping sequence involves a blind man and his Seeing Eye dog, alone at night in a deserted city center square. His dog barks at something (or someone) unseen, while all around him stark shadows give  sinister life to the walls of the buildings. Wonderful cutting and relentless music combine with haunting “sighs” and “whispers” to make this a compelling scene.

SUSPIRIA earned an R rating when it was released in the U.S. in 1977, and there’s lots of grisly violence, including the use of sharp knives, broken glass and other items that will make your skin crawl. Argento directs these scenes with flair, as an artist paints his canvas. The colors, the framing and the music lift this film from its roots as a mundane horror film into the realm of something much more special.

Throughout SUSPIRIA, the action and mood is supported by the frenetic and haunting music of Goblin, an Italian progressive rock band best known for their work on many Argento soundtracks. Creepy “sighs”, “whispers” and other unsettling sounds permeate the soundtrack adding to the feeling of uneasiness.

The set design on SUSPIRIA compliments the mood of the film. Many scenes are decorated with vivid, velvety red walls and flowing sanguine drapes. Filmed in widescreen, you’ll want to view SUSPIRIA in DVD letterbox format. Directors usually have trouble composing for the wide 1:2.35 ratio, but Argento handless it flawlessly. Slow camera movements down long, bright red, narrow hallways, add to the unusual claustrophobic feeling that this widescreen film is able to achieve. Characters are carefully framed, benefitting their onscreen movements. Arms gracefully stretch the width of the screen, and action is well contained during the murder scenes. Of special note is the swimming pool sequence, which reminds us of a similar scene in Lewton’s CAT PEOPLE (1942). The camera floats in front of the two girls, carefully following them as they swim around the darkly lit indoor pool. The camera movements alone would make for a very scary sequence, but the amalgam of lighting, music and sound effects create a visual symphony of terror.

At the end of the film, we’re never really sure if the events really happened, or if they were part of Suzy Bannion’s dreams. It’s a moot point because this movie succeeds not as a story, but as a series of vivid, well crafted images….images that you’ll revisit in your nightmares! A modernistic classic, SUSPIRIA is available on DVD and should be viewed by all aficionados of the horror-gore genre.
Highly recommended.

Director: Dario Argento

Country: Italy (available dubbed in English, or Italian language with subtitles)

Cast:
Jessica Harper … Suzy Bannion
Stefania Casini … Sara
Flavio Bucci … Daniel
Miguel Bosé … Mark