Suspiria is one of those films that has given horror genre a new dimension and it was released way back on February 1, 1977 in Italy. The screen time of this Italian horror film was around 1 hour 39 minutes. It is also available on English dubbed version on Internet. Over the years, this film has termed as one of the most popular horror films in world. Not to get confused with another film Suspiria (2018) of the same name, which is an inspired version.
Story: The story of this film revolves around an American Ballet dancer Jessica Harper aka Suzy Bannion who got an opportunity to be a part of Ballet Dance Academy in Germany. She reached the academy to a rainy night but didn’t get an entry and saw a girl running out of that dance academy. On the next day, when she joined the academy, she finds about the killing of that very girl who runs last night. Sooner, she realizes that many others from the academy are loosing their lives in strange way. One find day, even her best friend Stefania Casini aka Sara Simms disappears and she don’t know her whereabout. Somehow, she managed to talk to Sara’s friend and psychiatrist Udo Kier aka Frank Mandel. Well, Frank introduces Suzy to his friend and a noted Professor Milius, who is a professor of Occult. It’s when he told Suzy about the history of the dance academy which was built by Greek emigrant Helena Markos in 1895, who was suspected to be a witch. Well, this led Suzy even more clear that there is something wrong in her dance academy and she don’t want to be get trapped in that. Will Suzy able to find Sara or even save herself from the witch is what the story follows.
This film also stars Joan Bennett aka Madame Blanc, Alida Valli aka Miss Tanner, Flavio Bucci, Franca Scagnetti and many others.
The Suspiria movie reviews are out and they are in a range of 4.5 stars to 5 stars out of 5 stars, which is highly positive feedback from critics. This film currently holds 7.3 stars out of 10 stars with 99K votes on IMDB website. Apart from that movie aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes gave 94 percent ratings out of 100.
Bollywood Crazies Opinion: Suspiria is one of those horror films that I will not forget at all. I heard a lot about Suspiria and finally watched the original version of it, which is as Italian version. I find this film like an art gallery, where I can compare the scenes of this film with a canvas full of blood. Yes, The color tone of this film is majorly red and yellow to give us an scary feel. Right from the start of this film, there is some dramatic background music and sound design which haunts you till the end of this film. The color tone and sound design adds more meaning to the story with some brilliant acting. I find this story superb and weird and this film was way ahead of its time. It’s like slow burner film where the director keep us confused in the first hour and the climax reveals the whole suspense. There are some shots that are so scary that you don’t want to see it again, especially, when Sara is being killed. Another scene, when Suzy discovers a body in the end is also one of the creepiest scene. Even, the dog biting the blind old person is unsettling. Well, there is also one scene in the first 30 minutes of this film where, Suzy and the whole ballet dance group encounters with maggots dropping from the ceiling. Apart from these shots, Miss Tanner scares you more along with the ugly cook. All these elements will scare you so much that you couldn’t able to sleep at night. The cinematography is superb and I personally liked the long shots in this film, which scares you even more. For example, the director has used extremely long shot in a scene when dog attacks his own caretaker who is blind man, and in the long shot you see no one there at the middle of the night. For me, this film was like a surreal art painting that has been shown through visual medium.
The movie has been directed by Dario Argento. The screenplay have been written by Mr Argento and Daria Nicolodi. It has been produced by Claudio Argento. The cinematography has been done by Luciano Tovoli and the editing work handled by Franco Fraticelli.The musical score has been given by Goblin and Dario Argento.
Altogether, Suspiria is definitely a cult horror film that is a much watch if you are a horror movie fans.
Last Word: Watch it for its unsettling story, music and performances. The scariest character for me in this film wasn’t a ghost but Miss Tanner.
Bollywood Crazies Ratings: Suspiria 1977 Movie Review- 5 stars out of 5 stars.
